In keeping with the discussion topic that inspired me to create this account. Let’s look at the subject of Hell.
The word Hell doesn’t appear in the bible as it was written by the men who did the writing in the first place. Not at all.
Two words have been translated into hell from the original text, neither of which should have been.
The first, is Sheoul. For reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
The second, Hades. For reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades
Notice that the original idea of Hades the location is simply a misty underworld where the dead dwell. The idea of judgement and reward or punnishement came later, whether from cultural cross-polution or just because the old stories about it got boring I couldn’t say.
The point here is that every single reference in the bible that was translated into “Hell” in english was, in fact, not a reference to that flaming Proper Noun invented by Dante to entertain. Nowhere in the bible is it stated that anyone ever goes to a hell. Not once. I challenge anyone to show me otherwise.
Here, feel free to use this. http://www.blueletterbible.org
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There’s that story about Lazarus and the rich man, where it talks about the Bosom of Abraham and whatnot, but there’s actually some debate over whether or not Jesus actually said that or not.
Here’s the passage.
I’m dubious as to the authenticity of this; for one thing, it mentions a name: Lazarus. This is the only parable that mentions somebody by name. It also only appears in Luke. I’d think that the other apostles would remember and include something like this.
On the other hand, Jesus makes several mentions of hell in the New Testament. I don’t know the original word he used, but whatever it is, it appears 14 times. I’m not really sure what this means.
Comment by Annette August 26, 2008 @ 11:05 amThe word he actually used was “Sheoul” a Hebrew word. It’s not the same as Hell at all. Further, parables were told to convey moral lessons, not to provide factual information.
Beyond that, as you said, there’s the question of the authenticity of this particular parable. The purpose of the parable was clear enough, to frighten those at their ease into taking God seriously.
Comment by biggtea August 26, 2008 @ 1:27 pm