SERMON - IS HELL REAL OR IS IT MEANT TO MAKE US REPENT?

 IS THERE A LITERAL PLACE OF PUNISHMENT CALLED "HELL?"

IS THE PUNISHMENT OF THIS "HELL" EVERLASTING ETERNAL?

Many Christians have a very strong opinion of things that they know virtually nothing about. Hundreds of times I have been told that "hell" is a literal place of literal fire which is everlasting or eternal. They have no proof of any such thing. Time and again I am told: "The Bible is LITERAL, Ray. You have to take it literally." Oh really, and do they even believe their own words?

Let's see if you believe the Bible teaches a literal hell of literal fire that lasts literally for eternity.

If there are Scriptures that clearly show that "hell fire" is not literal nor eternal, then how can there also be contradicting Scriptures which would suggest that "hell fire" is literal and is eternal? Hell fire cannot be both literal and eternal at one place in the Scriptures, but then it is also figurative and temporary at another place in the Scriptures. It is either one or the other, it cannot be both.

Let's look at a few examples from no less an authority on this subject than Jesus Christ Himself (Note: All quotations of Jesus in this paper will appear in red type).

"You have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell.

And if your right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell" (Matt. 5:27-30).

Mark's account adds these words:

"...into hell fire...where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. For EVERY ONE shall be salted with fire..." (Mark 9:48-49).

And this includes you and me, (Matt. 3:11 & I Pet. 4:12). 

From just this one teaching of Jesus we can know absolutely whether "hell fire" is literal and whether it is everlasting or eternal.

Let's pay close attention to just one statement from Jesus that should help everyone to see that this is figurative language that teaches us a great spiritual truth. Jesus did not say what most Christians think He said. 

Jesus did not say: "And if your eye offends you, repent of your lust or God will cast you into an hell of immortal worms and everlasting fire which will never stop burning." 

But that is what most Christians think Jesus meant even if He didn't actually say it. Nonsense.

"And if your eye offend you..."

This word "offend" means: "to entice you to sin" (Strong's Greek Dictionary).
Now then, is it even "literally" possible for a physical organ of the body to be the cause of a moral or spiritual sin? No, it is not possible. Lusting after a woman does not have its origin in the eyes but rather in the heart.

"...whosoever looks [with the eyes] on a woman to lust [in his heart, not in his eyes] after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart."

The lust of the eyes is itself a "figure of speech." We "look" with our eyes, but we "lust" with our heart. And the "heart" in Scripture virtually never means the organ of the body which pumps blood. The "heart" in Scripture is the inner most man, the seat of emotions and passions, conscience, and moral character. No physical organ of the body has even one of these spiritual attributes. More proof:

"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders" (Mark 7:21).

Did you notice that "looking on a woman to lust after her" IS adultery, and it comes not from the eyes, but from the heart. So then, is this teaching in Matt. 5:27-30, literal, or figurative? It is figurative. More proof...

Here's what Jesus said to do if one finds himself looking at a woman to lust after her: 

"...if your right eye offend you [entices you to sin] pluck it out ... if your right hand offend you cut it off..."

What? "Pluck it out ... cut it off?"

And lying two-faced hypocritical theologians tell us that the Bible must be taken "literally?" That both hell and hell fire are "literal?" That we are to pluck out our eyes and cut off our hands and feet, literally? Are they crazy?

If this teaching on hell by Jesus Christ is to be taken literally, how come you don't see millions and millions of Christians around the world having NO EYES, AND NO FEET, AND NO HANDS? Is there even one Christian in a billion that takes these Scriptures literally when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is? No, their failure to "literally" follow Jesus' command belies their assertion that virtually all of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus are "literal." 

But what about the "worms that don't die," and the "fire never quenched?" Simple: Jesus never used the words "hell fire."

Two things we should never find in a Bible: [1] The old Anglo Saxon word "hell," and [2] any word denoting "endless time," as in "for ever AND ever," "everlasting," or "eternal." There is no such equivalent in any Hebrew or Greek manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures.

Furthermore, if "for ever" means an eternity, what pray tell does "for ever AND EVER" mean? Multiple eternities? How many eternities are there?

