This is a rather lengthy response to the question of does hell exist? The answer to the question is no. Hell as most people know it is a Christian adoption of pagan mythology, and isn't a biblical teaching. The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) also points out three possible interpretations. Those that don't go to heaven are tormented forever in hell; Those that don't go to heaven, just die; and Everyone goes to heaven after they die. None of these are correct biblical teachings. The Bible teaches that a few people go to heaven to judge and rule with Christ Jesus, the rest of the people who have ever (or will ever have) lived will either live forever in paradise Earth or suffer everlasting destruction. Not a literal torment, as in hell, but a simple death.
First I will address the question of hell's existence and then each of the points brought up by the SAB in support of the aforementioned three interpretations.
[b]The English Word Hell[/b]
The old English word hell means to cover or conceal. Similar words coming from the same root have a similar meaning. Hill for example is a mound of dirt or stone that covers the level surface of earth. Hull is the covering of a nut or the covered part of a ship. Heal is the covering of a wound. Hall is a building space which is used to cover people or goods. Hole is an uncovering. Shell.
In the early days to hell potatoes meant to cover them, as to store them in a cellar or underground. To hel (one l) a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. The term heling a house is still used in the New England portions of the United States.
At first the use of hell had no pagan meaning to it. It was simply used as the common grave of man. To go to hell in the old English language meant simply that one was dead and buried. It was in Germany and England that the word began to evolve into the pagan unscriptural meaning of eternal punishment.
[b]Poor Modern Translation[/b]
The original meaning of the word hell is not so much a poor translation of the Hebrew sheohl (English Transliteration sheol) and the Greek Haides (English transliteration hades), as much as it is a case of the word having evolved into a pagan meaning; the modern day translation of hell is misleading.
The Catholic Douay Version translates sheohl as hell 64 times and once as death. The King James Version translates sheohl 31 times as hell, 31 times as grave and 3 times as pit. This is common in older translations, such as is used by the English Revised Version (1885) where sheohl is transliterated in many cases but most of the occurrences were translated as grave, or pit. Hell being used 14 times. The American Standard Version (1901) transliterated sheohl in all 65 occurrences and haides in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Geenna (English Gehenna) is translated hell.
[b]The Hebrew Sheol[/b]
The Hebrew word sheol is the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not to be mistaken for the Hebrew words for individual burial place (qever - Judges 16:31), grave (qevurah - Genesis 35:20), or individual tomb (gadhish - Job 21:32) but rather the common grave of all mankind whatever the form of burial might be.
The Greek philosophical teaching of the immortality of the human soul and hell began to infiltrate Jewish teachings probably around the time of Alexander The Great. The Bible itself, however, is in stark contrast to the teachings of pagan origin regarding the soul, which is not immortal (Ezekiel 18:4; Matthew 10:28) and therefore can't suffer forever in hell. The Bible also teaches that there is no consciousness in hell. (Ecclesiastes 9:4-10). Since we are freed from, or acquitted from sin upon death, further punishment would be unjust. (Romans 6:7)
Sheol corresponds with the Greek Haides, both being the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not a place of fire, but of darkness (Job 10:21) a place of silence (Psalm 115:17) rather than a place filled with tortured screams.
[b]The Greek Hades[/b]
The Greek word Hades corresponds to the Hebrew Sheol as is indicated by the apostle Peter's reference to Psalms 16:10 at Acts 2:27-31 where Jesus had fulfilled David's prophecy that Jesus would not be left in hell. Peter quoted Psalms and used the Greek hades in place of sheol. Likewise Jesus himself said that like Jonah, he would spend three days in hell. (Jonah 1:17; Jonah 2:2; Matthew 12:40)
The Greek word Hades occurs 10 times in the Christian Greek scriptures. (Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 20:13-14.
It means the unseen place. In ten of the occurrences of hades it is in reference to death. It is not to be confused with the Greek word for grave (taphos), tomb (mnema) or memorial tomb (mnemeion), but is rather the common resting place of the dead. The place of death.
Jesus also uses hades at Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 in a figurative way to indicate the debasement of Capernaum compared to heaven.
Also see The Rich Man And Lazarus below.
[b]The Greek Gehenna[/b]
Unlike the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, there is really no excuse for mistaking the Greek Geenna (Hebrew Geh Hinnom - English Transliteration Gehenna) with the notion of any hell, either the old English word meaning covered or the pagan hell of today's Christianity.
