"Eternal suffering awaits all those who question God's infinite love".
This statement is only paradoxical if you believe it to be true. Historians, particularly those involved in overseeing the accuracy of Biblical translations, would have you believe otherwise. (I do not read Hebrew or Greek, but luckily my husband does, and has copies of the Bible in the original Greek and Hebrew – and has spent a great deal of time studying these texts. To give credit where credit is due, most of the translation information I will go into in a second comes straight from him.)
The word "Hell" is found in many Bible translations. In the same verses other translations read "the grave", "the world of the dead", and so forth. Other Bibles simply transliterate the original-language words that are sometimes rendered "hell"; that is, they express them with the alphabet but leave the words without translation.
The words in question are the Hebrew she’ohl and its Greek equivilant hai’dies, which refer not to an individual burial place, but to the common grave of dead mankind; also the Greek ge’en-na, which is used as a symbol of eternal destruction. However, both in Christendom and in many non-Christian religions it is taught that hell is a place inhabited by demons where the wicked, after death, are punished.
Why all the confusion in translation? Encyclopedia Americana: "Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception."
Translators have allowed their personal beliefs to color their work instead of being consistent in the rendering of the original-language words. For example (1) The KJV rendered 'she'ohl' as 'hell', 'the grave', and 'the pit'..."haides" is therin rendered both 'hell' and 'grave'...'"geenna" is also translated 'hell'.
(1) Today's English Version of the Bible transliterates "haides" as "hades" and also renders it as ‘hell’ and 'the world of the dead'. But besides rendering 'hell' from 'haides', it uses that same translation for geenna!
(2) The Jerusalem Bible transliterates "haides" six times, but in other passages it translates it as 'hell' and as 'the underworld'. It also translates "geenna' as 'hell', as it does 'haides' in two instances. Thus the exact meaning of the original language words are obscured and confused.
So...IS there eternal punishment for the wicked? And just what is this 'fiery Gehenna' to which Jesus referred?
Reference to Gehenna appears 12 times in the Greek Scriptures (or 'New Testament). Five times it is directly associated with fire. Translators have rendered the Greek expression 'ge'ennan tou pyros' as "hell fire", "fires of hell", "Fiery pit", and "Fires of Gehenna".
Historical Background: The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) was outside the walls of Jerusalem. For a time it was the site of idolatrous worship, including child sacrifice. In the first century Gehenna was being used as the incinerator for the filth of Jerusalem. Bodies of dead animals were thrown into the valley to be consumed in the fires, to which sulfur, or brimstone, was added to assist the burning. Also bodies of executed criminals, who were considered undeserving of a standard burial tomb, were thrown into Gehenna.
Thus, at Matthew 5:29,30 Jesus spoke of the casting of ones 'whole body' into Gehenna. If the body fell into the constantly burning fire it was consumed, but if it landed on a ledge of the deep ravine it's putrefying flesh became infested with the ever-present maggots. (Yum, huh?) Living humans were not pitched into Gehenna; so it was not a place of conscious torment.
At Matthew 10:28, Jesus warned his hearers to "be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna". What does it mean? Notice that there is no mention here of torment in the fires of Gehenna; rather, he says 'fear him that destroy in Gehenna". By referring to the 'soul' separately, Jesus here emphasizes that God can destroy all of a person's life prospects; thus there is no hope of resurrection for him. So, the references to the "fiery Gehenna" have the same meaning as 'the lake of fire' of Revelation 21:8, namely, destruction, "second death".
When deciphering meaning, we cannot rely on translation alone. We must also take into consideration the surrounding affects – the time period, the audience, etc. Notice the first occurrence of the Greek word, gehenna, is in the Bible in Mt. 5.21-22. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.
When Jesus used the term "hell of fire" in these verses, he used the Greek word gehenna for the first time in inspired writing. The word had never occurred in the Greek Old Testament. When we read the word hell, we get a certain image in our minds of what "hell" means. It’s important to remember that none of these ideas came to the minds of Jesus' listeners, because they had never heard the word before in inspired speech.
As Jesus did not define the word "hell," we can only assume that his use of the word relates to the historical reference of Hinnom. To Jesus' audience, his words must have meant what the valley of Hinnom represented in their Old Testament background. Gehenna meant a burning, recalling a valley of slaughter of the Jews for rebelling against God - a calamitous fiery judgment. Jesus’ words would serve as a warning that they were going into the imminent fiery judgment announced by Malachi (Mal. 4.1-6) and John the Baptist. Jesus' first use of the word hell fulfilled Malachi's prophecy of the first announcement of fiery judgment.
In this first passage, Jesus didn't say what gehenna is, but his teaching were fairly consistent with the national judgment announced by Malachi and John the Baptist. The closest fire in the context is (Mt. 3.10-12), where John announced imminent fiery judgment on the nation of Israel. (Mt. 5.29-30)
In context, it would appear that Jesus' words regarding hell were not in fact messages for what happens after death, but rather a generational message, specific to HIS AUDIENCE.
