―The best translation would be ‗the departed.‘‖ Paul Haupt, ―American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature.‖
NOTE: I have tried to give the views of the majority in each in the above Protestants versions of Hell. In each of them, there are many individuals and/or small groups who believe in a variation of that believed by the majority.
EIGHT OTHER VERSIONS OF HELL
[1] Church of Christ, Christian Church, Abraham's bosom or the after judgment Hell, A newer version of Hell: This version is based almost entirely on an interpretation of Luke 16:19-31 (see chapter eight, part one). Most members of the church of Christ, the Christian Church and some Protestants believe it although it is not generally accepted as being orthodox or traditional Protestant. In this version all who do not obey Christ will go to Hell, but not unto after the coming of Christ and the judgment; and no one goes to Heaven before the judgment [no instant rapture]. According to this version, at death all are taken to an intermediate holding place where the lost are tormented, and the saved are rewarded in a place sometimes called "Abraham's bosom." Instead of all being in Heaven and Hell unto the second coming of Christ, all are on the good and bad side of hades and Christ will take them out of hades at His coming and judge them a second time to see whether He made a mistake the first time and put them on the wrong side of hades. A baby who has not come to the age of accountability is not lost and will go to the good side of hades. After the judgment God will personally do the tormenting of all the lost for eternality, and Satan and his angels and all the lost will be tormented together.
This view has two places where God is going to torture the lost; (1) in one side of hades that is a temporary place of torture and will last only unto the second coming of Christ, (2) and "Hell" which will be a permanent place where God will torture most of mankind without end. No one is now in Heaven or Hell and it will not be unto after the resurrection and judgment. This is the view was I taught from the time I became a Christian and I believed it a long time. I have many books and tracts in which well-known preachers and teachers, such as H. Leo Boles, E. M. Zerr, B. W. Johnson, and many others who teach this view; but lately it seems to be dying out in the church and is being replaced by going immediately to Heaven or Hell at death without the Resurrection or Judgment particularly at funerals where preachers often say the dead person are now in Heaven. Most all think of and speak of their loved ones as now being in Heaven or with Jesus, not in Abraham's bosom unto the judgment.
[2] Edward Fudge version: The short Hell: He uses the name Hell as if it was a Bible name, but thinks it will last for only a limited time and will end with the total destruction of those in it. He may have Hell and the wrath and fury of God at the judgment confused. Roger Dickson believes the duration of Hell will fit the crime and then will end. It will be short for some and longer for other. He says, "After the stripes have been given, then the destruction occurs for which there is no reverse" Page 162ff,
"Life, Death And Beyond." Is he renaming the Judgment Day and calling it "Hell?" If I 221
understand him right, he thinks the lost will go to Hell, but the not so bad will not be tormented as long as the very bad. After the "punishment matches the crime" he says they will then be destroyed [Page 163]. (1) "Shall be beaten with many stripes" [Luke 12:47].
This is used to prove there will be an end after the stripes. If this were after the judgment,
"Beaten with few stripes" could not be as long as "beaten with many stripes," therefore, could not take forever. Some will be tormented longer than others, but the torment will end with death for all. (2) This short Hell is different from the Church of God short Hell in that it will not be on this earth, and there will be no second chance.
In the Bible God limited "many stripes" to 40 lashes, never more than 40
[Deuteronomy 25:3; Luke 12:47; Acts 16:23; 2 Corinthians 11:24]. Yet, this "many stripes" is used by many to prove that God will forever give not 40 but stripes without end to those in Hell.
[3] Christadelphians version of Hell: Those who never heard the Gospel will never be raised. Death is the end of them. Only those who heard the Gospel will be raised at the second coming of Christ and judged to see whether they were faithful. The faithful will have eternal life on Earth, which will be restored to be like Eden before Adam sinned.
The unfaithful of those who heard the Gospel and were raised will be annihilated by the second death.
[4] Church of God version of Hell (and others): Both Heaven and Hell will be on this earth. After the resurrection of earthly bodies on this restored earth, all will be given a second chance to accept Christ. Most will, but the few who will not accept Christ will suffer the second death. Their torment will end in death from which there will never be a resurrection. The saved will be raised and live on the earth restored to the way it was before Adam sinned with a body like Adam before he was put out of the garden. No one will ever be in Heaven. I have not been able to find how they think Adam's body was different before he was put out of the garden than it was after. Many Premillennialists who are in most Protestant churches believe this version of Hell or one that is very similar to it.
