Having shown that the
wicked are finally to be all destroyed, the question will arise in the reader’s
mind, What about the hell we hear so much of in popular churches? If the
destiny of all the wicked is utter destruction, what use can there be for such
a place as the hell we have been taught to believe in, for it is said to be as
necessary for the receptacle of the wicked as the heaven of popular theology is
for that of the righteous? If the wicked are to be destroyed in the sense of
blotted out of existence, and if there is such a place as hell, it will be,
when the destruction is complete, left entirely empty. Is it that it, too, is
to cease to be as well as those who were intended to be its endless
inhabitants, or is it that no such a place exists? Whatever place the wicked
may for a time be allowed to occupy, it is evident that the time is to come
when they shall occupy it no more; for the Psalmist says, "For yet a
little while and the wicked shall not be; yea thou shalt diligently
consider his place and it shall not be" (Psa. 37: 10). This,
however, does not mean that God has a particular place allotted for the wicked
into which they are all to be collected to be kept in torture and that that
place is to cease to be; It simply means that when the wicked cease to be they
shall not be found in any place, for there will be no room allowed for any to
exist but those who are fit to enjoy eternal blessings. Hence Job says, when
for the moment losing sight of the hope of salvation; "The eye of him that
hath seen me shall see me no more, thine eyes are upon me and I am not: as a
cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall
come up no more. He shall return no more to his house,
neither shall his place know him any more" (chap. 7: 8-10). The
"place" of the wicked, therefore, is that which he occupies in this
life and when he is "consumed as a cloud and vanisheth away," no
place will be desecrated by his presence in all the universe of God.
The popular theory is
that God created this earth for man to inherit in this life only; and that
since His intention was to separate the good from the bad when their supposed
immortal souls would, by death, forsake their bodies, two places must
necessarily be provided. The place for the eternal abode of the good is
supposed to be heaven, and that for the wicked is what has been called hell.
Now we have an account of the creation of the heaven and the earth, but not a
word is said about the creation of that place people popularly call hell.
Heaven is evidently the place where God dwells; and the earth was
created as a place for man to dwell in. It is said, "For thus saith the
Lord that created the heavens: God himself that formed the earth and
made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be
inhabited" (Isa. 45: 18). If God did create a hell to be
"inhabited" by a much larger human population than was ever at one
time on this earth, and than will ever inhabit heaven, why is it that such an
important place was not spoken of when the account of the creation of the
heaven and the earth was given in the beginning and referred to throughout the
Scriptures? It would be the first place that would come into use after the
earth; for it is claimed that the sentence Adam brought upon himself and his
posterity was one which consigned all to its everlasting torments, and that
salvation is rescue from going there and transportation to heaven. Then, too,
it would soon come into demand as a place in which to put wicked Cain and those
like him. So that its importance, from the popular point of view, was such as
to call for its mention along with that of the creation of the heaven and the
earth; and the fact that no mention is ever made of its creation is a proof,
among many others, that such a place never was created, except in the
imaginative brains of heathen philosophers and used by them to frighten the
unruly masses into subjection to their superiors. "With the masses it was
equally true, with the philosophers equally false, and with the magistrate
equally necessary;" and it was considered wrong not to deceive the masses
with falsehoods, claiming that the end justified the means. While such a
procedure may be excusable in heathen "philosophers" facts are seen
to be more absurd than fiction when we behold civilized and educated people
still clinging to such a pagan relic of savage superstition.
When God created the
heaven and the earth we may safely conclude He did not create the popular hell;
for it is not mentioned. When He placed our first parents in
THE WORD HELL AS
USED IN THE BIBLE
The best way to
ascertain the meaning of a Bible word is to examine its use in the Bible.
