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Hell is the grave and not something a living person experiences.
Jacob prayed to be in Hell/sheol with his son Joseph (who he thought was dead) in the first use of sheol in scripture. Job prayed to be hid in hell/sheol. Both knew it was not on earth or life on earth, it was the grave.
And David said even though I have made my bed in hell you are with me. NT calls people children of hell.
Hell is the dwelling place of the dead, all mankind without Christ are DEAD in tresspasses and sin. That they are dead does not mean they are in a literal grave. Hell is also the place of the unseen or unseeing, and all those who are dead in tresspasses and sin are unseeing.
Jesus also referred to Hades which is not an eternal hell. It is the word that is translated for Sheol in the OT, which means the "unseen state".
God bless.
What is the passage in which Jesus used the term "hades"? I have not run into that in my reading.
I get that over the centuries, Jewish thought has evolved. So I will accept that recent Jewish though may well consider sheol in a number of nuances. But in early Hebrew thought, sheol is definitely grave, the final resting place for the righteous and unrighteous alike. Hence God's words to Adam at the garden gate: you are dust and to dust you will return.
Matthew 11
20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” (NASB)
Matthew 16
15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are [j]the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this [m]rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
I agree, that when we die, we are in the grave . Later we will be resurrected. God bless.
God bless.
Last edited by ShanaBrown; 08-15-2014 at 06:52 AM..
If a person denies the reality of Hell, or perverts it to a limited duration, it is on them to explain how God's righteousness and justice can be met in order to lift the sentence at a later date. It is only through Jesus can someone get to Heaven, so I don't really understand how after a finite period God will absolve their guilt. This thinking simply runs contrary to the entire body of Scripture. At some point this thinking leads to a new gospel being written by men, not of God.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 3:11)
I personally am not a Universalist, but I don't know if Hell is eternal or not. I don't think the Bible is clear. It used to seem clear, but the Universalists due bring up interesting points.
The Bible is not clear on a lot of things, but let's focus on just this one point that you focus on:
The Bible is NOT CLEAR on whether or not hell is eternal.
Now shouldn't that fact alone set off alarm bells and red flags in your head?
I mean here we look to the Bible as source for all the answers to our problems, and yet the Bible cannot even be relied upon to supply us an adequate answer for something as critical as our eternal destiny. For many people that alone is sufficient enough reason to reject the Bible as the "inerrant, inspired word of God communicated DIRECTLY from the Holy Spirit to men".
I don't go that far. The Bible has lots of good philosophy and wisdom and advice for people, but as a book to be revered, even worshipped as some fundamentalists do (it's called "Biblidolatry") should be completely out of the question.
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