The first place that "hell fire" appears in the Greek New Testament is in Matt. 5:22. Virtually all Bibles with a center reference will refer you to the marginal note on "hell" where it says, "Greek: Gehenna." And Gehenna is Greek for the Hebrew word "Hinnom" or "Valley of Hinnom," which is found outside the city walls of Jerusalem on the south side.

You can, if you wish, take a stroll through hell in Jerusalem it is now part of a city park. In the time of Christ's ministry this valley was the Jerusalem city garbage dump, and for centuries, as long as garbage was thrown into it, the fires kept burning and the worms which ate the garbage didn't die out they kept reproducing, year after year after year.

The only way ... the ONLY WAY, that any Christian can claim that hell, hell fire, immortal worms, never-ending fire, eternal torture, etc., can be literal is if we take everything literally that Jesus said regarding hell (Gehenna fire). You cannot separate what Jesus says MUST be done to avoid having, "...your whole body cast into hell [Gehenna], from what Christians say hell is. In other words, you cannot avoid a LITERAL HELL by performing a FIGURATIVE action.

Jesus did not say: "If your right literal eye literally offends you, FIGURATIVELY pluck your literal eye out..." But that's the kind of insane theological poppycock that is peddled from the pulpits. 

How is it possible to "figuratively" pluck out one's eyes, and cut off one's hands and feet to avoid a "literal" eternal hell fire, and then insist that the words of Jesus and most of the Bible must be taken literally?

Why do you stand for such utter and unscriptural nonsense? Why would you want to continue defending such illogical ignorant enemies of God's Word? You would never stand for such a travesty, such a miscarriage, such a violation of sound scholarship in any other area of your life, save when it comes to religion.

METAPHORS, PARABLES, AND FIGURES OF SPEECH

Fire is figurative language for judgment cleansing and purifying. Heb. 12:29 says that 

"Our GOD is a CONSUMING FIRE."

Is God literally composed of physical fire? No, God is "SPIRIT" (John 4:24), and God is "INVISIBLE" (Col. 1:15). How can something that is visible and physical as fire be SPIRIT?
This is a metaphor, where one thing is said to be something else. such as:

• "the lake of fire IS the second death"
  
  
• "this bread IS My body"
  
  
• "the word of God IS sharper than a sword"
  
  
• "the good seed ARE the children of the kingdom"
  
  
• "you ARE the salt of the earth"
  
  
• "the seven candle sticks ARE the seven churches"
  

None of these are literal. They are only "like" the things they are said to be, and even then, they are like these things, but only in certain ways.

And so God is "like a consuming fire" in certain ways. Many times Scriptures will use the word "like" rather than "is." Here's a perfect example in Malachi 3:2-3, where fire is also used, figuratively:

"But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears? for He is LIKE a refiner's fire, and LIKE fullers' soap."

Shamefully, Christians think God tortures people with real fire for all eternity, but for what purpose does God really use His figurative fire? Answer:

"And He shall sit AS a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify..."

Notice that God is not literally "a refiner and purifier of silver." That's why we find the word "AS" in this verse.

• God is "LIKE a refiner's fire"
  
  
• God is "LIKE fullers' soap"
  
  
• God shall sit "AS a refiner and purifier" 
  

But what is God going to "refine and purify?" Silver? Gold? No.

What is God going to wash with "fullers' soap?" Silver? Gold? No.

Here is what God Who is "like" a refiner and purifier of Silver and is "as" fullers' soap is going to refine, purify, and wash with soap:

"...and He shall purify THE SONS OF LEVI, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness" (Malachi 3:2-3].

(I will identify "the sons of Levi" in another paper)

And just as with the parable of the eyes, hands, and feet, we cannot deduce that cutting off our hands and feet, and plucking out our eyes is figurative, and yet be doing this figurative act to avoid a literal Gehenna fire of judgment. Now then, let's notice Malachi 3:2 again. It is total foolishness to believe or teach that the "refiner's fire" in this Scripture is literal fire seeing that we have not one, but two purifying agents in this Scripture: a "refiner's fire" and "fullers' soap." Both are used for the same one purpose to "...purify the sons of Levi..." 