Employing this method we shall escape the theological bias to which all
compilers of dictionaries are subject. Nearly all the Old Testament was written
in the Hebrew language, and the New Testament in the Greek. Fortunately, we
have a translation of the Old Testament into the Greek language, called the
Septuagint, a translation which was made about B. C. 250. This enables us to
compare Hebrew and Greek words in the Old Testament, and helps us to understand
their meaning throughout the entire Scriptures. In the Hebrew the word standing
for "hell" in our English translation is sheol;
and in the Greek when applied to the same thing as sheol it is hades.
There is another word in the Greek New Testament which has been wrongly
translated "hell," and that is Gehenna; but this we will
consider further on. It happens that the translators have not always given the
word "hell" for the word sheol, and this helps us to see how
they struggled with this word upon finding that it did not coincide with the
theory their theology had perverted their minds with.
Now let us examine some
of the passages where the word sheol occurs and see if we can make them
fit the popular theory of "hell," and if not, let us allow our minds
to reach the conclusion the passages will of themselves lead to.
SHEOL--GRAVE OR
STATE OF THE DEAD
Gen. 37: 35--He (Jacob)
refused to be comforted: and he said, For I will go
down into the grave (sheol) unto my son mourning.
Gen. 42: 38--If mischief befall him in the way by which ye go, then shall ye
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave (sheol).
I. Sam. 2: 6--The Lord
killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave (sheol)
and bringeth up.
I. Kings 2: 6--Do
therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to the grave
(sheol) in peace.
Job
Job 17: 13--If I wait
the grave (sheol) is mine house; I have made my
bed in the darkness.
Psa. 30: 3--O Lord,
thou hast brought up my soul from the grave (sheol);
thou has kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.
Psa. 49: 14--Like sheep
they are laid in the grave (sheol); death shall
feed on them.
Hos. 13: 14--I will
ransom them from the power of the grave (sheol); O
grave I will be thy destruction. (Compare with
Eccles. 9: 10--There is
no work nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave (sheol), whither thou goest.
Psa. 31: 17--Let them
be silent in the grave (sheol).
Ezek. 32: 27--And they
shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised which
are gone down to hell (sheol) with their weapons of
war; and they have laid their swords under their heads.
Psa.
From these testimonies
it is clear that the inspired writers had no idea of a place of eternal torment
being represented by the word sheol. If
we substitute "the place of eternal torment" for the word sheol in these texts we shall see how absurd
is the theory of modern theology. It would make Jacob say, "I refuse to be
comforted; and I will go down to the place of eternal torment to my son mourning."
It would make David say, "Let not his hoary head go down to the place of
eternal torment in peace," as though it were possible to go to such a
place in peace. It would make Job say, "O that thou wouldst hide me
in the place of eternal torment until thy wrath be past," which would be
praying to be taken from bad to worse. It would make David and Peter say that
Christ went to the place of torment but was not left there. Now if we keep in
view that the final end of the wicked is to be punished with eternal death--to
be cast into the darkness of death and the grave--then we shall easily
understand the use of the word sheol when the translators have rendered
it "hell;" such, for instance, as "The wicked shall be turned
into hell (sheol), and all nations that forget God" (Psa. 9: 17).
Take, for instance, the
words of Ezekiel 32: 27--"And they shall not lie with the mighty that are
fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell
(sheol) with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under
their heads. "Hell" is here shown to be a place where the
"mighty lie with their swords under their heads," alluding to
the custom of placing the swords of the warriors under their heads in their
graves or sepulchers. But how absurd to suppose soldiers going to the popular
"hell" to "lie" there and have their swords under
their heads. The use of the word sheol, therefore, in this and the other
passages given shows that the word had no such meaning in the minds of the
inspired writers as is given to the word "hell" in our times. There
is not a single passage where it has any such an absurd meaning as
"hell" and the fact that the testimonies given show it to mean the
grave, a meaning which the mind of the most ardent believer in the popular
theory cannot resist, is enough of itself to preclude its application to the
popular "hell;" for how could the same word be employed for two
places so widely different as the grave, where all is darkness and
insensibility, and one lit up with lurid flames, where are experienced the
keenest sensibility of endless torture?
