At least the way the majority of people view hell today as a place of eternal torment, no matter if you view it as a fiery pit or not.

The KJ bible along with many bibles translated around that time translated the Hebrew word She'ohl and the Greek words Hades and Gehenna. They also translated some of these words into grave and pit. Some like the American Standard Version have gone back to the original words because of the image of Hell and there is no English word to describe them accurately.

So what do She'ohl, Hades and Gehenna mean?

The first two words are the same, merely Hebrew and Greek versions respectively. Look up these scriptures in a Bible or e-Bible just make sure that you use one with the original words instead of Hell.

She'ol and Hades are the common grave of mankind. A place where one knows nothing (Ec 9:4-6, 10).

God is in She'ohl?

Or at least "in front of him." (Prov. 15:11, Ps. 139:7,8, Amos 9:1,2)

Job, a faithful man to God prayed so that he may go to She'ohl, so that he may be remembered by God and be call from out of there. (Job 14:12-15)

Throughout the old testament She'ohl is associated with life and death.

(1Sa 2:6; 2Sa 22:6; Ps 18:4,*5; 49:7-10, 14,*15; 88:2-6; 89:48; Isa 28:15-18; also compare Ps 116:3, 7-10 with 2Co 4:13,*14.)

A quick look at Jonah and She'ohl.

When he was swallowed by the fish he was as good as dead so he compared it to being in She'ohl. Jon 2:1,2.
Jesus used his example as an illustration as for what will happen to him when he died (That is go to She'ohl for three days then be lifted up to life like Jonah was). Mt 12:40.
THough Jesus didn't use the word She'ohl there Peter did when talking abotu Jesus' death in Acts 2:27.

“The word 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 distinctions 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, 1978, p. 37.

Hades and She'ohl are not a literal place but rather a state in which a dead person enters. Where they are concious of nothing at all. (Ec 9:4-6)





Gehenna is similarly not a place of everlasting torment of a symbol of complete destruction. Many will be resurrected from Hades (Rev 20:13,14) But not Gehenna.

Jesus along with some Apostles associated Gehenna with fire. Mt 5:22. Although it is not a place where people will be burnt alive such a thing was disgusting to God (Jer 32:35) Rather its a symbolic place where dead persons are disposed of. The valley of Hinnom in Jeremiah was a place where the refuse from Jerusalem was burned.

Gehenna is a place where unlike Hades and She'ohl a person cannot be resurrected, thus eternal death - not torture. Mt 10:28


Tl;dr Hell is translated from She'ohl, Hades and Gehenna. She'ohl and Hades are a figurative place where dead persons are temporarily where they are of nothing. Jesus went to Hades or Hell for the three days he was dead.

Gehenna is symbolic place of everlasting death because it is likened to the valley of hinnom where garbage was burned forever. Wicked people go to Gehenna and have no chance of a resurrection of life.

Edit: Laymens terms: There are three words translated into Hell. One is Hades, the other two are She'ol and Gehenna. Hades = Greek form of She'ol.

Hades and She'ol is s figurative grave (a place where people go when they die) for the majority of makind. There they just don't exist. Like the flame of a candle after it is blown out. The Bible says that God and Jesus will make Hades spit up its occupants, resurrecting them to life again.

Gehenna is different though. Gehenna is a symbol for everlasting destruction. It is associated with fire because when you burn something its gone forever. Only the wicked people here on earth go there and they have no chance of an earthly resurrection. They are burnt up like in the Valley of Hinnom I mentioned above.

Good work, modern religions are very different from the beliefs they were born out of. If someone is interested in religion in one way or another, I think it is very important for them to research the origins of that religion rather then trying to understand any mistakes made during the last couple thousand years.

Along with many other practices and beliefs that originated from Pagan customs that sneak into todays mainstream religons, hell is one. There are countless others.
Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Persians, Grecians, Buddists and Hindus all taught about some sort of flaming place where humans immortal soul go.

Very good research.

In my studies I found sheol to roughly mean the state of the dead without regard to the condition after death. The definition you came up with, 'the grave' is also a great description.

The word is ancient Hebrew though, so it can have various meanings. That is the beauty of ancient Hebrew.

Gehenna was also the name of a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. I think this is what Yeshua was referring to. Clearly the residents of Jerusalem didn't like this place very much.

People want to believe that people that acted bad towards them or others, and didn't get punished during life / died without pain would not escape punishment, and get punished somewhere, somehow, even after death.
Thus the concept of Hell in many religions.

FYI, in 1999, Pope John Paul II said much the same thing. Hell is not a location, but a state of mind we place ourselves when we consciously attempt to cut ourselves off from God.

Ditto with heaven--it is not pie in the sky, but a mind-set we can place ourselves in when we are pure in heart and poor in spirit. As Blake observed,"Gratitude is heaven itself."

FYI, in 1999, Pope John Paul II said much the same thing. Hell is not a location, but a state of mind we place ourselves when we consciously attempt to cut ourselves off from God.

Ditto with heaven--it is not pie in the sky, but a mind-set we can place ourselves in when we are pure in heart and poor in spirit. As Blake observed,"Gratitude is heaven itself."

This is quite true; although i would call it a state of consciousness not a state of mind, because the mind is finite and material whilst consciousness is spiritual in nature (eternal) so we can be conscious of god, but not with our mind- that can only experience material sense gratification.

So really (to me) hell is a place where you are absent from God or at least in your consciousness and vice versa.

So according to these principals Heaven is spiritual and Hell is material; therefore it is quite possible that this life and this world is hell and heaven is to escape all of the unvirtuous things in this world.

If this is true then when we go to hell we are simply reincarnating back into this life because this life is hell; and heaven is escaping the negatives that arise from material nature.

Some non-beleivers would say this is true but not in a literal sense - that this is an attempt to counteract our nature and heaven is simple peace on earth and hell is the world acting out of humans intrinsic evil.

But i dont see any way this can occur without spiritual realization.

Sorry that i dont know shit about hebrew translatons of hell

I don't know if I made it clear enough but it is not just alienation from God. Jesus was in "hell."

I don't know if I made it clear enough but it is not just alienation from God. Jesus was in "hell."

The way you presented it made it hard to understand.

I know because of these dickheads on here demanding evidence on here that you may have done it, but it made it hard to see your point.

So...What is hell if its more than alienation form God; in laymen terms please?

I believe the concept of Hell as most people know it is this state we are in, the eternal cycle of suffering.

FYI, in 1999, Pope John Paul II said much the same thing. Hell is not a location, but a state of mind we place ourselves when we consciously attempt to cut ourselves off from God.

Ditto with heaven--it is not pie in the sky, but a mind-set we can place ourselves in when we are pure in heart and poor in spirit. As Blake observed,"Gratitude is heaven itself."

christian

So...What is hell if its more than alienation form God; in laymen terms please?

I made an edit to the original post.

Sorry, it is disorganized and cluttered. Maybe I'll fix it up one day

I made an edit to the original post.

Sorry, it is disorganized and cluttered. Maybe I'll fix it up one day

SO you are talking about the christian etymology of hell?

i dont pay much attention to the christian perception of hell anyway.

Yea basically. I saw on this forum there were a lot of lurkers talking about Hell fire knowing shit about it.

It also tells us a bit of what happens when we die.

Yea basically. I saw on this forum there were a lot of lurkers talking about Hell fire knowing shit about it.

It also tells us a bit of what happens when we die.

Yeah lol i was talking to this christian chick and hell came up, she said it was a place of fire and brimstone like it says in the bible.