Hi Soros.
To mainstream christian teachers there are basically 4 words translated as "hell" from scripture.
1. Hades in the greek or sheol from the hebrew from the old testament, These two are the same as is shown by Acts 2:27. It is a quotation of Psalm 16:10. Where sheol is used in the Psalm verse, hades is used in Acts.
2. Gehenna is a literal dump/ravine just below Jerusalem where the city refuse was incinerated.
3. Tartarus is a place where sinning messengers are kept for chastening judgment (2 Peter 2:4). It is a place of detention, before, the lake of fire, not a place of punishment.
4. The lake of fire is where satan, his messengers, the beast, the false prophet and all the unbelievers will be cast after judgment. The lake of fire is by definition “the second death”, and since death is temporary, so is the lake. The fact that all the authorized versions (KJV, NIV, ASV etc) translate the stay in the lake as eternal, does not make it so. When Christ abolishes all enemies and perfects the creation, the lake of fire will have no more use. When sin is done away with by the sacrifice of Christ (Daniel 9:24 and Hebrews 9:26) the lake of fire will be emptied. No sin, no death, no one dead in their sins. That means there will be no more ungodly.
Literally from the greek, hades means UN-PERCEIVED. It is the imperceptible, or the unseen. It is a place where nothing is perceived. In other words, it is a place of unconsciousness. A look at scripture will help here.
The soul, which is the seat of sensation, is not the spirit. Genesis 2:7 (KJV) says “and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (the spirit), and man became a living soul”.
When someone dies (anyone, believer or not) the spirit goes back to God who gave it. (And the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it. Eccl. 12:7) Just before Christ expired He said “Father, into Thy hands am I committing My spirit” (Luke 23:46). The spirit is the God breathed life force and it returns to God at death.
The soul goes to sheol or hades. (Acts 2:27) So without God’s life giving spirit, there is no consciousness.
This is true death. The absence of life. We have been taught that death is simply life in another state. In other words, I was brought up to believe that we never really die. In fact, Christ only hath immortality at the present time. (1 Timothy 6:16). He will have to resurrect us. If we are already in heaven when He returns, why do we need to be resurrected?
John 11:11 tells of Lazarus being dead. Christ explained that Lazarus was “asleep”. “I go that I may awake him out of sleep”. Verse 14 assures us that “Lazarus is dead”. He didn’t say “I go that I may bring him back from heaven or paradise or where ever.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 The living know that they must die, BUT THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING
Ecclesiasted 9:10 Whatsoever they hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.
Psalm 146:4 His (mans) spirit goeth forth, he returneth to his ground, in that very day, his thoughts perish.
This is the un-perceived. The unseen, the imperceptible, the place of unconsciousness. This is hades. When we die, we’re actually dead.
In Acts 2:27, Christ said “For thou wilt not be forsaking my soul in the unseen”. He had already said ““Father, into Thy hands am I committing My spirit” (Luke 23:46). So His spirit went back to God who gave it and His soul went to the unseen where it remained for 3 days. He tasted death for every man.
So Soros, in answer to your question, the lake of fire is where all the ungodly will be cast after judgment for a period of time. Gehenna is a dump where the corpses of the ungodly will be thrown. Not their consciousness kept for eternity. Tartarus is a place where sinning messengers are to be kept for “chastening judging”, and hades/sheol is simply where the unconscious soul is said to be after death (where, by the way, they will not be perceiving anything until Christ resurrects them). Nowhere.
Hey, you asked.
:-)
alan w |