[5] Universalist version of Hell, The "age lasting" Hell: Hell will last for only an age; then all will be saved. Universalist calls it a time of "attitude adjustments," or "age-during correction." They do not see it as God torturing people in a literal lake or anything like that, they see it as simply as a time when God will be correcting or teaching them further unto they are fit for His kingdom. All, even the most evil, will eventually end up in Heaven.
[6] Seventh Day Advent version of Hell: They believe that at the second coming of Christ the unrighteous will be kill, the righteous will be taken back to Heaven for a 1,000
years. During the 1,000 years only Satan and his angels will inhabit the earth. At the end of the 1,000 years Christ will return to earth with the saved and the unrighteous will be raised for judgment. Satan gathers his angels and will the help of the resurrected unrighteous attempt to interfere with the judgment, they will be destroyed. The judgment and destruction of the lost will take place on this earth. Their Hell will be on this earth and will last only unto those in it are burned too ashes, the second death. The saved will live forever with earthly bodies on a restored earth on which there will be no evil. No one will be in Heaven after the 1,000 years. Just as with the Church of God version of Hell many Premillennialists who are in most Protestant churches also believe this version of 222
Hell. The number of those who are called Protestant but do not believe any of the orthodox Protestant versions of Hell is large and growing.
[7] Latter-day Saints version of Hell [Mormons]: They believe in three Heavens that they call Kingdoms, Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdoms. They believe in a Hell, but only a very few, the sons of perdition, will be in it forever. They are those that were once faithful Mormons but become apostates and left the Mormon Church. All will be raised from the dead. Except for the sons of perdition, most of those in Hell will in time pass out of it into the lowest Telestial Kingdom and will be there forever, even those who are not Mormons, but those who are not Mormons can go no higher then the lower Telestial Kingdom.
[8] The grave is Hell version [Jehovah’s Witnesses]: The grave is Hell and all go to it at death. There is no knowledge or torment in this Hell, just sleep or death. Some from many different groups believe this version of Hell. They get support mostly from the older translations like the King James Version, and most who believe it think the newer translations that translate only Gehenna into Hell are wrong. They believe Gehenna is a trash dump, not Hell. This Hell is going on now with all the dead in it, both the good and the bad are asleep in it and it will wake up at the Resurrection. All are unconscious and there is no torment of the wicked or reward of the righteous in "Hell" where all the dead, both the good and the bad now are. In this version, Hell will end at the resurrection and there will be no Hell after the resurrection and judgment.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Hell is the ―common grave of mankind‖ where people go when they die. They are not conscious there. This version is nothing more than a renaming of sheol and hades.
A. B. Robinson, September 1996 [A Jehovah's Witnesses]. "We do not have the word 'hell' in the NWT. We translate gehenna as gehenna, hades as hades and sheol as sheol. By doing this we can get the true import of these words. Gehenna is a garbage dump and sheol and hades often refer to the grave. We believe everyone who dies goes to 'hell' or sheol [hades]. The dead are unconscious, asleep if you will [Ecc 9:5,19 and 1 Thes 4:13-16] and will remain such until they are resurrected. We also believe that 'hell' will be emptied, as is clearly stated in Rev 20:13. The persons who were in hell, both the righteous and the unrighteous [Acts 24:15] will be resurrected and judged. Those who are deserving of it will then be thrown into the lake of fire, the second death [Rev 20:14,15]."
Brian Holt in an E-mail to me said, "JW's do not have the word ‗hell‘ in the NWT,"
then said everyone who dies goes to Hell.
In today's English Hell has come to mean a place of eternal torment after death, and to translate hades into Hell is an untrue translation. The grave is Hell was not the intentions of the translators who first put the word "Hell" into the Bible, the grave is Hell is not the way it would have been understood by English speaking people when it was first used by the translators or the way it is understood today.
I have been told that what I believe "is what Jehovah's Witnesses have been teaching for years." One person said to me, "You believe the same thing Jehovah's Witnesses believe. Why don't you join them and leave us alone?" One writer said, "A new standard of truth has been found. If the occults or liberals believe it, then it is wrong." The problem with this is (1) I do not believe as they do that the grave is Hell.
