Gehenna

(This is a continuation of The Spirit World book series. This post assumes the prerequisite reading of earlier posts in the series.)

Gehenna is a Greek term, yet it comes to the Greek from the combination of two Hebrew terms, Gei and Hinnom.  Gei Hinnom literally means “the Valley of Hinnom.”

The Valley of Hinnom was an area outside the walls of New Testament Jerusalem, at the southwestern corner of the city.  The pertinence of Gehenna in Jesus’ day was that it was Jerusalem’s trash dump.  All manners of refuse were thrown there, from typical household waste to industrial discards.  Dead bodies also were thrown here, both of animals and humans.  Criminals with no proper burial choices were discarded there, as were others who were unable to afford nicer burials. Continue reading →

The Lake of Fire

(This is a continuation of The Spirit World book series. This post assumes the prerequisite reading of earlier posts in the series.)

The phrases describing the “lake of fire” occur four times in scripture, each in the book of Revelation.  Being a phrase of several very common terms, the “lake of fire” is a simple representation of this group categorically.  The phrase is rendered as the “lake of fire and burning sulfur,” with slight variances, in three places, and simply “lake of fire” in the fourth.  Variances are slight throughout numerous translations, with each yielding the same essence, “lake of fire.”  Because there are only four references to this phrase, each one will be examined in this section. Continue reading →

Hell

(This is a continuation of The Spirit World book series. This post assumes the prerequisite reading of earlier posts in the series.)

Of all abodes of the dead, perhaps none bring the immediate sense of recognition as does the term, “Hell.”  Hell is an English word from the Saxon “helan,” which means “to cover” or “to hide”.  There is no single underlying Hebrew or Greek term which can be traced biblically to coincide with the use of “Hell” in varying translations.  To that end, Hell must be treated first by its English understanding and then applied to those Hebrew and Greek terms which represent that definition in scripture. Continue reading →