Question 2 – The Survey Says…
The little online survey titled Foundations Of Faith was fun and we found out in Question #1 that there is a lot of confusion about what “Heaven” is. Many people cannot accept that we are already in heaven now (the realm of Jehovah). If we don’t know where we are now how are we going to get where we want to go next? The word “heaven” is used in scripture to describe the sky, the stars, and the realm of our Creator. But as we discovered it is also used mistakenly to describe other things like: the Throne, a spiritual Golden City, Paradise, an Island in the South Pacific, and a good feeling or experience.
There is also quite a bit of confusion about what “Hell” is. Most ancient cultures believed all human souls are eternal and never really die (see Gen 3:4-5).The word “hell” first appeared about 725AD from old western European beliefs of an unseen place of the dead, or nether world.
1. The first choice on this quiz is: Sheol – the place of the dead. It was chosen by 15% of the respondents. The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word “She’ohl” 65 times (shorten to “sheol”). The words Hell and Sheol should mean pretty close to the same thing…the place of the dead. You only get there by dying and it’s described in scripture as a dark hole, or pit, and once you’re there you can’t get out. Nobody in the old testament imagined any other outcome after death. But many looked forward to the promise of being released from it’s grasp. King David confessed in Psalm 6:5 that nobody can worship our Creator when they are dead. King Solomon (the smartest man that ever lived) said in Ecc 9:10 that there is no work, thought, knowledge, nor wisdom in sheol. Everyone’s soul goes there when they die and that has never changed. All the dead bodies will be raised and rejoined with their souls to stand before the throne on judgment on the last day.
A good explanation was given during Pentecost in Acts 2:27 where Peter quotes King David in Psalm 16:10 where it relates that now we are free from the grave and will not perish. The King James Bible replaced all the words “sheol” with this word “hell” and that would be OK if the current understanding of Hell was correct. The problem is that King James was still Catholic in all his beliefs and he believed in the ancient pagan teachings of eternal suffering in the realm of Hades. Over the years beliefs have changed and now most people think Sheol, Hell, and Hades are all the same and it includes eternal punishment and suffering but there is no evidence to suggest that in the Old Testament. The truth is concealed in the New Testament to promote eternal suffering of humans. What we do have is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man where Jesus tells us that the good people rest in peace and the bad people do not rest but have nightmares until judgment day.
2. Nobody chose the word “Gehenna” most likely because it is hidden in scripture today and not what people want to believe. It is the Greek word for the Valley of Hinnom which is southwest of Jerusalem. The bad kings of old Judea had a shrine in this valley to the pagan god Moloch. Children were burned there as sacrifices. After King Josiah banished pagan idols this place was used to burn trash, dead things, etc. This smelly fiery place was referred to at least 12 times in the New Testament to describe the place where bad people and unbelievers are eventually going to be thrown. Nothing thrown into this pit of fire ever came out and it all turned to ash. You would have a difficult time finding this word “gehenna” in scripture today because it has been replaced with the words “hell” or “hades”. An example is Mark 9:43 where gehenna is replaced with hell fire (it’s not hell) or unquenchable fire (which is a better translation).
3. Hades was not chosen either. Hades was the Greek god of death and if you were rejected by the other gods you belonged to Hades. The realm of Hades was a dark underworld place of fire, sulfur, and eternal suffering. This is what most people think of when they hear the word “hell”. We hear this word “hell” used very often to scare people into thinking they will spend eternity under the dominion of Satan in a place of fire and pain if they don’t accept Christ. That is a stone cold lie and has no scriptural support. The change in understanding is due to the way it was translated by the Early Roman Catholics. The original New Testament is written in Greek. There are different connotations for the use and meaning of the root word for Hades. It can refer the grave, the place of the dead, or the Greek god of death himself. The Latin Vulgate Bible substituted the word “infernus” (big fire below) in most cases and the idea that Hell now refers to a nether world of eternal suffering in fire is deeply ingrained in the Christian faith. For this concept to work a person has to reject John 3:16 which clearly states that only those who accept Christ get eternal life and all others just simply perish. Eternal suffering would require eternal life.
4. The Lake of Fire is the winner of the survey. Chosen by 73% of the people. The eternal “Lake of Fire” is a special place in the realm of our Creator. We find in Rev 19:20 that the first things thrown into the Lake of Fire are the Beast and the False Prophet. Then in Rev 20:10 Satan is thrown in after he was released to torment the earth one last time. In Rev 20:14 we are told that death and the place of the dead (hell, hades, sheol) are thrown in as well and will cease to exist. Therefore the Lake of Fire is not “Hell”. The second death is not eternal life. There will be no more death and no more place of the dead. The Lake of Fire will be the eternal residence of the fallen angels.
5. Purgatory got 10% of the votes. Purgatory is a place where, according to Catholic theology, souls are cleansed before ascending to the golden city in the stars. This is not scriptural but, just as we discussed in the first choice above, sheol is like a prison where some souls will rest in peace and some won’t. Bad angels are imprisoned there and Satan soon will be too. Satan will be set free one last time before this world ends and at the time of the final judgment Satan and all the bad angels will be condemned to suffer for eternity in the Lake of Fire. Many think of purgatory as a temporary stop but there is no purification process after death described anywhere in scripture. What is described is that we need bodies that are not corrupted so we can stand before the judge. That is what will be different. Every person who ever lived will get a perfect reconstituted/resurrected body that will stand before the throne to be judged at the final judgment of all mankind when the seventh trumpet sounds.
The Final Answer
Hell is a poor English replacement for the Hebrew word Sheol. It is where all souls go when they die to wait for Judgment Day (did you know there will be two judgment days…see Rev 20:5).
There is no fire in hell, only darkness. Some souls rest peacefully and some never know that peace.
The Lake of Fire cannot be Hell because they are two completely different things. Hell cannot be thrown into Hell. Everything that is thrown into the Lake of Fire will perish forever except the fallen angels who were created as everlasting beings. Death and Sheol/Hell/Hades will cease to exist. All souls who do not receive the gift of eternal life will perish just like all other physical life forms that were ever alive. Eternal human suffering would require eternal life which is only available to those who believe in a Creator and his salvation of mankind. The eternal Lake of Fire is reserved exclusively for Satan and the fallen angels who will have dominion over nothing.