(2) That most all denominations, whether they are occults, liberals, or whatever, teach many things that the Bible teaches and many that the Bible does not teach. Nothing is right or wrong because a denomination teaches it, not even right or wrong if the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination teaches it. It is right if the Bible teaches it or wrong if the Bible does not teach it. Catholic, Baptist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church of God, and all others each teach many things that the Bible teaches and each one teaches many things 223
that the Bible does not teach. Anything is right if the Bible teaches it even if the Jehovah's Witnesses teach it and wrong if the Bible does not teach it. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach adultery is a sin; is it wrong to teach that adultery is a sin because Jehovah’s Witnesses teach it to be? To say, "That is what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach," is said for the same reason the Baptist says, "That is water salvation" or "That is Campbellism." Their real problem is not that one of the occults teach it, but that they have no other answer and know that they can turn many off just by saying "that is what Jehovah's Witnesses teach" just as the Baptist did with "that is water salvation." The Moslem religion believes in eternal torment; can we say it is wrong because those who believe in eternal torment believe something the Moslems teach? No, it is wrong because the Bible does not teach it.
Why? What is the real reason they say that is Jehovah's Witnesses teaching? I think one reason is that they just do not want to deal with it. Do not want to take the time.
Another reason is the same reason the Baptist call us "Campbellism" and say, "You believe in water salvation." They could not show that a person can be saved without baptism, therefore, they would say, "You believe in water salvation" for they know this would make others prejudice and not believe the Bible. Now the same thing is being done to anyone who does not believe in Hell by saying, "You are nothing but a Jehovah's Witnesses." even though what I believe is far from what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, they believe there is a Hell, but it is going on now, and I do not believe the Bible says anything about any kind of Hell; not one that is going on now or one that will be at any time after death. The truth is that if Jehovah's Witnesses did believe as I do (they do not, but even if they did) as long as the Bible teaches it, I would not care if it were what they believed, but would say that it is great that they believe the Bible on that point, and would wish that they believed the Bible on all points. If you made two lists, one a list of things any denomination believes that is not in the Bible, and a list of things it believes that is in the Bible, both lists would be long. The persons who say "That is Jehovah's Witnesses teaching" believes many of the same things that would be on the list of things the Jehovah's Witnesses believes.
Some of the many things Jehovah's Witnesses teach that I do not believe.
1. Jesus was not the Son of God.
2. The Millennium.
3. Only 144,000 will go to Heaven.
4. All the rest of the saved will live forever on this earth for all eternality.
5. They don't believe in blood transfusions.
6. Hell is the grave and all the dead are now in Hell. Unfortunately, it is not true that they do not believe in Hell but believe in a Hell that is now going on. The more
there are that do not believe that God slandering teaching the better, but, they do believe in Hell, just not one of the many orthodox Protestant versions of Hell although many Premillennialists who are called orthodox Protestants believe as they do, that Hell is the grave.
Unto the resurrection death is death, not any kind of life or any kind of Hell anyplace.
If "that is what Jehovah's Witnesses believes" makes anything wrong, it is such a broad argument that there is nothing in the Bible that is not destroyed by it for there is no Bible teaching that is not believed by many false religions.
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PROBABLE ORIGIN OF THIS VERSION OF HELL. Sheol is translated Hell in
the King James Version thirty-one times and grave thirty-one times. It puts all in Hell or the grave together, both the good and the bad and it is a place that those in it know nothing, a place where they will be only unto the resurrection. If one believes the mistranslation of the King James Version, then he or she must believe the grave is Hell version of Hell for it is clearly taught in the Old Testament of the King James Version.
The Jehovah's Witnesses and others who believe this version have all the proof they need in the mistranslations in the King James Version even thought it was not the intention of the translators to teach a Hell with both the saved and lost in it with no pain that will end at the resurrection; I cannot see anyway that a person that believes the King James Version just as it is would not be forced believe in the same Hell that the Jehovah‘s Witnesses believes in, their Hell is clearly taught in it.
