@
CherubRam
Alrighty then. This is not in the bible....????/
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28)
If it is not there, then does that mean that there is nowhere for eternal punishment?
Rev 20:10 states... KJV
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
I dont know about you but I do know that I would not like to be in a burning lake.
Gehenna — its name conjures up a picture of a dark, fiery, evil place of refuse and pain, filled with gnashing of teeth and agony beyond all comprehension. Most of the time, Christians think of Gehenna as the place Jesus referred to in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke to illuminate the...
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Whatever the word used — Gehenna, Tartarus, hell, or the eternal lake of fire — none of these places hold any value or hope for the child of God, who is called to put his or her hope, trust, faith, and soul in the Lord above all.
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Gehenna — its name conjures up a picture of a dark, fiery, evil place of refuse and pain, filled with gnashing of teeth and agony beyond all comprehension.
Jesus referred to it nearly a dozen times in the gospel accounts, and today, the word is often synonymous with hell, a terrible, vile place that evokes violent images of anguish, unrelenting misery, and destruction.
But what is Gehenna in the Bible? Here, we delve into its Hebrew origin and meaning.
What Does ‘Gehenna’ Mean in the Bible?
Most of the time, Christians think of Gehenna as the place Jesus referred to in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke to illuminate the dangers of not falling in line with the way of the Lord. Those who walk astray — the hypocrites, the wicked, the enemies of the Father — are destined to an eternity of excruciating destruction in the fiery pits of hell.
But we first learn about Gehenna in the Old Testament. The word Gehenna is derived from the Hebrew
ge Hinnom, or the “valley of Hinnom.” Mention of the place comes in
2 Chronicles 28 in relation to Ahaz, a king of Judah who did evil in the eyes of God.
In addition to making worship sacrifices for the Baals, false gods,
2 Chronicles 28:3 tells us, “He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites” (NIV).
A few chapters later, we read about another king of Judah, Manasseh, who was even more evil than his ancestral predecessor. Manasseh not only worshipped the stars, erected altars to the Baals, and made sacred poles to honor the false mother goddess, Asherah, but he also desecrated God’s temple.
As the Bible tells us, “He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritualists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger” (
2 Chronicles 33:6).
These children were thought to have been sacrificed to the false god Molech, or Molek, who was particularly despised by the Lord. Molech was referred to as the “detestable god of the Ammonites” in
1 Kings 11:7 and was associated with child sacrifice and gruesome orgies.
Therefore, this valley, this Gehenna, was a detestable place to God’s people. God refers to it as the “valley of slaughter” in
Jeremiah 7:31 and in
Jeremiah 19:2-6, a place of ruin and disaster.
In
Isaiah 30:33, it is referred to as Topheth, a horrible, fearsome place: “Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.”
Later, the valley was used as a place to contain the garbage and filth of the city. As Easton’s Bible Dictionary illustrates, “Here the dead bodies of animals and of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were cast and consumed by fire kept always burning. It thus in process of time became the image of the place of everlasting destruction.”
What Did Jesus Say about Gehenna?
It is this violent, disgusting place of filth — the dumping ground of the city — that Jesus uses to illuminate his point about the evil awaiting those not in alignment with God the Father.
Jesus mentions Gehenna at least 11 times in the New Testament, and some of the apostles refer to it as well. The word is mostly rendered “hell,” with Gehenna in the margins or footnotes.
For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses the word several times. In Matthew 5, He warns that it is far better for the body to endure temporary pain, loss, destruction, or other maladies here on earth than to suffer an eternity of destruction in hell. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:29-30,
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
While the NIV and most modern English translations use the word “hell,” the word in Greek is
geenna, or
Gehenna, defined by Strong’s Concordance as “a valley west and south of Jerusalem, also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly.” This concept of a “final place” for the ungodly and evil naturally becomes, for most people,
tantamount to hell.
A few chapters later, Jesus again uses this fearsome symbol of the hellish valley, urging His followers, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Better short-term suffering than everlasting torment in the Valley of Slaughter, Jesus is saying in essence.
In case it’s not clear,
Matthew shows Jesus repeating this warning in Matthew 18:9 — better one eye on earth than two forever in hell — and again in Matthew 23, proclaiming impending woe and destruction to the Pharisees and other hypocrites, a “brood of vipers.” “How will you escape being condemned to hell?”, Jesus asks (Matthew 23:33).
