Hell Contradictions

Many Christians (Humans) think this does happens to all Evil Humans when they die: and they think The Bible clearly says this is what happens to them too. But in reality, the Bible tells quite a different story about this Traditional fiery “Gehennah Hell”. The Bible clearly describes this “hell” as a physical futuristic fire that WILL happen on Earth one day: it’s not described as happing right now under the Earth or somewhere else and it also does not describe eternal torment for humans in the hellfire; in fact, it describes the opposite: they will be killed and burnt to ash. However, there seems to be some Bible verses that contradict all this and seems to say there is some type of fiery place evil human’s souls go to right after Death to be tortured forever. Is this a Biblical contradiction to the Gehenna Hell that is described so far? Or is there something we are misunderstanding about these verses? Let’s take a closer look at these verses to find out for sure:

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While Jesus is describing Gehenna hell, he confirms that People will be crying in pain and agony:

“...the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping(crying) and gnashing of teeth(Pain)…”

So Jesus says himself that Gehennah hell will be painful and torturous for humans thrown in it! But does this mean they will be tortured forever? Because some might take this to mean the wicked will be tormented forever in Hell and that this means they will never die and will be eternally tormented; But this is not what Jesus necessarily means at all. Jesus is only describing that in Gehenna Hell (The fiery punishment) there will be pain described by Jesus as “Weeping” and “Gnashing of their teeth” notice, he doesn’t specify how long that pain will last but according to other scriptures it will not last long before the human dies from being burnt and will turn to ash. This makes sense because the feeling of having your body being burned up by fire is very painful, and not only that it might be mentally painful to know that you are dying because you have refused to obey God’s word. But once again, this is only temporary, that’s the key word here: temporary! This torture probably won’t last over a minute or two until there body dies from the burning heat and is eventually turned into ashes and thus in Gehennah hell they can no longer suffer physically: all this goes to show that God is truly merciful, even in punishment: they will suffer; but not forever!

The punishment for evil humans is described as being everlasting destruction/punishment for evil humans in hell:

Is Everlasting Destruction/ Eternal punishment saying that people that go to hell get eternally destroyed/ punished by being tormented in hellfire for all eternity?

While the answer in not necessarily clear in these passages, Fortunately, this phrase is used in many other parts of the New Testament to describe things we are far more familiar with in the Bible:

“…and, once made perfect, he (Jesus) became the source of eternal salvation…”

But does this mean that once you get saved you now need to constantly be saved every second of every day forever to stay saved since it is “everlasting salvation” (that is, salvation that will happen forever)? NO, according to other parts of the Bible, you don’t! When you get saved, your salvation from God’s judgment is a onetime only event: it happens to someone only once, but because of that ONE TIME you got saved you are now consequently saved forever!

Hebrew 6 also says the same phrase again, except with redemption in describing Jesus’s sacrifice:

“he[Jesus] entered the Most Holy Place [Heaven]…by his own blood[in sacrifice on a cross], having obtained eternal redemption.”

But does this mean Jesus has to keep redeeming humans with his blood every second for all eternity? NO, according to other parts of the Bible (and even this very verse) this is not what happened!

“he[Jesus] entered the Most Holy Place [Heaven] once and for all (this entering Heaven victoriously, because of his sacrifice, was a ONE TIME EVENT) by his own blood[in sacrifice on a cross], having obtained(notice he has obtained: that means he has already gotten redemption not that he is still trying to obtain it) eternal redemption.”

Jesus is no longer redeeming humans; the Bible says he died only once to save God’s people and he was brought back to life and went to heaven to rule in honor and glory with God.

The Bible clearly says Jesus died ONLY ONCE for redemption but because of this one sacrifice he made it possible for all of God’s people to be redeemed forever!

So, we can see when this word is used its not necessarily describing a constant action going on forever, but rather seems to be used to describing an action, that once it happens (usually just one time) the consequences of that one action will last forever!

So, when the Bible says wicked humans will be “eternally destroyed/punished” it’s not necessarily describing being tortured every second of your existence forever in Hellfire, but rather it seems to be describing a onetime event(which the Bible clearly reveals to be Gehennah hell: Which is the ultimate punishment for wicked humans) that will destroy/punish human’s forever! And this is exactly what other parts of the Bible say will happen: Once wicked humans are thrown into this Hell they will be killed by the heat and fire and eventually their dead bodies will be turned to ash and will be destroyed forever: this is the consequence that will last forever; not being eternally tortured in this fire forever! Once in this fire, a person will die and be turned to ash and stay that way forever: they are destroyed/punished for all eternity!

“…he will say…‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire…’”

Does this mean hell’s fires have existed forever and will continue to last forever? And does this also prove this eternal fire will be for humans to be tormented forever?