First of all if God used literal fire it would kill the sons of Levi, not purify them. Second, does anyone really believe that God will have people strip down naked, and then scrub them clean in a literal bath tub of literal water and literal fullers' soap? Or, is God going to physically and literally bath these people clean with water and fullers' soap so He can then burn them with literal fire? What was the purpose of cleaning them first with soap and water?

Surely no one can be so incredibly stubborn as to believe such a thing. The purpose of God's figurative language of "fullers' soap" and "refiner's fire" is to purify people. One cannot purify one's heart, mind, and spirit, by using literal soap and fire.

This is not difficult. Yes, God is [like] a consuming fire," and God is [like] a "refiner's fire," and God is [like] "fullers' soap," and God sits "as" a refiner and purifier," but God is not "literally" any of these things. God is only "like" or "as" these things to teach us that He is going to spiritually refine, purify, and wash clean the Sons of Levi. The Scriptures tell us this.

And what happens when God spiritually purifies and cleans up the wicked hearts of Levi? Why the very same thing we are told happens in Isaiah 26:9 when God's judgments are in the earth:

"...the inhabitants of the WORLD will learn RIGHTEOUSNESS"

Malachi 3:3 tells us that the result will be "righteousness," "...that they [the washed and purified Sons of Levi] may offer unto the Lord an offering IN RIGHTEOUSNESS"! 

Now what's so hard about that?

Why is it that "babes in Christ" can understand these things, yet theologians with a half dozen doctoral degrees cannot? God is like a consuming fire because He consumes the carnality out of the hearts of men and women whom He is purifying for His Kingdom. And God is like fullers' soap, in that he washes us clean of our filthy and ungodly character traits and sins.

We "pluck out our eyes" by asking God to "pluck out the lust" from our hearts, not that we should pull our eyeballs out of our heads give me break! Surely you can understand these things if you will but get rid of your stubborn and God-rejecting attitudes.

So unless you can show me thousands of examples of Christians who no longer have hands or feet or eyes because they cut them off and plucked them out, don't be trying to tell me that virtually all of the teachings of Jesus and the Bible are "literal," or that God is going to burn with fire most of humanity in the literal burning garbage dump in Jerusalem called "Gehenna fire."

The primary way that Jesus taught during His ministry was through "parables." A parable is what in Anglo Saxon England was called a "near-story," or an "example," as the German Bei-spiel. In the Greek New Testament parable means: "a similitude, symbolically, a fictitious narrative" (Strong's Greek Dictionary). A parable is "fictitious," and is therefore never literally true. It teaches a truth, but the story itself is NOT "literally" true. Not one of Jesus' parables was or is "literally" true. 

We have innumerable parables, metaphors, colloquialisms, and figures of speech: "Don't cry over spilled milk," "it's raining cats and dogs," "a stitch in time saves nine," "the devil made me do it," etc., etc. None of these figures of speech or Christ's parables are literal. 

The parable of the two builders (one on rock and the other on sand) has absolutely nothing to do with constructional procedures in building houses.

The parable of the new cloth on an old garment has nothing to do with clothing.

The parable of new wine in old bottles is not talking about alcoholic beverages..

The parable of the Dragnet has nothing to do with fish processing.

The parable of the ten virgins has nothing to do with virgins or oil lamps.

The parable of the lost sheep has nothing to do with sheep herding.

None of these stories (parables) are literal, historical accounts. They are "fictitious narratives" which teach a moral or spiritual principle. And one of the greatest proofs of this is the fact that no one understood them! Not the multitudes, not the Scribes, Priests, or Pharisees, nor even Christ's Own disciples.

Jesus spoke ONLY in parables to the multitudes: "ALL these things spoke Jesus unto the multitudes [the crowds of people who followed and listened to Jesus wherever He spoke] in PARABLES, and without a parable spoke He NOT unto them" (Matt. 13:34).

Jesus spoke in parables so that NO ONE would understand Him:

"And the disciples came, and said unto Him, 'Why do you speak unto them in parables'? Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is NOT given...they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand" (Matt. 13:10-13)

And notice what happened after Jesus spoke many parable to the masses:

"Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and His disciples came unto Him saying, 'Declare unto US the parable of the tares" (Matt. 13:36).

