Hell

So, I shared one of my SOBE lessons with someone today and he said that refering to hell as a "lake of fire" is wrong. We shouldn't be telling people this. He threw out the Hebrew and Greek for "hell" and said that King James Version has it wrong. Basically, he sounded as if hell as presented in KJV doesn't exist. He continued talking about how when we die, we're dead, our soul is dead. He said that death really means sleep. So when we die, our soul just kind of goes to sleep and we don't know anything...until judgement.

So, this made me think...(and I actually disagree...). My next few posts will be a little word study on hell, lake of fire, and death.
Today's topic: Hell

Matthew 5:29
Transliteration: Geenna (Root G1067)
1) Hell is the place of the future punishment call "Gehenna" or "Gehenna of fire". This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction.

Transliteration: gay’
H1516 1) valley, a steep valley, narrow gorge

Transliteration: Hinnom (H2011)
Hinnom = "lamentation"
1)a valley (deep and narrow ravine) with steep, rocky sides located southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the hill of evil counsel' and the sloping rocky plateau of the 'plain of Rephaim' to the south

Acts 2:27
Transliteration: Hades (G86)
1) name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions
2) Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead
3) later use of this word: the grave, death, hell
In Biblical Greek it is associated with Orcus, the infernal regions, a dark and dismal place in the very depths of the earth, the common receptacle of disembodied spirits. Usually Hades is just the abode of the wicked, Luk 16:23, Rev 20:13, 14; a very uncomfortable place. (TDNT)

2 Peter 2:4
Transliteration: tartaroo (G5020)
1) the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews
2) to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus


Now, for "lake of fire," found in Revelation:

Lake
G3041 Transliteration: limnē (from root: G3040)
through the idea of nearness of shore
G3040: a harbour, haven

Fire
4442 Transliteration: pur
Fire

So, how can we describe hell:
The English word hell is used to describe the future punishment of those who do not repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ. It is a place where the filth and the dead are cast out and burned. Physically, it is a deep, narrow revine or valley (elsewhere in the Bible it is described as a bottomless pit, a deep valley is a good description because we don't know how "deep" is "deep"). Hell also refers to the lower regions (The Word says that the unregenerent will be cast DOWN to hell) and the releam of the dead (this then would refer to spiritual death). Hell is the abode of the wicked. It is not a pleasant place to be.

Having been described as a valley, one can stretch that to the image of a lake. If you were to drain lakes, they would be valleys!

So, having given the image of "Gehenna" and a valley, one can say that "lake of fire" is an accurate description of hell.

Hmm...so do you consider yourself a good person? :)