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have a lot of fun with Hell. Jesus Christians find it a
great tool to keep their flocks in tow. It's a good word
for swearing.. According to popular wisdom Hell is a place
of torment where "sinners" spend eternity in
misery. Preachers speak of the extreme agony of our
bodies burning forever. It's a great image. But the reality of
hell is entirely different from its storybook aspects.
The word Hell comes to us from the Old English where it means "hidden". The two words that are correctly translated Hell in the Bible are Sheol(Hebrew) and Hades(Greek) The Hebrew Old Testament, some 300 years before the Christian era, was translated into Greek, but of the 64 instances where Sheol occurs in the Hebrew, it is rendered Hades in the Greek 60 times, so that either word is the equivalent of the other. But neither of these words is ever used in the Bible to signify punishment after death, The word Sheol means "the place of the dead." and it has two meanings. (1) the place of the dead physical body, the grave, and (2) the place of the dead soul, the astral world. The word Hades refers to the world of the dead in Greek myth. Ancient writings say that the dead are ferried across the River Styx by the boatman Charon. On the other side they go either to the Elesian Fields or Tartarus. One is place of delight, the other a place of suffering. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Sheol is the place of the dead and it is divided into as many as five sections, with varying degrees of pleasure and suffering. The highest division in Sheol was known as the "Bosom of Abraham." The worst was known as Gehenna or Tophet. The New Testament speaks of Hell as being divided into two parts (1)Paradise (Luke 16:22-23) and (2)Prison (I Peter 4:18-19) New Age teachings speak of the Astral World as being the place where we go when we die or go to sleep. Thus we can conclude that Hell, Hades and Sheol are the same thing as the Astral World. It is neither a place or punishment nor reward but is the construct of our thoughts and feelings during our physical life. |
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The most accurate portrayal of Hell (i.e , the Astral World, the Spirit World) in a Hollywood movie was "What Dreams May Come" (1998) starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. Left is Paradise and to the right is Spirit Prison. |
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