Are you getting this? Not even His Own disciples understood Jesus' parables! Yet any minister, pastor, priest, or theologian will tell you that Jesus taught in parables to make His teaching simple and CLEAR. Nothing is further from the truth.

And so on occasion Jesus explained His parables to His disciples, and guess what? Since Jesus often explained His parables with other parables, they didn't understand His parables or His explanations. 

"This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which He spoke unto them" (John 10:6).

"But they understood not ...and were afraid to ask Him" (Mark 9:32).

"They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father" (John 8:27).

"These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him" (John 12:16).

The disciples did not begin to understand Christ's parabolic teachings until after His resurrection (John 12:16).

"These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs [Margin: 'figurative language']: but the time comes, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father" (John 16:25).

So here I have given you adequate proof from the Scriptures that Christ's instructions on avoiding severe Gehenna fire (judgment) by cutting off our hands and feet, and plucking out our eyes is figurative language, and not literal. Jesus never taught a place of eternal torture in literal fire. That's blasphemy. And furthermore, most teachers and theologians know that these things are not literal.

I will quote from a portion of a study by the late Pope John Paul II. Although his understanding is far from complete, he did at least concede that much of Christ's teachings and the book of Revelation contain countless parabolic, metaphorical, examples in figurative language. Hence he didn't believe that heaven and hell are literal places - geographical places. The Scriptures do not, however, back up most of his other statements on these subjects.

Pope John Paul II (HEAVEN) "In three controversial Wednesday Audiences [28 July 1999], Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit (angel/demon) or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language. This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved... Metaphorically speaking, heaven is understood as the dwelling-place of God, who is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2f.; 115:16; Is 66:1). He sees and judges from the heights of heaven (Ps113:4-9)...However the biblical metaphor makes it clear that God does not identify himself with heaven, nor can he be contained in it (1 Kings 8:27).

(HELL) At the General Audience the Holy Father reflected on hell as the definitive rejection of God. In his catechesis, the Pope said that care should be taken to interpret correctly the images of hell in Sacred Scripture, and explained that "hell is the ultimate consequence of sin itself... Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy"

COMMENT: No, most of humanity did not "freely" separate themselves from God. Most of humanity has been totally ignorant of God and His ways. This will be corrected in Judgment.

"By using images, the New Testament presents the place destined for evildoers as a fiery furnace, where people will "weep and gnash their teeth" (Mt 13:42; cf. 25:30, 41), or like Gehenna with its "unquenchable fire" (Mk 9:43). All this is narrated [remember that a 'parable' is a 'fictitious narrative'--not literal] in the parable of the rich man, which explains that hell is a place of eternal suffering, with no possibility of return, nor of the alleviation of pain (cf. Lk. 16:19-3 1).

The Book of Revelation also figuratively portrays in a "pool of fire" those who exclude themselves from the book of life, thus meeting with a "second death" (Rv. 20:13f.). Whoever continues to be closed to the Gospel is therefore preparing for 'eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thes 1:9). From: http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2heavn.htm (all underline is mine).

And so, unless you can show that Jesus LITERALLY taught us to cut off our arms and legs, and pull our eyes out of their sockets whenever we do anything that is offensive to our well-being, then you have no Scriptural reasons whatsoever in believing that hell is a literal place of literal fire where people are literally tortured for all eternity (for proof that "everlasting" and "eternal" are not words of inspiration.

(Closing prayer)

Abba, We come to You with love in our hearts and hope in our minds. It is our desire to live our lives in accordance with Your plan and hopefully gain entrance to a life eternal with You.

Father, When we sin we do so as humans and we ask that You be with us and instill in our minds the necessity to repent to You and from our sinful ways. We are weak and You are our God and have told us that if we ask You will forgive. 

Lord... At this time we bow our heads and seek forgiveness for our trespasses.

We say this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord and Savior Who is One with You and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever...

Amen, amen and amen

Pastor Lee S Gliddon Jr
God's Word Christian Ministry