Remember, English was not the original language of the Bible: in this case, Greek is. So this original word was not the English word “eternal” but a translation of a variation of the Greek word “αἰών” (ahee-ohn') which means ‘age’(which is just a specific period of time) [1]:

But this word can also mean ‘forever’ depending on the context and variation of the word ‘’aiōn” used:

Specifically, in the verse, we are looking at the specific form of “aiōn” used: that form is “αἰώνιος” (ahei-oh-nei-owsuh) and this form always means forever/eternity [2]:

“…Christ, who through the eternal(aiónios) Spirit offered himself unblemished to God…”

So it seems like this word does mean eternal/forever and is translated correctly, however there are some cases where ‘aiónios’ can also be translated as ‘ages’ or ‘ages past’:

But what does ‘ages/ages past’ mean? Is that just another way to say forever?

Let’s look in the context it’s used in to get a better idea of what it means:

In the first part of the sentence, there is a mystery that was hidden in these ages, but looking at the next part, this mystery hidden in the ‘ages past’(aiónios) did not mean it was hidden forever: there was an eventual end to the mystery because Paul (the author) says it was now known at this time!

“…the mystery hidden for long ages past (aiónios), but now revealed and made known…”

So, considering all this, ‘aiónios’ cannot mean forever (at least, in the sense forever/eternity is defined in English as), because this mystery was not hidden forever: it was just hidden until this particular point of time in history: it had a stopping point from being hidden!

So here this word ‘aiónios’ is specifically referring to eternity past (that is the total amount of time to have existed so far up until a particular point in time). So, it’s a specific eternity: not a future eternity (which is from the present point onward forever into the future) but a past Eternity (from all time in the past up until a present point) [2].

So, considering all this, what eternity is Jesus speaking about when he says the “eternal fire”?

Since this word could mean eternity past and future, it matches the other descriptions of Gehennah hell that it is a future reality so it therefore a future eternity (when it starts on the day or the Lord it will continue to exist forever). seeing all other descriptions of Gehennah Hell the Bible clearly says this is a future event, therefore we can conclude it still does not exist yet somewhere in the Earth, but will exist one day in the future and, according to Jesus, will be eternal.

But what will this eternal fire be like? And does that mean because this will last forever, that humans that are thrown into this fire will be tormented forever?

According to the Bible, we actually have a very physical example of what eternal fire looks like:

“...,Sodom and Gomorrah…They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”

According to this verse, there has been a time in the past where eternal fire has happened before as a punishment: And that happened almost 4,000 years ago to the ancient Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sodom and Gomorrah’s story can be found recorded in Genesis 19 where the Bible says the cities were so evil in their sins that God decided, as a punishment, to destroy them by raining burning sulfur on the cities that completely destroy them with fire!

The fire from these burning sulfur rocks became so massive and hot that a person from a good distance away could look in this direction and see nothing but a massive cloud of smoke in the sky from all the fire!

“…He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.”

(Notice how this eternal fire’s smoke is described as smoke from a furnace: Just like how the Gehenna hell is described!)

According to Jude, this is what eternal fire looks like (and is). It’s also an example of what will eventually happen to evil humans in Gehenna Hell.

“… the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah…[God]…made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;”

But while this eternal fire was very hot, painful, and very destructive: it’s important to notice this eternal fire did not last forever: once everything was completely burnt up and all the citizens (and animal and plant life) of these cities were completely destroyed, and were turned to ash, the sulfur rocks stopped falling and the fire went out:

The end result of this eternal fire was a massive wasteland of death and ruins left behind; where nothing grew and was almost totally deserted:

“The whole land…[is] a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It…[is]… the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim (other cities that were destroyed), which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.”

So, if this is the great example of what eternal fire is like (which it is: The Bible clearly says so!), we need to ask a serious question at this point:

A. Continue to burn from that point on with all the citizens in it not dying in the fire but just suffering, and thousands of years later are still on fire and the citizens are still burning and being tormented by the flames even today?

B. The cities are a burnt wasteland, and the former citizens are dead and burnt to ash and are nothing more?

Well, the answer is obvious: we don’t go to this area and see a city still on fire and its citizens screaming in torment and begging us to put water on their tongues! The option “B.” is the only realistic one: we see a smoldering wasteland of dust and ash of what was once sinful cities now desolate and completely obliterated.

The Bible even says this is what the punishment for eternal fire was for these cities: to burn them to ashes!

“… He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes,…”

Notice also this eternal fire did not just continue to burn for the past 4,000 years eventually it went out: BUT the consequences of this fire were eternal to these cities: the former cities and people cease to exist and even today it’s still a wasteland and from what we read “eternal” means, will continue to be a wasteland forever!

