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Hell and Hell-fire

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 29, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 38, No. 11.

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Hell and Hell-fire.

“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
In order then to bring the subject at once before the reader’s mind, we unhesitatingly declare that the text quoted does not prove eternal suffering, and that there is not a single passage in the whole Bible, which, when fairly construed, can be made to do so.
The candid reader will admit at once that the Scriptures must agree with themselves, and that one part must not contradict another. And yet if the doctrine of endless misery is true, and is taught in the text above referred to, then many plain passages are made unintelligible and contradictory. For example, we might cite such passages as the following: “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be”—“the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away”—“the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.” Ps. 37:10, 20, 38. The ungodly are “like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Ps. 1:4. “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matt. 3:12. “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4:1.
These texts, and many more that might be quoted of the same import, positively teach the utter and complete destruction of the wicked. There is not the slightest hint given in any one of them, nor can even an inference be drawn, that those who thus perish, consume, are destroyed, burnt up, &c., are to live forever in unutterable torment. These terms, made use of by the sacred writers, all express plainly an end of existence; and if we find anything in the Scriptures which is not so plainly and clearly expressed, which modern theology has pressed into its service in order to teach the horrid doctrine of an endless hell, we must bring such texts into the light of the plain and obvious ones, and then no difficulty will be experienced.
In Mark 9:43, 44, quoted above, we do not find the doctrine of endless misery taught, but rather the reverse. The Saviour was teaching his disciples that whatever peculiar or besetting sin it was which ensnared them, and was likely to work their ruin, it was to be cut off in order to save them. We frequently see this principle carried out in the practice of surgery. How often does it happen that individuals are deprived of some diseased member, in order to save the whole body. Perhaps mortification has set in, and the surgeon announces the fact that unless amputation is immediately performed, the person’s life is in jeopardy.
The idea which runs through the whole passage is very plainly expressed in Matt. 5:30: “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” The idea is that of perishing. It is better for one member of the body to perish, than for the whole body, as it inevitably must, if cast into hell.
The word rendered hell in the common version, is translated from Gehenna, the Grecian mode of spelling the Hebrew words which are translated “the valley of Hinnom.” In this valley the children of Israel formerly sacrificed their children unto Moloch, and committed abominations in the sight of the Lord. King Josiah, however, caused it to be polluted, by casting into it all kinds of filth, the carcasses of beasts, and the unburied bodies of executed criminals. Continual fires were kept in order to consume these, and what the fires did not destroy, the worms fed upon. Hence the origin of the expression—“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” It is probable that the Jews associated the idea of future punishment with this horrid place. That the reader may have a full view of what the Scriptures say about this valley, we copy the following arrangement of texts, from Bible vs. Tradition:—
The locality of Gehenna is recorded in Josh. 15:8: “And the border [of the lot of Judah] went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom into the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem; and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward.”
Josh. 18:16. The lot of Benjamin. “The border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to En-rogel.” Jer. 19:2.
Pollution of Gehenna. 1 Kings 11:7: “Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon.” 2 Chron. 28:3: Ahaz “burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.” 2 Chron. 33:6: Manasseh “caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.”
The desecration of Gehenna. 2 Kings 23:10: And Josiah “defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch.” That Gehenna was afterwards made a receptacle for filth we gather from the Rabbins. We likewise read of the desecration of the brook Kidron, that ran through the valley of Hinnom.
Gehenna was a place of punishment by burning. Lev. 20:14, “If a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness; they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.” In the 2d to the 6th verse, the people of the land were to destroy the worshipers of Moloch, which was probably done in Gehenna, where the image was placed. Lev. 20:9. The daughter of any priest that profaned herself was to be burned with fire.
Jer. 7:30–33: “The children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord. They have built the high places of Tophet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire. . . . Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of SLAUGHTER; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.”
Let the reader here read, also, the following passages: Jer. 19:1–13; 32:35; 48:8; Isa. 30:30–33.