Coming to the New
Testament we find the same conclusion irresistible. Here, of course, we have
the Greek word hades, instead of the Hebrew sheol.
That they mean the same will be seen where the New Testament quotes from
the Old. In Psa. 16 David says prophetically of Christ: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol), neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." This is quoted in Acts
Now this shows that sheol with the Psalmist was the same as hades
with Peter; and what was "hell" with the translators in one place
was "grave" in the other in the passages which speak of the same
event--the resurrection of Christ. We can now examine the use of the word hades
in the other places where it occurs in the New Testament.
HADES--GRAVE OR
STATE OF THE DEAD
Matt.
This prediction of our
Lord’s was literally fulfilled: for with the wars with the Romans and the Jews
these cities were totally destroyed, so that no traces are now
found of Bethsaida, Choraizin or Capernaum.--Clark, Commentary.
To be brought down to
hell, the grave, was therefore to be destroyed.
Matt. 16: 18--And I say
unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the
gates of hell (hades, the grave) shall not prevail against it.
"The gates of hades,"
says Parkhurst, "may always be allusive to
the form of Jewish sepulchres."
The gates of the grave
will not prevail, because the church will be delivered, and exclaim: "O
grave (hades), where is thy victory?" (I. Cor. 15: 55).
Luke 10: 15--Same as
already referred to in Matt. 11: 23.
Luke
Acts
I. Cor.
Rev. 1: 18--I am he
that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, amen; and have
the keys of hell (hades) and of death.
Rev. 6: 8--And I looked
and behold, a pale horse; and his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell (hades)
followed after him.
Rev. 20: 13, 14--And
the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (hades)
delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every
man according to his works. And death and hell (hades) were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death.
These passages will all
be clear to the reader as applying to the grave except, perhaps, one--that in
which the rich man is said to lift up his eyes in hell (hades). We
purpose explaining this parable further along, but will say here, that the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus was addressed to the Pharisees (Luke
While the Scriptures
cannot be strengthened by anything authors may say, many feel more confident if
they find popular authors supporting any position they may take. Sometimes
commentators honestly give a true exposition, even when the scriptures
commented on condemn their cherished theories; and on the subject in hand this
is exemplified as the following quotations will show.
POPULAR AUTHORS ON
THE WORD HELL
The Hebrew word sheol
is translated HELL properly as a general thing, if intended to mean
the same as the old Saxon word hell, the covered receptacle of all
the dead, where the good and bad repose together in a state of UNCONSCIOUSNESS;
but very improperly and very SHAMEFULLY IF intended to be a symbol
of the "orthodox" and traditionary hell as a place of
conscious torment for the wicked only. But we, without the slightest
reservation, condemn the translators; for they have evidently endeavored to
observe the true sense of the word sheol, and
to uphold the traditionary meaning of hell at the expense of truth and
uniformity. Had sheol been uniformly
translated pit or grave or the state of the dead, or even the mansions
of the dead, no such absurd idea as that of a place of conscious torment
could ever have been associated with it.--Bible versus Tradition, p.
188.
Hades means literally that which is darkness. A careful
examination will lead to the conclusion that no sanction to the
intermediate state is afforded by these passages where hades occurs; but
they denote the grave, both of the righteous and wicked--Dr. Kitto,
Cyclopedia.
The original word hades,
from a, not, and idien, to see--the invisible receptacle or
mansion of the dead, answering to sheol in
Hebrew. The word hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an
improper meaning of the original word, because hell is only used to
signify the place of the damned. But as the word hell comes from the
Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover or hide, hence the tiling or slating of a
house in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall) is heling to this
day, and the covers of books (in Lancashire), by the same name, so the literal
import of the original word hades was formerly well expressed by it.--Dr.
Adam Clarke, Commentary.