So… if we can conclude that hell, in all its transliterations, does not in fact represent an actual place of torment for the wicked after death… why then would those in religious power seek to perpetuate this erroneous belief? Easy – it’s a matter of manipulation.
The concept of religion is a nifty tool for those seeking power - it has been used to exercise control over the faithful, create political dogma, and profit those who were using the pulpit to manipulate. When it comes to manipulation, religious leaders have a distinct advantage, as the role of religion usurps the very role of God. With religious leaders placed as mediators between God and man, the religious person is led to believe that communing with God is the work of specialists or pastors only. They surrender their belief in a personal relationship with God, and at once are subject to believe only what they are told by those in positions of power within the religion… under the assumption that the messages are one and the same.
Religion was forced upon people through dogma, and belief in it reinforced by a distinct reward/punishment behavioral structure. Creating the image of a "wrathful God" who would serve as a harsh observer and judge over humanity allowed the Church to violate the very concept of freewill. Authentic, true, spiritual acts require they be devoid of the prospect of punishment or reward. People who do good things merely because they expect a reward are not really altruistic, and people who do not do bad things merely because they wish to avoid a punishment are not genuinely virtuous. Punishment and rewards were offered as additional incentives to cooperate with those offering the reward or the punishment. Religion had put itself in a fine position - mediator between man and God - and humanity was completely subjected to the rewards and the punishments contrived by the Church. Manipulators from the pulpit had a fairly foolproof plan. By announcing that they were the only ones who could interpret God’s message, who could possibly go against them?
Jesus spread God’s message of love and hope. He offered believers nothing BUT that. No punishment, no reward, simply peace. The Church offered a punishment for belief in Jesus… Who did the people at the time choose to follow? (Did they really have a choice?) He who offered nothing, or he who yielded the punishment? Faith out of fear was created… and then, later on, when the Church “changed its mind about Jesus” – a new aspect was added to the punishment model – a reward for believers.
A new manipulation was created. Twisting Gods message to fit the dogmatic exploitation. Faith out of fear had been firmly established with the punishment model. Now a new model, building upon that one, was added as further reinforcement.
The basic idea seemed to be that “although God is a wrathful God, who yearns to set our sinful souls ablaze, he is also a MERCIFUL God, who had given us a loophole. He sent his only son, Jesus, to earth so that he could, through suffering, become our savior. If you believe that Jesus is your savior, you have a ticket into Heaven. However if you do NOT believe, then even the least sinful among you shall burn in eternity in Hell.”
Now there is a reward for believing as well – double whammy! If you believe, you avoid the punishment of Hell, and you get the reward of entering Heaven to be with Jesus, your savior. If you do not believe, you not only pass up the reward of Heaven, you also then face the punishment of Hell on top of it all. Further reinforcement – and a clever catch-22 for Christians. The reward/punishment model of Christianity requires that Christians believe in Hell. For if they don’t believe in Hell, than they don’t need Jesus’ Salvation, now do they? And if they don’t need to be saved by Jesus, then they really aren’t Christians, are they?
This catch-22, requiring the belief in Hell, has perpetuated one of the greatest travesties of humanity. The creation of an image of a vengeful, wrathful God, who would just as soon kill all of his creations and subject them to eternal suffering and torturous incarceration. Herein lies the paradox: the very proponents of a “loving God” celebrate the victories of the chosen (the believers) while being unable to recognize the utter victimization and oppression of the un-chosen (or unbelievers).
Hell entails incarceration for holding incorrect beliefs, immeasurable human torture, and cruel and unusual punishment... When, in the past, earthy rulers have participated in any of the aforementioned unsavory activities, they have been labeled as evil tyrants. Why, then, is it ok for God to do it? How can torture ever be considered ethical or good, and how much stock should we put into a God who partakes in such things?
If we believe in Hell, how grateful should we be to a God who created such a horrific punishment merely to punish us for being exactly as he CREATED us to be, and now wants to save us from it? Or rather… how can we believe such a thing? (That old faith out of fear aspect again…) What a contradiction: a KIND and LOVING Heavenly Father who would abandon his children for being disobedient. Who would subject them to the cruelest torture imaginable? In effect, akin to a human parent dousing his child in kerosene for misbehaving!
It is, after all, a paradox, and yet one so easily believed by those who have been raised to have faith through fear. For these believers, there is no other way – you either accept the paradox, never questioning, or you believe your soul to be damned to Hell for all eternity. The paradox itself is the crux of the faith – you must believe and never question, for even questioning is an act deserving of punishment.
by the way its long, but i think my analogy for hell is the best one ever ever ever hehe)