The Christian Greek Gehenna is a literal place - a valley that lies South and South-West of ancient Jerusalem. It is the modern day Wadi er-Rababi (Ge Ben Hinnom), a deep, narrow valley. Today it is a peaceful and pleasant valley, unlike the surrounding dry and rocky terrain, and most certainly unlike the pagan / apostate Christian hell.
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[b]Modern Day Gehenna[/center][/b]
In the days of unfaithful Kings Manasseh and Ahaz idolatrous worship of the pagan god Baal was conducted in the place which was then known as Geh Hinnom, (the valley of Hinnom) including human sacrifices to fire. It is ironic that the pagan custom of burning in fire, as in hell, would have so clearly infiltrated the Christian teachings, considering that this practice was a detestable thing to Jehovah God, and his prophets spoke of a time when this place would be turned into a defiled and desolate place. (2 Chronicles 28:1-3; 33:1-6; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 32:35).
The prophecy was fulfilled in the days of faithful King Josiah, who had the place, especially the area known as Topeth polluted into a refuse heap. (2 Kings 23:10)
So it was that in the days of Jesus and the early Christian congregations, that the valley was known as a literal place where the carcasses of criminals and animals were thrown, having no hope for resurrection. The refuse there was kept burning with sulphur, which is abundant in the area. When Jesus used Gehenna as a figurative - a symbolic reference to the spiritually dead - the people in the area knew what he was talking about.
[b]The Greek Tartarus[/b]
The Greek word Tartarus is found only once in scripture, at 2 Peter 2:4. It is often mistranslated as hell. Tartarus in the Christian Greek scriptures refers to a condition of debasement, unlike the pre-Christian pagan Tartarus (as in Homer's Iliad) which is a mythological prison. The word basically means the lowest place.
Peter refers to the angels who in the time of Noah forsook their original positions and became men in order to have relations with the women of earth. The result was their offspring being giants, the Nephilim, who caused so much destruction God had to bring forth the flood. (Genesis 6:1-4; Ephesians 6:10-12; Jude 1:6).
It is interesting that this verse is often mistranslated because when Jesus was resurrected from Sheol / Hades (Hell in some translations) on earth, he first went to tartarus to minister to the disobedient angels whom had been lowered in position - who happened to be in heaven in a position of debasement. This means that if you don't understand the mistranslation you would see Jesus go to hell on earth and then hell in heaven.
[b]The Pagan Hell[/b]
The Pagan teaching of hell was adopted by the apostate Christian church. Today's thinking of hell comes more from Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost, but the teaching of hellfire is much older than the English word hell or Dante and Milton. It comes from Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs of a nether world. A place where gods and demons of great strength and fierceness presided over the damned.
Ancient Egyptian beliefs considered the Other World to be a place of pits of fire for the damned though they didn't think this lasted forever. Islamic teaching considers hell as a place of everlasting punishment. Hindus and Buddhists think of hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration.
[b]Separation From God[/b]
Modern day Christians often try to soften the teaching of hell as a separation from God, but hell (as is often translated from the Hebrew Sheol and Greek Hades) can't be a separation from God, since God is in effect there - it is in front of him. He watches sheol for the time when the dead shall be resurrected. (Proverbs 15:11; Psalms 139:7-8; Amos 9:1-2).
[b]Lazarus And The Rich Man - Luke 16:19-31[/b]
Jesus often taught people in a way which was easy for them to grasp. One way of doing this is through parables, or illustration. They are stories, which are not meant to be taken as literal accounts. Such is the case with the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Notice that the Rich man is buried in hades. If this account is to be taken literally then the Bible would contradict itself with all of the information being given in this article, but lets not leave it up to what may be thought to be my own personal interpretation.
Let it also be known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? (John 3:13).
[b]The Lake Of Fire[/b]
The lake of fire is sometimes referred to as hell. The lake of fire is obviously a symbolic reference to everlasting destruction. Since hell itself is thrown into the lake of fire they can't be one and the same. Since death is thrown into the lake of fire and death isn't something that can be thrown literally, the lake is obviously symbolic. The fact that hell and death are symbolically destroyed by fire is harmonious with the end of sin which brought death. Those not thrown into the lake of fire are the meek who will inherit the earth and live forever upon it.
