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MENT
(not punishing) for disobe–
dience.
God created man in bis own image
and likeness (Gen. 1:26). In the gar–
den of Eden, he told man the way
that would lead to eterna! life. Then
he told man that going the wrong
way-the way of selfishness and
greed-would lead to
DEATH
(Gen.
2: 17).
But Satan, the father of lies (John
8:44), told the woman, "Ye shall not
surely die" (Gen. 3:4). "You have an
immortal soul."
Man has been believing that lie
about the immortal soul ever
since!
God's purpose is to develop holy,
righteous character in man which
would make him fit for eterna! life.
God gave ancient Israel bis Ten
Commandments, "that it might be
well with them, and with their chi1-
dren for ever' ' (Deut. 5:29).
God 's decrees are always for
man's good. T hey are not designed
as arbitrary decrees which God
uses as an excuse for plunging men
into flames of tire! Notice that God
offered Adam and Eve life on the
one hand, and death on the other.
Adam and Eve would not bave been
offered
LJFE
if they already were
immortal souls. Man was created
mortal and in need of eterna! life
from God through his Spirit.
If
man rebelled against God and
made bimself miserable througb
sin, then the kindest thing that God
could do would be to Jet man die.
Then, stubborn, sinning man would
be unable to br ing any furtber mis–
ery on himself or others by bis
wrong ways. He would just cease to
exist, and would thus not interfere
with the happiness of others wbo
sought eterna! life. That is why we
read that the
SOUL
tbat sins shall
die (Ezek. 18:4).
But men have disagreed with
God and bis Word, and have come
to believe in an entirely different
reward for t be wicked. So, wbere
do men get their ideas of "bell"?
Wha t is " Hell" ?
You wi 11 be surprised to learn that
Jesus Christ himself went to "hell"
when he died! In Peter's inspi red
sermon on the day of Pentecost, he
16
said, " He [David] seeing this
before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that bis soul was not left in
hell , neither bis flesh did see cor–
ruption" (Acts 2:31 ).
So--according to your Bible–
Jesus went to hell!
Any student should know that
tbe New Testament was written in
the Greek language and that the
King J ames translation into Eng–
lish is sometimes a little mislead–
ing. Actually, there are three dif–
ferent Greek words, each with a
different meaning, which have all
been translated "hell" in the.King
James Version of the Bible.
The "hell" where J esus was for
three days and three nights (Matt.
12:40) after
bis
crucifixion is trans–
lated from the Greek word
hades.
Hades
simply means "pit " or
"grave." When the King James
translation of the Bible was made,
Englishmen commonly understood
that "hell" could mean a grave, pit,
or boJe in the ground. T hey often
spoke of burying their potatoes in
hell for the winter.
So the "hell" where Jesus went
was simply the grave-the rock
hewn sepulchre where be was bur–
ied. Unless you live until Christ
comes and are cbanged from mortal
to immortal ( I Cor. 15:53), you will
go to this same "hell."
The second Greek word trans–
lated "hell " is
tartaroo.
1
t is used
only once in tbe Bible
(ll
Pe
t.
2:4)
and refers to the condition of
restraint of the fallen angels. It
never refers to men.
T he Greek word denoting a place
of punishment is
gehenna.
This is
the third Greek word translated
"helL"
Gehenna,
or the Valley of
Hinnom, was loc'ated outside of
J erusalem. I t was a place where
trash, filth, and the dead bodies of
animals and despised criminals
were thrown. l t was like sorne of
our city dumps today. Ordinarily,
everything thrown in this valley
was destroyed by
fir~ompletely
burned up.
In Jewish thought, this burning,
smoking Valley of Hinnom was
associated with the future punish–
ment of the wicked. So it was natu–
ral for Jesus and the apostles to use
the word
gehenna-derived
from
the Valley of Hinnom- when
referring to the lake of tire which
will be the fate of the wicked. This
lake of fire is described in Revela–
tion 20:14-15.
These, then, are the three Greek
words which are translated into the
word "hell" in our Bibles. In the
Old Testament, which was written
in Hebrew, there is only one word
which is translated "hell." That
word is
sheol.
It corresponds to the
Greek word
hades,
meaning the
grave, or pit.
Before we consider the scrip–
tures where these words are used
and find the astonish ing truth
"Hell as generally understood
is the abode of evil
spirits; the infernal regions,
where the devil rules supreme,
and where lost or
condemned souls go after
death to suffer
indescribable torments and
eternal punishment.
. . ."
about what "hell" really is, let's
briefly inspect sorne of the theories
of men on this subject.
Example of " Hell-fire"
Scriptures"
A familiar passage to most "hell–
fire" preachers is found in Mark
9:43-48. Jesus was showing that it
was better to rid ourselves of any-
The
PLAIN TRUTH