The gates of hades may
always be allusive to the form of the Jewish sepulchres, which were large caves
with a narrow mouth or entrance, many of which are found in
These authors make the
matter clear in harmony with the scriptures; and it will be seen that if we
have the true meaning of the word "hell" in mind when reading
passages wherein it is translated from hades, the word is a correct
translation, meaning invisibility, the unseen. What can be termed invisibility
and unseen more fittingly than the death state, in the dust, or in the grave,
"helled" over or covered. In some parts of
But, to return to the
Scriptures:
A glance at the
passages given will show them to be in perfect harmony with the Old Testament
use of the word sheol for grave. To
bring
GEHENNA--WHAT AND
WHERE IS IT?
A brief examination of
the other Greek word translated "hell" in the New Testament is all
that is necessary now to rid our minds of the slavish superstition of eternal
torment.
Gehenna has an entirely different meaning from hades, and
never ought to have been translated by the word hell. The following from the Emphatic
Diaglott is a good explanation:
Gehenna, the Greek word translated hell in the common
version, occurs 12 times. It is the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words
which are translated "The Valley of Hinnom." This valley was also
called Tophet, a detestation, an
abomination. Into this place were cast all kinds of filth, with the carcasses
of beasts and the unburied bodies of criminals who had been executed. Continual
fires were kept to consume these. Sennacherib’s army of
185,000 men were slain here in one night. Here children were burnt to
death in sacrifice to Moloch. Gehenna, then, as occurring in the New
Testament, symbolizes death and utter destruction, but in no
place symbolizes a place of eternal torment.
The Jews having come to
look upon Gehenna as a place of horror, it was associated by our Lord
with the destiny which awaited those who shall be the victims of the wrath of
God in the day of just retribution. The testimonies in which the word is used
indicate that, not only was Gehenna a place of judicial punishment in the
past, but in that same place will the righteous judgments of God be poured upon
the transgressors. The worms that preyed upon the carcasses in the past have
long since devoured them; the unquenchable fire that burned has devoured its
victims. So when the worms shall again prey upon the bodies of the wicked and
the fire burn, destruction will be the inevitable result. You will see, dear
reader, that the meaning of the words, "The worm dieth not and the fire is
not quenched," is not that the bodies upon which the worms prey are
preserved alive--not that they will burn and yet never burn. The fact that
worms are represented as preying is proof that their victims have been put to
death and that to be totally devoured is the end; and the fact that the
fire is not quenched is proof, not that its victims will be preserved, but that
they will be devoured.
The following are the
passages where the word hell in the common version is from Gehenna:
Matt. 5: 22--But I say,
That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger
of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell (Gehenna)
fire.
Matt. 5: 29--And if thy
right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body
should be cast into hell (Gehenna).
Matt.
Matt. 18: 9--And if
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for
thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast
into hell (Gehenna) fire.
Matt.
Matt.
Mark 9: 43, 45, 47;
Luke 12: 5--These are the same as given from Matthew.
Jas. 3: 6--And the
tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that
it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is
set on fire of hell (Gehenna).
Does it not seem
strange that a theory of endless preservation of the wicked in torment should
strive to find support in a word which is the name of a place where destruction
by fire and absolute devouring by worms were the certain results of being cast
therein? The quenchlessness of the fire instead of meaning the preservation of
its victims could mean nothing else but their destruction, which is emphasized
by the words, "He shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire." The word "unquenchable" applied in ordinary language is
well understood to mean the hopelessness of keeping in existence that which is
on fire; and this is the Scriptural meaning, as will be seen by the words of
the prophet Jeremiah--"Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and
it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched"
(chap. 17: 27). This fire was kindled by the Romans in A. D. 70 and it
"devoured;" but he who would claim it is still burning because it was
not to be quenched would be as foolish as those who claim that the fires of
Gehenna will always be burning and never go out because it is called
"unquenchable."
