The word "Hell" that we have in the Bible is a mistranslation of the word "Gehenna." The word "Gehenna" appears just a few times is in the Old Testament. The concept of "hell", or eternal torment in the afterlife is literally and exactly nowhere in the Old Testament.
Gehenna is a literal place, right outside of Jerusalem, where Israel practiced gross idolatry and later became called "the Valley of Slaughter" because of its reputation of idolatry and loathsomeness. Dead bodies were thrown in Gehenna and they were eaten by worms and turned to ashes by fire.
So What Did Jesus Mean We Spoke About "Gehenna?"
The understanding of historical and geographical details provides the context of Jesus usage of "Gehenna." Jesus quotes Isaiah when talking about Gehenna when he says "where the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched".
He's referring back to the valley of Gehenna, directly quoting Isaiah 66:24, which says "...the dead bodies, the worms that eat them up will not die and the fire that consumes them will not be quenched."
This literally happened. Dead bodies were eaten up by unquenchable fire and worms fed on the dead bodies until they were consumed to nothing.
If you were to visit that Valley of Slaughter today, you wouldn't see the fire still burning nor will you see immortal worms feeding on miraculously preserved dead bodies. The bodies are gone, the worms are gone, the fire is gone. The point Isaiah and Jesus were making is that the fire would not be deterred in burning up the dead bodies to nothing, the worms would not be deterred in eating up the dead bodies to nothing. And keep in mind these are mortal dead bodies in this life, not immortal conscious souls in the afterlife.
To read eternal torment into that is misguided.
"Eternal" Is Also A Mistranslation
Even "eternal fire" or "eternal punishment" is a mistranslation, as "eternal" is a mistranslation of the Greek word "aionios", which does not mean "never-ending" or anything of the sort. It means "of the age to come", or to Plato - who may have invented the word - it means something which has its source in God and the unseen realm. It has nothing to do with ongoing, never-ending time.
There is literally no verse in scripture that can prop up the pagan, non-Jewish concept of eternal torment.
Early Church Fathers Didn't Teach Eternal Torment
This is not some new, "politically correct" idea that people are making up. There is a long list of early fathers who rejected eternal torment because they understood these correct meanings of words, they didn't believe in the immortality of the soul (a pagan Greek belief), and they recognized that the scriptures either taught conditional immortality and/or final universal reconciliation.
Eternal torment was the minority belief in the early church, and among those who were less familiar with the original meanings of the text. It did not become the prominent belief until after 500 AD, with the help of the violent organized institutional church established under Constantine.
Hell is not a good translation of “Gehenna” and it never will be. Gehenna was a real place with a real history in the Jewish mind, and it must be read in that context. Once it is read in that context, the idea of eternal torment falls to pieces, as it should.
So What Did Jesus Mean We Spoke About "Gehenna?"
The understanding of historical and geographical details provides the context of Jesus usage of "Gehenna." Jesus quotes Isaiah when talking about Gehenna when he says "where the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched".
He's referring back to the valley of Gehenna, directly quoting Isaiah 66:24, which says "...the dead bodies, the worms that eat them up will not die and the fire that consumes them will not be quenched."
This literally happened. Dead bodies were eaten up by unquenchable fire and worms fed on the dead bodies until they were consumed to nothing.
If you were to visit that Valley of Slaughter today, you wouldn't see the fire still burning nor will you see immortal worms feeding on miraculously preserved dead bodies. The bodies are gone, the worms are gone, the fire is gone. The point Isaiah and Jesus were making is that the fire would not be deterred in burning up the dead bodies to nothing, the worms would not be deterred in eating up the dead bodies to nothing. And keep in mind these are mortal dead bodies in this life, not immortal conscious souls in the afterlife.
To read eternal torment into that is misguided.
"Eternal" Is Also A Mistranslation
Even "eternal fire" or "eternal punishment" is a mistranslation, as "eternal" is a mistranslation of the Greek word "aionios", which does not mean "never-ending" or anything of the sort. It means "of the age to come", or to Plato - who may have invented the word - it means something which has its source in God and the unseen realm. It has nothing to do with ongoing, never-ending time.
There is literally no verse in scripture that can prop up the pagan, non-Jewish concept of eternal torment.
Early Church Fathers Didn't Teach Eternal Torment
This is not some new, "politically correct" idea that people are making up. There is a long list of early fathers who rejected eternal torment because they understood these correct meanings of words, they didn't believe in the immortality of the soul (a pagan Greek belief), and they recognized that the scriptures either taught conditional immortality and/or final universal reconciliation.
Eternal torment was the minority belief in the early church, and among those who were less familiar with the original meanings of the text. It did not become the prominent belief until after 500 AD, with the help of the violent organized institutional church established under Constantine.
Hell is not a good translation of “Gehenna” and it never will be. Gehenna was a real place with a real history in the Jewish mind, and it must be read in that context. Once it is read in that context, the idea of eternal torment falls to pieces, as it should.
