"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:6-7.

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." 1 Cor. 15:44

There are four verses in Revelation that refer to a second death. Some would have us believe that the Word of God in these four verses does not literally mean what it says. But it should be obvious from the two passages quoted above and others that we have two lives. At least those who accept the free gift of eternal life offered to them do. Everyone is born with a physical body without any control over that event. Those of us who have accepted this gift also receive a spiritual body by choice.

When the Messiah comes back, there will be a resurrection of ALL, both the good and the evil (John 5:29), to life and to damnation respectively. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:22) Because of Adam's sin, all mankind was condemned to suffer physical death. Because of the Messiah's sacrifice, ALL will be made alive to stand judgment!

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Cor. 5:10)

If all are not resurrected, this verse cannot be true!

Okay, let's try to put this in perspective.

--1-- Everyone is born with a natural body.

--2-- There comes a point, whether being witnessed to by another person or by conviction of the Holy Spirit through witnessing nature's God at work (Rom. 1:17-21), when we choose eternal life and a future spiritual body through the gift of God, or we choose death.

--3-- We die a physical death (if the Messiah does not return first).

--4-- At God's appointed time, ALL will be resurrected, and at God's appointed time, all will appear before the Judgment Seat.

----4A----The first to be resurrected ("the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thes. 4:16) and receive their new spiritual bodies will be those who have died with the knowledge and acceptance of eternal life through God's atoning gift at Calvary. Some will not see physical death, but will rise to meet the Messiah in the air ("Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 1 Thes. 4:17) when he comes at the appointed time for the wedding with his Bride.

----4B----The remaining resurrection will be after a thousand years of the Messiah's reign on the earth. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." (Rev. 20:5)

--5-- Those who take part in the first resurrection and those who do not see physical death will reign on the earth with Messiah for this thousand year period. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev. 20:6)

--6-- At the end of the thousand years is the second resurrection, those who ignore the gift of God to live with Him. They will be judged by their works. "Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev. 20:13)

--7-- Finally, the second death. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (Rev. 20:14)


So here we have it.

If you believe God and Paul and John, then you MUST accept that death is DEATH! Try to read the Word with this in mind, especially where it says things like:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. (John 8:51)

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Rom 5:12)

Even though the concept that vile, evil persons would get no worse punishment than those who commit some infraction of God's Law that we feel is relatively minor, wouldn't death, the cessation of life, be easier to accept for those billions than to think that they would get punishment as horrible as those we consider vicious?

DEATH does NOT equate to ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL! Death is the cessation of life, the absence of life, the opposite of life!

The Bible uses several words which are translated "hell." (All references here are from the KJV.)

The first is the Hebrew word "sh'ol," first used in Deut. 32:22, in the "song of Moses" where Moses describes what will befall the nation if they turn away from God. Sh'ol simply means "pit," or "grave." (Interesting side note: The English word "quick" used to mean "alive," as in "the quick and the dead." It's used this way in Ps. 55:15 where it is translated from the Hebrew chai, which means "life" or "alive.")

In EVERY INSTANCE (31 times) of the use of the word "hell" in the Old Testament (and remember, all references here are from the KJV), the word sh'ol is used. BUT sh'ol is also used 30 times for "grave" and three times for "pit." Does it seem logical that the ancient writers of the Bible, 2500 years ago, would differentiate between a "place of lasting torment" and "the grave" by using the SAME WORD? Please, let's be reasonable!

Now, to the New Testament. The first instance of the word hell here is the Greek "gehenna (13 times), which is a transliteration of the Hebrew geh Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom. The valley of Hinnom was outside the city walls of Jerusalem to the west. The "fires of Gehenna" was a reference to the method of disposing of the waste products from the city, literally a garbage dump. These fires were kept burning continuously, and this was also the method of disposing of the dead bodies of the sick and criminals.

The next word for hell (10 times) is hades (used once for "grave"). This is an interesting word. It comes from two Greek words which, when taken together, mean "not knowing" or "not seeing." This would fit particularly well withEccl. 9:10 which states that there is "no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." AND in this verse, the word translated "grave" is sh'ol. Now, isn't that interesting?!!? When the physical body dies, it is put into sh'ol, the grave, where it is in a state of hades, knowing nothing. That certainly contradicts the common perception of "hell" that those in it know what's going on, doesn't it?

The words used in the N.T. for a grave (a place for burial) (10 times) come from words which refer to remembrance. Hence, we can infer that those in the grave are to be remembered; those in geh Hinnom are to be forgotten.

The last word translated "hell" is the Greek tartaroo, pronounced tar-tar-AH-o (only one time), "which is neither Sheol of the O.T. nor Hades of the N.T., nor Gehenna or hell, but the place where certain angels are confined, reserved unto judgment. This punishment for these angels is because of their special sin." (Spiros Zodhiates, TH.D., Lexicon to the New Testament) This fits with Jesus' words in Matt. 25:41 of the "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

So, here we have, in its simplest form, a description of what "hell" is, in a biblical sense. It is THE GRAVE! PERIOD! As explained, any "everlasting fire" is only for the devil and his angels. The idea of "eternal punishment" has worked its way into Judaism and Christianity from Greek, Latin, and other religious thought. Every instance of what is considered to be referring to "eternal damnation" in the N.T. can be explained as refering to the MEMORY or the DISHONOR of the dead, NOT the "immortal soul," which is definitely NOT a biblical principle.

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"

Put yourself in the position of the creator. You have made billions of galaxies each with billions of stars. On a planet circling at least one of these stars, you have put living, thinking creatures who call themself human beings. You have made them in your own spiritual image. You gave them the choice between doing good and doing evil.

"What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

When they made the choice to do evil, they corrupted that spiritual image, defied your wishes for them and defiled your name. Because of that, you have condemned them to die eventually. They have brought this death upon themselves because they spat in your eye! But they will not die right away. They can still redeem themselves by accepting a sacrifice made in their behalf.

Since life is in the blood, there must be a blood sacrifice. And the only one worthy of being a sacrifice for them is YOU! If one of them sacrifices himself, that's not much of a loss to you, is it? But if you can put yourself into a human form, feel the pain that they feel physically, and shed your own blood for them, then those who will accept that sacrifice and tell others that they do so are worthy of GETTING BACK the eternal life that you had planned for them in the beginning.

Those who are condemned to die (not "go to hell") are just rejecting a chance to live forever with you in joy incomprehensible. "For eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him." (1 Cor. 2:9)

So you see, God isn't condemning anyone to hell. We've all done that to ourselves by rejecting His love and denying His control over us. Rather, he gives everyone a chance to AVOID it.

I hope that you realize how much God does love you, that He is "longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Okay, so I may not have convinced you. But I hope you'll take these thoughts into consideration the next time you're reading the scriptures, and see if they make sense. Do they fit the context of what you're reading? I think that, if you're honest with yourself, you'll see that they do!

THE TWO STATEMENTS BELOW DO NOT COMPUTE!!!
They MUST be MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!!
Which one do YOU believe?

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GOD IS LOVE! 1 John 4:8
<>< ><>
GOD IS GOING TO CONDEMN BILLIONS OF PEOPLE TO ETERNITY IN FIRE!
No scriptural reference!

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MORE ON DEATH, HELL, THE SOUL

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For a more complete and comprehensive study, see What the Hell is Hell?

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Last edited 18 February 2008