For
to say "the worm dieth not" is to insure the devouring of its prey,
surely not that its victim will be eternally preserved, always being devoured
and yet not devoured. There is an
attempt to escape the clear common-sense meaning of these and other passages
wherein the word "destroy," "perish," etc., occur by
assuming that these words are not to be taken to mean literal destruction of
the being, that they only mean that the wicked are destroyed in the sense we
speak of a man who has become a reprobate--his character is destroyed, he is
ruined. It would seem that anything will do if only the cherished theory of
eternal torture can be sustained, and why? Why are men so anxious to uphold a
theory that is so revolting to reason and so dishonoring to God, when there is
no man who really believes it when he silently reflects, but all sorts of
apologies are offered for the horrible doctrine? It is true the words
"destroy," "perish," etc., are sometimes used in the
secondary sense claimed, but in the passages we have given the context shows
clearly that they are employed in the most literal sense. It is that the wicked
are destroyed, not that good men are destroyed in character by becoming
wicked. They are already destroyed in the latter sense, that is, in the sense
of being ruined, from the fact that they are wicked, and it is the
destruction, devouring and perishing of these that the Scriptures are speaking
of.
Then again, there is a
play upon the words "destroyed from among the people" (Acts
Many foolishly say that
"if there is a heaven there must be a hell; and if there is a God there
must be a devil." This shows how perverted the minds of the devotees of
popular religion are that they seriously believe that the existence of heaven,
God’s holy habitation, depends upon a "hell" where millions moan and
groan and writhe in torture eternally; and that the existence of an everlasting
devil is essential to that of Him who is the source of all life. Some have even
gone so far as to say that if the lurid flames of hell were ever to be
quenched, heaven would be left in darkness; and many of the blind insane
advocates of the horrible, God-dishonoring doctrine have exhausted the
strongest words of our language in an effort to paint pen pictures of the
"infernal regions" the most revolting and disgusting, and which would
almost shock the sensibilities of the most savage of savages.
It is well that modern
theologians are getting ashamed of seeing their theory painted in colors
befitting it, but so long as they cling to the theory of the immortality of the
soul they never can rid their creeds of their horrible "hell" of
endless torture. They may spiritualize the old-fashioned tongues of flashing,
fiery flame into an eternal "gnawing of conscience," and thus render
the horrors of their "hell" a little more pallatable to the refined
tastes of modern church society; but behind the pulpit there is still the old
closet with the hideous skeleton, and until they totally abandon their creeds,
all of which are based upon the immortality of the soul, destroy the books
their predecessors have produced, books that are black with the darkness of the
dark ages of Romish superstition, and red with the savage glare of pagan
insatiable cruelty and crime, all the spiritualizing their refinement may
invent will never quench the sulphurous fires their creeds have kindled, nor
wipe from the records of history the stains they have cast upon the character
of a God of justice and love.
Perhaps it would not be
amiss to glance here at a few of the pictures they have painted of their
"hell."
The "Rev." J.
Furness writes as follows:
Listen to the
tremendous, the horrible uproar of millions and millions of tormented
creatures, mad with the fury of hell. Oh, the screams of fear, the groanings of
horror, the yells of rage, the cries of pain, the shouts of agony, the shrieks
of despair, from millions on millions. There you hear them roaring like lions,
hissing like serpents, howling like dogs, and wailing like dragons. There you
hear the gnashing of teeth, and the fearful blasphemies of the devils. Above
all you hear the roarings of the thunders of God’s anger, which shake hell to
its foundations. But there is another sound. There is in hell a sound like that
of many waters; it is as if all the rivers and oceans in the world were pouring
themselves with a great splash down on the floor of hell. Is it then, really
the sound of waters? It is. Are the rivers and oceans of earth pouring
themselves into hell? No. What is it then? It is the sound of oceans of tears
running down from countless millions of eyes. They cry for ever and ever. They
cry because the sulphurous smoke torments their eyes. They cry because they are
in darkness. They cry because they have lost the beautiful heaven. They cry
because the sharp fire burns them."