In Gehenna the army of Sennacherib was destroyed. 2 Kings 19:35.
Joel 3:2: “I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”
Eze. 38 and 39, and Rev. 17:16, relate to destructions apparently to occur in other places.
From histories and prophecies we perceive that Gehenna has been, and is to be, a place of punishment; and as it has been, so it may be again, a place of punishment by fire; but it is not a place where the wicked are now being punished, nor will it ever be a place where the wicked shall be kept alive there forever, is to charge God with naming the place inappropriately!
In the New Testament the word Gehenna occurs twelve times. Eleven times it is found in the Gospels, and once in James 3:6. In every place it was spoken to the Jews who understood its meaning. But in none of these passages will the reader find on examination, any expression which indicates that the wicked will be kept alive in torments.
But some think they find this doctrine taught in the phrase, “The fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched.” But this is only a reference to the same thing that is expressed in the previous word—Gehenna. There continual fires were kept—fires not quenched, or extinguished. The prophet Isaiah asks: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Evidently no one without being devoured. As the fires of Gehenna consumed the bodies cast into them, so the “everlasting fire” and “the lake of fire,” into which the wicked are to be cast, will consume or burn them up. The fire will be inextinguishable, or will not cease burning, till all the filth is consumed, and God’s kingdom and earth is cleansed from the polluting touch of sin and sinners. But it is absurd to say, that, because the fire is said to be unquenchable, therefore that which is cast into it cannot be consumed or burnt up. And yet this is the argument of those who quote this passage to support their doctrine.
In connection with this subject, we may quote the texts where it is claimed that hell-fire is clearly taught as the destiny of the wicked. This we shall not deny—only this that the wicked will be capable of existing forever in that fire. Matt. 13:49, 50: “So shall it be at the end of the world [age]; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” This furnace of fire may be understood as the same as the Gehenna of fire before mentioned. But we discover no allusion to unending life in this furnace. The “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” is often referred to as proof of this; but it only shows this, that “the weeping and gnashing of teeth” will be prior to rather than after the execution of the sentence. Matt. 25:41: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” It is the fire of the age—the punishment or condemnation of that age. This does not prove at all that those who are consigned to it will live in endless torment. Again in Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 15; 21:8, we find a lake of fire mentioned, into which the beast and false prophet, the devil, death and hell [hades], and all wicked characters are finally cast. And though it is said of the devil that “he shall be tormented day and night until the ages of the ages,” yet we know that it is positively revealed that even he shall be destroyed. Heb. 2:14. And besides, this very lake of fire is called “THE SECOND DEATH.” There is not one word about those parties doomed to this punishment living without any possibility of dying; but the very name which is given by the Holy Spirit to this lake of fire, designates the office which it is to perform; viz., to put an end to the lives of those who are consigned to it.
There is nothing more clearly stated in the Bible than that the wicked will be destroyed, come to an end, or cease to exist. The passages are too numerous to quote. There are more than two hundred plain declarations “that the wicked will be destroyed without remedy, body and soul, root and branch, all of them will become as nothing, they will have no existence.” And whether this destruction is attributed to fire, or sword, or famine, or pestilence, it matters not. Any one of these agents can produce this result, if it be so ordered.
All the false reasoning and perversion of Scriptures by those who advocate eternal torment, arises from a belief in the immortality of the soul. This is the rotten foundation upon which is built the great temple of error. The soul being believed to be immortal, and as being capable of living after the death of the body, either in happiness or misery, it necessarily followed that new meanings had to be given to common words, in order to fit the doctrine. Hence, death in the Bible, when referring to the future state, means life; to perish or to be destroyed, means consciousness in misery; life means happiness, &c. So “the worm that dieth not,” is the gnawings of a guilty conscience, which will torment those who are doomed to suffer the pains of an endless fire, without the possibility of a release by death. But let a person accept the Bible doctrine of the mortality of man, his unconsciousness in death, and no future life for the dead, without a resurrection, and then no difficulty will be experienced with such texts as the one we have been considering. All will become plain, reasonable, and harmonious. Jehovah will then appear in his true character, as a Being of love, mercy, and justice, and not as a monster, worse than Moloch, delighting in the eternal misery of the creatures he has made; and the Bible, the transcript of his mind, as revealed to man, will no longer appear contradictory, but become radiant with new beauties, heretofore obscured by the mists of error.—Sel.