THREE CATHOLIC VERSIONS OF HELL
[1] The Medieval Dark Age Catholic version of Hell: The soul being immortal came from Greek philosophy, and was brought into the church by some of the church fathers, by Augustine more then most others. The doctrine of Hell came soon after the immortal soul doctrine along with Purgatory, the sale of indulgences, Limbo, worship of Mary and saints, Nether World, Holy Water, the rosary, forbidding Priest to marry, the crucifix, Monks and Nuns, forbidding eating of meat on Friday, and many other teaching; and was fully developed by the Dark Age Catholic Church before the Protestant Reformation. I have found it difficult to pen down just what is the official teaching. It seems to be that in the past they believed that only a very few, the very bad, will go to Hell, which they believe is a real place, at their death with no judgment, but most will go to Purgatory at death. A few of the very good will go to Heaven at their death with no judgment [an instant rapture]. At death most Catholic will go immediately to Purgatory, which seems to be a limited version of Hell, unto they have suffered enough to pay for their sins or unto their love ones have paid all they can, then they go to Heaven. How long a person will be in Purgatory is sometimes taught to be a short time and sometimes millions of years to those who have no one to win indulgences for them. It has brought enormous wealth to the rich Catholic Church from the poor who paid what little they had and even done without food to help a loved one. The Catholic Purgatory gives no hope for heathens, heretics, or those not baptized.
[2] The new Catholic version of Hell: Pope John II, "Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life...So eternal damnation is not God's work but is actually our own doing...More than a physical place, Hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy." In a statement made to his general audience, July 28, 1999.
There are other high up Catholics who have made statements like this one but I see no use in adding more when you have this from the top person in the Catholic Church who‘s word is law. Maybe this is why two of their English Bible translations do not have the word "Hell" in them, and who knows how many other Catholics translations in other languages do not; however, because it has been the official doctrine for centuries and the decrees of councils and Popes, the Roman Catholic Church cannot officially not teach Hell is a place of eternal torment without giving up completely her claim of infallibility.
Protestantism has not made this claim of infallibility and many are giving Hell up.
[3] THE NETHER WORLD: IS THIS A NEW (third) CATHOLIC VERSION
OF HELL? More and more in today's writing, The Neither World is being used as if it is 225
a Bible place that is clearly taught in the Bible; but I have yet to read where anyone told where it is in the Bible. Do both the Nether World and Abraham's bosom now exists at the same time? If so, how are they different? I have heard the same preachers who are not Catholic preach one at one time and the other at another time. The American Heritage Dictionary says, ―NETHER, Located beneath or below; lower or under: the nether regions of the earth.‖
Where did this world that is located beneath or under this world come from? It is not in the Bible, therefore, how could anyone know about it? It came from the Catholic Church. Like Hell, they mistranslated it from hades to get it into the Bible. Both Hell and Nether World were mistranslated from the same word (hades) and both from
the same passage. See Acts 2:27 New American Bible "for you will not abandon my soul to the Nether World." Also Psalms 16:10 etc. The Nether World is a new name being put into the Bible by the same people (the Catholic Church) who put Hell into it, and it is being put into the Bible in the same way, by mistranslating the same word they mistranslated to put in Hell.
1. First: hades was mistranslated Hell in Catholic translations
2. Second: the same word in the same passage is now mistranslated Nether World in some Catholic translations.
It worked for them the first time, so they tried it a second time. When they need to prove Hell, they use one mistranslation; and when they need to prove the Nether World, they use another mistranslation of the same word in the same passage.
The Nether World and Universalist version of Hell, the "age lasting" Hell are very singular in many ways. Both have those who are not worthy of being in Heaven going through some kind of punishment but will end up in Heaven. The main different is that Catholics believe some are too evil to ever be saved and will always be tormented by God, but in the "age lasting" Hell taught by Universalists all will end up in Heaven.
The Bible version of Hell: There is no Bible version of Hell. Both the name Hell and the concept, a place where God will forever torment most of mankind was not known about in Old or New Testament times. The Greeks did not know it about or anyone back them. Christ or Paul used neither the place nor the name. An eternal place of torment for souls was not known about by anyone unto long after the last page of the Bible.
WHICH HELL DO YOU BELIEVE IN?
Most versions of Hell are based on the belief that:
A person has some part of them self that is immortal from birth and is not subject to death.
That death is not death, the dead are more alive then the living, "You shall not surely die."
(1). Some believe Satan is the tormenter. According to Jonathan Edwards and most Hell fire preachers, Satan will be doing the tormenting of all that are in Hell forever.
(2). Some believe God is the tormenter. Today many believe God will be doing the tormenting.
(3). Some denominations believe Hell will be on this earth.
