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thing- even a job, an association
or a habit which we loved as much
as our right arm-than to let it
cause us to disobey God and thus
be cast into hell
(gehenna),
"into
the fire that never shall be
quenched: where their worm dieth
not, and
t
he fi re is not
quenched."
The "hell" to which Jesus
referred was
gehenna-deriving
its
name from the Yalley of Hinnom.
There were ledges along the edge
of th is valley.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
gives a
description of this vaJiey.
If
any–
thing, especially a dead body, land–
ed on a ledge above the fires, it
would be devoured by many worms
or maggots which were kept alive
by the animal and vegetable sub–
stances deposited there.
It was to these worms that Christ
was referring when he said , "their
worm dieth not." But Christ didn ' t
mean that each individual worm
continued to live forever! He wasn ' t
teaching the immortality of
worms!
Actually, these worms, or mag–
gots, are the larvae which develop
from eggs deposited by tlies. They
continue for only a few days in this
larvae form, then pupate and finally
emerge as tlies, later dying.
These are scientific facts, known
by any real student of science. And
yet sorne people think that Jesus
ignorantly stated that these larvae
continued to live forever in that
stage of deve\opment.
The Greek word which was
inspired and translated into the
English word "worm" in this pas-
September / October 1982
sage simply means a grub or mag–
got.
lt
is a collective expression for
all the worms that devour dead
matter. These worms do not die,
but pupate and become tlies. Later,
these tlies like all other animals will
return to the dust from which they
The " hell" where J esus was
for three days and
three nights (Mat t. 12:40)
after bis crucifixion
is t ranslated from the
Greek word
hades.
Hades
simply means " pit"
or "grave."
come. "Ail are of the dust, and all
turn to dust again" (Eccl.
3:20).
The "fire that never shall be
quenched" is a description showing
that God will permit nothing to put
out or quench this fire.
lt
will sim–
ply burn up the bodies of the
wicked.
Naturally, those who preach
"hell-fire" use this passage to
frighten unthinking people into
believing that sinners will suffer
eterna! torment in hell-fire- evi–
dently with worms chewing on
them at the same time!
Human Reason
But many will argue that the
Bible does tell us about an eterna!,
burning hell. As I write,
1
have
before me a book explaining the
principal doctrines of one of the
large churches. The chapter on
hell is entitled , " Hell, Not a
Pleasant Prospect, But Most Rea–
sonable. " As is so with most of
today's churches, the main appeal
on this subject is to human rea–
son- to what seems "most reason–
able" to the carnal mind of man.
In this chapter on hell, they also
follow the prevailing custom of
quoting part of a Bible text to
prove their point- and leaving off
the very part which would indi–
cate the truth of the subject.
You have got to watch for this
sort of thing. Study your Bible to
find all that it says on a given
subject if you want to find the
truth.
Here is the part of the text they
q uote: "Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire"
(Matt. 25:41 ). They do not quote
the end of the verse which shows
the real purpose of the everlasting
fire.
lt
says, "prepared for the
devil and his angels. " Yes, as we
shall see, God has not purposed to
torture any human being forever
and ever. The lake of fire is pre–
pared for rebellious spirit be–
ings-not to torture humans for–
ever. But this article on hell does
not mention the many verses in
the Bible which prove that. They
just quote part of one verse which
seems to indicate their precon–
ceived idea of hell when taken by
itself and interpreted by human
reason instead of other scriptures
in God's Word.
l t is man's idea that lost sinners
will suffer indescribable agonies in
a bloodcurdling hell. They seem to
forget that God is
LOV E
(1 John
4:8).
They neglect to realize that God
could have no purpose-based on
Jove-to torment sinners ages with-
out end. Let us put the ideas of
men on the shelf, and turn to God 's
Word to see what the Creator
reveals about the fate of the
wicked.
Wha t t o Fear
Instead of fearing what sorne mis–
guided preacher may tell us about
hell, let us see what Jesus said to
fear. "And fear not them which kili
the body, but are notable to kili the
soul: but rather fear him [God]
which is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell [gehenna]" (Matt.
10:28).
Here we find the clear
statement that God can destroy
both our body and soul in gehenna,
or the lake of fire. There is no men–
tion made of burning forever and
ever, and yet never quite burning
up. But it does speak of destruc–
tion.
Recall that God told Adam and
Eve that if they disobeyed him,
they would surely
DIE.
Their lives
17