[b]Secular And Religious References To Hell[/b]
"Sheol was located somewhere 'under' the earth . . . . The state of the dead was one of neither pain nor pleasure. Neither reward for the righteous nor punishment for the wicked was associated with Sheol. The good and bad alike, tyrants and saints, kings and orphans, Israelites and gentiles - all slept together without awareness of one another." - Encyclpaedia Britannica (1971, Vol. 11, p. 276)
"Hades . . . it corresponds to 'Sheol' in the O.T. and N.T., it has been unhappily rendered 'hell' " - Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2 p. 187)
"First it (Hell) stands for the Hebrew Sheohl of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament . Since Sheohl in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word 'hell,' as understood today, is not a happy translation." - Collier's Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28)
"Much Confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheohl and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception." - The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81)
"The word ( sheol ) occurs often in the Psalms and in the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go. It is represented as a dark place, in which there is no activity worthy of the name. There are no moral distinction there, so 'hell' ( KJV ) is not a suitable translation, since that suggests a contrast with 'heaven' as the dwelling-place of the righteous after death. In a sense, 'the grave' in a generic sense is a near equivalent, except that Sheol is more a mass grave in which all the dead dwell together . . . . The use of this particular imagery may have been considered suitable here [ in Jonah 2:2 ] in view of Jonah's imprisonment in the interior of the fish." - A Translators Handbook on the Book of Jonah, Brynmor F. Price and Eugene A. Nida, 1978, p 37
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SW-User
Grief, you have gone to a lot of trouble here to explain the absence of God.
@SW-User Time didn't exist until the universe existed. Since God created the universe that would mean hell - I assume you were talking about hell - didn't exist until people started dying. About 1,000 years after man's creation which was the last of creation and an indeterminate time since the creation of the universe and therefor time.
SW-User
@AkioTsukino I think revelations talks about discord in heaven. And Paul talks about ‘powers’ not being about to separate us from the love of God in Romans. So it’s beyond my comprehension.
@SW-User Below is a response I did to the Skeptic's Annotated Bible, Revelation chapter 1. Here is a link to an old version of that I had online, along with the other 21 chapters linked at the bottom or on the top menu. https://web.archive.org/web/20110725110630/http://thedaystar.webs.com/revelation/rev1.html
A Response To The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) - Revelation Chapter 1
[SAB] Revelation 1:1, 3 John believed that the things that he wrote about would happen soon, within his own lifetime. After nearly 2000 years, believers still believe that "the time is at hand" and that the events described in Revelation will "shortly come to pass."
See What The Bible Says About The End Of The World
[SAB] Revelation 1:5-7 "Jesus ... washed us ... in his own blood."
Response: It is interesting that the SAB has this listed under cruelty and violence. What Jesus' having washed us in his own blood actually means is that he gave his life for us, and according to the Bible there is no greater love than that. (John 15:13) Part of the reason the skeptic sees the sacrifice of blood as barbaric is due to their lack of understanding. The Bible teaches that the soul is in the blood of any living creature. The soul, which is life, is sacred. (Leviticus 17:11, 14) Jehovah is the source of life and so man himself can't replace the life which he takes. So, when God gave man permission to eat meat it was with the stipulation that the blood be poured back on the ground, representing that the soul - the life, belonged to God. (Psalm 36:9 / Ezekiel 18:4 / Genesis 9:5-6 / Deuteronomy 12:15-16)
Since the soul and life were sacred the blood of a murdered person defiled the earth, and only by spilling the blood of the murderer could the defilement be cleansed. (Numbers 35:19-21, 31, 33) When a body was found murdered and it wasn't known who the murderer was the city nearest to the site was bloodguilty, and a sacrifice must be made to remove the bloodguilt. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)
The temporary sin removing feature of the Law covenant, which was validated by the blood of animals, was only a foreshadow of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, because, only through the perfect sinless sacrifice of Christ could the perfect state of life before the sin of Adam be had. (Hebrews 9:13-14)
[SAB] "Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him."
Millions have lived and died without ever seeing him coming "with clouds."
Response: Not everyone, just those who, like in the days of Noah, ignore the warning. If his coming with the clouds is meant to be taken literally how could those which had pierced him, now long dead, literally see him coming along with the rest of those living at that time? Jesus spoke of his presence in these times as being evident through signs (Matthew 24:30) and as theologian R. Govett, in 1864 put it: "This seems to me very decisive. The giving a sign of the Presence shows that it is secret. We need no signal to make known to us the presence of what we see." The storm clouds of the time of his presence is like in the days of Noah. A warning to those who are paying attention and though seen by all, ignored by most.
[SAB] "He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him."
Everyone will see Jesus descend from the sky. Such an event would only be possible on a flat earth.
