Gehenna, the Rubbish Heap
By Editor
“Gehenna, the Rubbish Heap.”—The Sunday School Times, in a recent article under the above heading, thus speaks of the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), used in the New Testament as a symbol of the doom and place of punishment of the wicked. The above paper says:— “That valley had been defiled, in the times of the Jewish kings, by the foul and cruel worship of Moloch. Rabbinical tradition tells us that, after the return from the captivity, it was given over to be a place where all that was useless, foul, and corrupt was consumed. It was the rubbish heap of a great city, where the fires never went out, and where the vulture came from above and the worm from beneath to their scavenging work. To be flung into that valley was to be stamped as worthless and useless, as incapable of any service to man or to beast.” This is true. We consume what is “worthless and useless.” “Gehenna” is a symbol of utter destruction, where the destroyers, symbolized by worm and fire, will not cease till their work is accomplished. Yet men would have us believe that God preserved “the worthless and useless” to all eternity! What for? Paganism is responsible for the idea.