Liberating you from bad ideas about God
James 3:6 and James 5:3 help us see that hell is not a place of everlasting torture for the unbelieving dead, but is instead a kingdom of destruction here on earth now. It sets our lives on fire now. As such, the kingdom of hell is set in direct opposition to the kingdom of heaven as founded by Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus, we must live and operate according to His kingdom, rather than the kingdom of hell.
The image of the Lake of Fire in the book of Revelation has caused much consternation about the living conditions for the unredeemed dead. The thought of swimming around forever in a molten lake of lava is extremely distressing. So what is the Lake of Fire? Is it hell? This article shows what (and where) the Lake of Fire actually is.
Is hell a good translation of the Greek word hades? No. It is not. While the most basic meaning for hades is similar to sheol, the grave, further development in the New Testament era reveals that hades can primarily be understood as the power of despair, decay, and destruction that enslaves human beings in this life.
This study considers the words ‘abyss’ and ‘tartarus’ to see if they teach us about hell. The answer is that they do not. Neither word tells us about the dwelling place of the unregenerate dead for all eternity. Unbelievers will not spend eternity suffering in the abyss or in tartarus.
The outer darkness in Matthew is NOT a reference to hell, but is instead a way of describing the profound shame and regret that some Christians will experience when Jesus returns physically to this earth. Rather than celebrate in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, some Christians will be in the darkness outside the party. This article explains more.
This study is pulled from my book, What is Hell? This study shows that Gehenna was an actual place that existed in the days of Jesus (and still exists today), and so when we understand what Gehenna was, we better understand what Jesus was teaching when He warned people about going to Gehenna.