(4). Others believe Hell will last for a while; but will end with all that are in Hell being saved and going to Heaven.
(5). Some believe Hell will only last unto the ones in it have paid for their sins, and then they will be destroyed.
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(6). Some believe Hell is hot.
(7). Some believe Hell is cold.
(8). Some believe Hell is dark.
(9). Some believe Hell is Metaphorical, it is not literally hot, cold or dark; we cannot understand what it is really like and are given pictures to tell us how bad it is.
(10). Some believe Hell is only mental anguish.
(11). Some believe Hell is a place of separation from God without any torment from God.
(12). Some believe Hell is under the earth.
(13). Some believe Hell is who knows where. Most, but not all, now realize there is not a place of torment under the earth and have moved it. Now who knows where they think Hell is, maybe somewhere out in space.
(14). Some believe Hell exists now, and the lost dead are now being tormented in it.
(15). Some believe Hell will not exist unto after the judgment.
(16). Some believe Hell now exists with the angels that sinned in it, but no person will be in Hell unto after the judgment.
(17). Some believe that although God is omnipresent [present in all places at the same time], nevertheless He is not present in Hell. They believe those in Hell are separated from God, they believe death is separation from God and the second death is an eternal Hell, and at the same time they believe God is there tormenting them and gives them life.
All life comes from God. He would have to be present and not present at the same time.
The lost would be separated from God and not separated from God simultaneously, for He would be wherever they were separated from Him if He were doing the tormenting.
(18). If you go back in time 50 or 100 years, most all preachers were teaching "Hell" to be a place of "fire and brimstone." Today "fire and brimstone" is almost never used by preachers or in today's theology. Do you believe in the "Hell" of today or the "Hell" of 100 years ago?
HELL HAS BEEN MOVED
Pagan philosophers mostly believed the soul was somewhere underground unto it was
reincarnated. The first time Hell is used in the King James Version, it is on this earth, and is the punishment and scattering of the nation of Israel [Deuteronomy 32:22-26].
"Though they dig into Hell" [Amos 9:27 King James Version]. Most of the "church fathers," and the Church in the Dark Age, believed Hell was underground. Both the Catholic Church and the "Apostle's creed," which is used by many Protestants says Christ descended into Hell at His death; and preached to the souls in prison. Many encyclopedias and lexicons still say this. The New Oxford American Dictionary says,
“hell ‘hel’ a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil
and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.” When I was
a child, I heard repeatedly that the Devil lived under the ground and would get you if you were bad. Now almost no one believes Hell is under ground and it has been moved to some dark place on the backside of some far away no one knows where place. Most who believed Hell to be under the earth also believed the earth will end at the coming of Christ. I have never heard them explain how the earth will be destroyed, but the Hell that is under ground (inside of the earth) will last forever.
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O-well, one is as good as another and one place is as good as any other for there is no Bible teaching for any of them. They are all man made, and believing any of them is to believe a lie. "But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" [Matthew 15:9]. The only sure thing is that what men believe about Hell is that Hell is always changing to suit the times and the denominations.
BELIEVERS IN HELL MUST
Must do away with death. If death is real, if when God said death, God meant what He said, then Hell cannot be.
Must prove that men are now immortal. Must prove that there is an immaterial, invisible part of a person that has no substance and this nothing, whatever it is, is now as immortal as it will be after the judgment; and this nothing is the only part of a person Christ will save and the only part of a person that will be in Heaven. If a person is now mortal, he cannot now be immortal.
Must make words like destroy, perish, die, death, lost be used only with a theological sense. If they are used "in the fair, stipulated, and well-established meaning of the terms" then Hell cannot be.
Must prove that Hell is in the Bible, both the name and the particular place they call Hell. If they do not prove there is a Hell, but teach it, they have added to the Bible.
Must prove that the "nehphesh" animals have in Genesis 1:20; 1:21; 1:24; 1:30; 2:19 is mortal but the "nehphesh" men have in Genesis 2:7 is immortal.
FROM WHERE DID HELL COME?
It came from pagan philosophers, and was brought into the church along with Purgatory, the sale of indulgences, Limbo, worship of Mary and saints, Nether World, Holy Water, the rosary, forbidding Priests to marry, the crucifix, forbidding eating of meat on Friday, candle-burning, and many other teachings; and was opposed by