The third dungeon, the
lowest depth of hell, is described as follows:
The roof is red-hot;
the walls are red; the floor is like a thick sheet of red-hot iron. See! On the
middle of that floor stands a girl--she looks about sixteen years old. Her feet
are bare; she has neither shoes nor stockings on her feet; her bare feet stand
on the red-hot burning floor. The door of this room has never been opened since
she first set her foot on the red-hot floor. Now she sees that the door is
opening. She rushes forward. She has gone down on her knees on the red-hot
floor. Listen! She speaks. She says: "I have been standing with my bare
feet on this red-hot floor for years. Day and night my only standing place has
been this red-hot floor, Sleep never came on for a moment, that I might forget
this horrible burning floor. Look," she says, "at my burnt and
bleeding feet. Let me go off this burning floor for one moment. Only one single, short moment. Oh! that
in this endless eternity of years I might forget the pain only for one single
moment." The Devil answers her question, "Do you ask for one moment
to forget your pain? No! not for one single moment
during the never ending eternity of years shall you ever leave this red-hot
floor."
The following is from
"Cheever’s Powers of the World to Come:"
The shock of furious
armies, the crash of falling avalanches, mountains overwhelming cities,
volcanoes in action, herds of wild beasts confined and roaring in the dungeon
of the Coliseum, making the whole structure quake with their bellowings, then
all at once let loose, and with a fierce conflict of hunger and rage grappling
with one another; the elements in wild affright and uproar; earthquakes,
conflagrations, floods, pestilences, wars; all these are dire images of terror,
ruin, desolation, destruction. But all these, and even the stars dropping from
heaven, as when a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, and the whole universe
beaten together in chaos, or shrivelling as a parched scroll, all these come
short of any representation of eternal death; they all fail; they are merely
transitory syllables. The moral death is unapproachable by any such
representation.
These are only a sample
of the many shocking pictures which popular preachers have drawn of the
unending torture of those who fail in life’s hard struggle.
The educated and
refined, even of popular churches, will stand aghast before such pictures as
these; but get rid of them they never can, till they come out from among
churches based upon the doctrine which is responsible for such horrors. Those
of the vulgar ranks will make no apology; but exclaim, "What shall we do
with wicked people without a hell?" To these the "strong delusion
that they should believe a lie" seems indispensible to whip and frighten
men into the churches. That may be true so far as "conversion" to
popular churches is concerned; and the horrible doctrine seems to be permitted
scope to hold in reasonable subjection the passions of the lustful and brutish.
Still even in this it falls short; for most of the criminals in the
penitentiaries and those swung from the gallows are believers in the popular
"hell." But whatever this permitted libel upon God may be for, it is a slander upon His name and an enemy of His Word.
Men are not allowed to slander each other with impunity, and there is some care
between man and man; but many seem to think they can represent God in any
inconsistent, unjust, revengeful manner their theological whims may suggest.
The man who would falsely circulate a story of his fellow-man subjecting a dog,
be it the most wicked, savage creature, to daily torture for one week, would be
declared a slanderer to be shunned by all decent people, but men who report
from pulpits that God preserves billions of helpless, moaning, groaning,
withering, maddened creatures in an eternal mad-house theologically called
"hell," are lauded and applauded as the most respectable and refined
members of society. Man’s character must by common consent be vindicated in
measure, but God may be held up before the world as a monster of injustice, and
insatiable vindictiveness. Dear reader, let us stand up boldly and fearlessly
against this theological outrage, and let us vindicate the character of God and
the truth of His Word; heralding to a perishing world that a God of justice and
love holds out a hand of help and hope to rescue men from perishing and passing
into the pit of oblivion; and to give them health and life and joy eternal,
with, ultimately, a redeemed world, cursed not by sin, sorrow and death, but
one in which shall dwell only the grateful, righteous and glorified children of
a beneficent Being, who will be the fruits of the "travail of the
soul" of a faithful loving Saviour. Then God will be "all in
all," His name magnified, honored and adored, and all the surviving
creatures of His handiwork forever blessed.