Who goes to hell?
The answer of the Bible
The word "hell" (in the original languages of the Bible "Sheol" and "Hades" does not denote a place where one is tormented in fire, but simply stands for the grave. Who goes to hell? Both good and bad people (Job 14:13; Psalm 9:17). According to the Bible, this general grave of mankind is the place or "pit where all living things end" (Job 30:23, Zinc).
Even Jesus went to hell. However, he "did not remain in hell" because God raised him from the dead (Acts 2:31, 32, Fischer).
How long will hell exist?
All those who go to hell will come out. They will be brought back to life with God's power by Jesus (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15). This resurrection is spoken of in Revelation 20:13, where it says, "Death and hell gave the dead that were in them" (Luther Bible, 1912). Once hell is empty, it will no longer exist; no one will go there, for "death will be no more" (Revelation 21:3, 4; 20:14).
However, not everyone who dies goes to hell. According to the Bible, some become such incorrigibly wicked people that repentance is impossible for them (Hebrews 10:26, 27). They do not go to hell, but to Gehenna - a symbol of final death (Matthew 5:29, 3. For example, as Jesus explained, some of the hypocritical religious leaders of His day would go to Gehenna (Matthew 23:27-33).
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Did Jesus speak of hellfire?
PERSONS who believe in the doctrine of hellfire sometimes refer to Jesus' words in Mark 9:48 (or verse 44 or 46). There Jesus speaks of worms (or maggots) that do not die, as well as fire that does not go out. What would you say if someone asked you about this text?
Depending on which translation they use, they might show you verse 44, 46, or 48, because some translations say the same thing in those verses.* The New World Translation says, "If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be cast into Gehenna, where their maggot does not die and the fire is not quenched" (Mar. 9:47, 48).
Some claim that Jesus' statement supports the view that the souls of the wicked suffer eternally after death. For example, a commentary in the Sagrada Biblia, according to the University of Navarre (Spain) translation, says, "Our Lord refers by . . . [these words] to the torments of hell. It is often explained that 'the worm that does not die' stands for the eternal torment of the soul, and the fire 'that does not go out' for the physical torments of those in hell."
However, anyone who compares Jesus' words with the last verse of Isaiah's prophecy (chapter 66)* will quickly realize that Jesus is alluding to this verse with his words. In it, the prophet apparently refers to going "out of Jerusalem into the surrounding valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), where men were once sacrificed (Jer. 7:31) and which eventually became the city's garbage dump" (The Jerome Biblical Commentary). Isaiah 66:24 clearly conveys a picture of corpses, not tormented people. What does not die are the worms - not people, nor immortal souls. But what do Jesus' words mean then?
It is interesting how a Catholic work (El evangelio de Marcos. Análisis lingüístico y comentario exegético, vol. II) comments on Mark 9:48: "[The] phrase is taken from Isaiah (66:24). There the prophet points out the two ways corpses were usually disposed of: by decomposition and burning . . . The juxtaposition of maggot and fire in the text reinforces the idea of annihilation. . . . Both kinds of elimination are final ('does not go out, does not die': there is simply no way to escape. In this image, the only things that remain are the maggot and the fire-not man-and both destroy everything they get hold of. Therefore, it is not a description of eternal torment, but of complete annihilation, which, since it excludes resurrection, is synonymous with final death. . . . [Fire] is thus a symbol of annihilation."
Anyone who knows that the true God is loving and just would have to see the logic behind this explanation of Jesus' words. Jesus did not say that the wicked will suffer eternal torment. Rather, they are in danger of suffering complete annihilation, which precludes resurrection.
[Footnotes]
The most reliable Bible manuscripts do not include verses 44 and 46. As scholars say, these are probably later additions. Professor Archibald T. Robertson writes: "The oldest and best manuscripts do not have these two verses. They appeared in the Western and Syriac (Byzantine) texts. They are mere repetitions of verse 48. Therefore . . . [we omit] the spurious verses 44 and 46."
"Indeed, one will go out and look at the corpses of men who have transgressed against me; for even the worms on them shall not die, and their fire, it shall not be quenched, and they shall become something repulsive to all flesh" (Isa. 66:24).
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Probably the last post by Lin Wood so far was this very nice song.
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