August 9
HELL / PART 8
FACTS ABOUT GEHENNA
( The Bible Hell, J. W. Hanson )
-"Gehenna" was a well-known locality near Jerusalem, and ought no more to be translated "hell", than should
Sodom or Gomorrah. See Josh. 15:8; II Kings 17:10; II Chron. 28:3; Jer. 7:31, 32; 19:2.
-"Gehenna" is never employed in the Old Testament to mean anything else than the place with which every Jew
was familiar.
-The word should have been left untranslated as it is in some versions, and it would not be misunderstood. It
was not misunderstood by the Jews to whom Jesus addressed it. Walter Balfour well says: "What meaning would the Jews who were
familiar with this word, and knew it to signify the "Valley of Hinnom", be likely to attach to it when they heard it used
by our Lord? Would they, contrary to all former usage, transfer its meaning from a place with whose locality and history they
had been familiar from their infancy, to a place of misery in another world? This conclusion is certainly inadmissible. By
what rule of interpretation, then, can we arrive at the conclusion that this word means a place of misery and death?"
-Neither Christ nor His apostles ever named it to Gentiles, but only to Jews which proves it a locality only
known to Jews, whereas, if it were a place of punishment after death for sinners, it would have been preached to Gentiles
as well as Jews.
-It was only referred to twelve times on eight occasions in all the ministry of Christ and the apostles, and
in the gospels and epistles. Were they faithful to their mission to say no more than this on so vital a theme as an endless
"hell", if they intended to teach it?
-Only Jesus and James ever named it. Neither Paul, John, Peter nor Jude ever employ it. Would they not have
warned sinners concerning it, if there were a "Gehenna" of torment after death?
-Paul says he "shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God," and yet though he was the great preacher of
the gospel to the Gentiles he never told them that "Gehenna" is a place of after-death punishment. Would he not have repeatedly
warned sinners against it were there such a place?
-When Jesus warned against the judgment of "Gehenna" in Matthew 23:33, He immediately explained it as about
to come in this life (vs. 36 … All these things shall come upon this generation …)" ( The Bible Hell,
J. W. Hanson )
-The damnation ( judgment ) of "hell" ( "Gehenna" ) did come upon the Jews in 70-73 A.D. In July of 70 A.D.
the Roman Army, led by Titus, attacked and overran the city of Jerusalem. According to Josephus, over 1,000,000 Jews perished
in the siege. The prophecy of Jeremiah 7:30-34 came to pass in 70-73 A.D. The "Valley of the Son of Hinnom" became the valley
of slaughter. The Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem, leveled the Temple, and burned the city to the ground. As Jesus prophesied
in Matthew 23:33-36, the Jews did not escape the JUDGMENT OF "GEHENNA", FOR THEIR BODIES WERE PILED UP IN THE VERY VALLEY
OF "GEHENNA". Let us stop teaching the traditions of men about "Gehenna". Let us …
-TEACH THE TRUTH!-