Response: It wouldn't be possible for everyone to see Jesus descend from the sky on a flat earth, either. Not for those who were more than a short distance away, or on the other side of mountains or trees or in houses. The Greek word parousia literally means "being alongside," rather than a simple arrival. Josephus used the Greek parousia to indicate God's invisible presence signified by lightning and thunder (Jewish Antiquities, III, 80 (v.2)) and Paul used the related term pareimi (present) to indicate his presence in spirit though not in body. (1 Corinthians 5:3) The Bible writers didn't believe the earth was flat (Isaiah 40:22, where the Hebrew word chugh, meaning "circle," or "sphere" is used) though that wouldn't matter anyway. The presence of Christ isn't a literal or physical coming to earth in human form.
[SAB] "Every eye shall see him."
See Will Jesus' second coming be visible to all?
Well, not according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, anyway. Even though Matthew 24:30 says he'll return "on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory" and this verse says that "every eye shall see him," The Governing Body claims that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 without clouds, glory, or being seen by anyone.
Response: I can't speak for the JW's, but as far as I know they don't believe that Jesus' presence, as such, began at that time. They believe that his presence is a turning of his attention to earth long after the establishment of his Kingdom in 1914. The 1999 Watchtower of May, 1, pages 12-13, paragraph 19 says of Matthew 24:30: "Note that Matthew 24:29-31 foretells that (1) the Son of man comes, (2) this coming will be with great glory, (3) the angels will be with him, and (4) all the tribes of the earth will see him. Jesus repeats these elements in the parable of the sheep and the goats. (Matthew 25:31-46) Hence, we can conclude that this parable deals with the time, after the opening outbreak of tribulation, when Jesus will come with his angels and sit down on his throne to judge. (John 5:22; Acts 17:31; compare 1 Kings 7:7 / Daniel 7:10, 13-14, 22, 26; Matthew 19:28.) Who will be judged, and with what result? The parable shows that Jesus will give attention to all nations, as if they were assembled right before his celestial throne."
[SAB] Revelation 1:13-16 Jesus has white hair, eyes of fire, feet of brass, and has a sword sticking out of his mouth.
Response: The Book being symbolic, gives Jesus with white hair, which of course, represents wisdom. (Proverbs 16:31) Eyes of fire represent a searching. If dark eyes meant an inability to see then eyes of fire would likely symbolize an alertness, keen sight and the ability to perceive and so judge. (Romans 11:10) The sword reference is later explained in Revelation 19:15: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."
Jesus, as the Word (or representative) of Jehovah, who will pronounce judgments upon the nations; of the wicked; the sword, then, protruding from his mouth is a fitting symbol.
The brass mentioned in the KJV reads copper in most modern translations because the modern day brass alloy of copper and zinc wasn't known in Bible times so the "brass" in the KJV refers to any copper alloy aside from zinc. Copper and tin for example, being bronze, is common in ancient findings with a 2 to 18 percent tin. The Bible typically represents the divine with gold and the human with copper. The foot typically figuratively represented the path that one took, if it was good or bad. (Psalm 119:59 / Romans 3:15) and when walking upon holy ground one was to remove their sandals. (Exodus 3:5) So the brass feet of Jesus in Revelation 1:15 says a great deal about what is going on. Jesus walking upon holy ground as a tested human judge for the sake of bringing righteousness to mankind in the name of Jehovah.
[SAB] "He had in his right hand seven stars."
Jesus holds seven stars in his hand. Of course, it is possible that this is metaphorical. Perhaps. But it is clear from other verses (6:13; 8:10; 12:4) that John thought of stars as being small, perhaps even small enough for Jesus to hold in his hand.
Response: The meaning of the seven stars is explained in verse 20. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."
That is to say that in the seven congregations Jesus has full control and direction. The body of elders have his favor in each of the congregations. Also see Revelation 2:1. Jesus is the head of the congregation, and they shine as candles in a dark world. Stars are used metaphorically throughout the Bible. For example, the righteous shine like stars (Daniel 12:3) and the falling or dimming of stars and the sun and moon represents a dark period. (Isaiah 13:10 / Ezekiel 32:7)
[SAB] Revelation 1:17 "I am the first and the last."
See Is Jesus God?
[SAB] Revelation 1:18 "I [Jesus] ... have the keys of hell and of death."
Response: Listed under cruelty and violence. That is odd to me. Jesus having the keys to hell (from the Greek haides, meaning the unseen resting place of the dead) and death itself represents that he will take away death and raise the dead. (John 5:24-29)