“… He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;”

This is our example of how the wicked will be punished in the future when Jesus returns. So we can safely conclude that when Jesus describes the fires of Gehennah Hell as being ‘eternal’, he does not mean a spiritual fire or fire of any kind has been burning for all eternity, and that once evil humans are thrown into it, that means they will suffer and be tortured forever in this fire. What he means by “eternal’ seems to be the exact same meaning of ‘Everlasting destruction’ covered above:

The fire itself is not necessarily eternal, but the consequences of this one fire (the destruction it causes: killing, burning, and turning things to ash) are eternal! So once we understand what eternal fire looks like we can see it is not necessarily proof of an eternal fire burning forever and humans in it burning forever.

Eternal worms and unquenchable (eternal) fire?

Going along with the same theme, there are other verses in the Bible that describe Hell’s fires as ‘unquenchable’ or an unstoppable (and thus eternal) fire.

All the New Testament verses above are all indirectly referring to this one verse in Isaiah describing the fires of hell:

“…those who rebelled against me;… their fire [will not] be quenched (put out: stopped),...”

“…those who rebelled against me; their worm (that eats their body) will not die...”

To many reading these passages, the unquenchable fire means a fire that will last forever (thus eternal fire) that is also describing what is happening right now to Human souls in afterlife hell. This must be true with the eternal worms inside their body: why else would there be eternal worms if the people were not eternal? So, does this passage prove there is a fire that will last forever and worms that will forever live and thus will torture the humans in this fire?

First off, Unquenchable does not necessarily mean eternal, but just means "unable to quench": and quench just means "to put out" or "cover something" [3]. So unquenchable does not necessarily mean a fire that will last forever, but a fire that cannot be put out: it could refer to eternity, but it also does not necessarily mean it will last forever.

So how does the Bible describe an unquenchable fire: like eternal fire, is there any example of what one looks like?

According to God himself: if the ancient nation of Judah did not start obeying his commands (like honoring his holy Sabbath) he would punish their holy capitol city, Jerusalem, by burning it with an unquenchable fire:

“…keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then…this city will be inhabited forever…But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy…, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses (walls and towers).”

So, God says he would burn Jerusalem with an eternal unquenchable fire if they refused to obey! Did this eternal fire ever happen?

As the Bible records the continuing story of the ancient nation of Judah, we see they (sadly) chose to continue to disobey God’s commands for them: So, God eventually did punish the capitol city Jerusalem with unquenchable fire: but what did that look like and how did it happen?

We find out it was a little different from the eternal fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: This fire that would destroy old Jerusalem did not start with a miraculous event of fiery sulfur rocks falling from the sky but began in a more natural and subtle way. This unquenchable fire began as a Babylonian political attack on their enemies: The nation of Judah (by attacking the main capitol: Jerusalem). They attacked Jerusalem by setting the whole city on fire and breaking down the walls:

“…Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard,…came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem.(he set fire to the whole city)…The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem…”

This was the unquenchable fire that God sent to old Jerusalem! So, if an unquenchable fire truly means a fire that is not put out and will last for eternity then this should have happened to old Jerusalem: once the Babylonians set the city on fire that fire would have stayed lit and would forever be burning the city for hundreds of years and it should even today still be on fire over 2,500 years later!

But once again, like Sodom and Gomorrah, we don’t see this actually happening! The fire the Babylonians started in Jerusalem did not just magically continue to burn the city forever, but like all fires, it continued to burn until everything was all burn into ash or charred and then went out.

Old Jerusalem did not just continue to burn for eternity the fire eventually went out, but the fire did not stop until everything in the city that was flammable was turned to ash/charred and then went out.

“…He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down (destroyed with fire).”

This is no different than tossing some wood into a fireplace and setting it on fire: if the fire is not doused with water or blown out, a roaring fire will burn the wood until its either too charred to burn or burn to ash: the fire will then go out on its own and what is left are fiery glowing embers of ash.

However, after the fire went out, like Sodom and Gomorrah; Old Jerusalem was completely destroyed and turned into a wasteland: and when some Jews came back, they had to rebuild Jerusalem all over again!

Another verse mentions another unquenchable fire south of Jerusalem (somewhere in or near Arabia) that would continue to burn everything until it was all scorched (destroyed).

“…‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it.’ ‘ “

Therefore, an unquenchable fire in the Bible does not necessarily mean a fire that can’t literally ever be put out and will last forever but seems to just mean an out-of-control fire that could not be stopped until it burned everything flammable to ashes.

So When God talks about burning evil humans in unquenchable fire, it does not mean the fire will last forever and humans will be constantly tortured forever in this eternal fire, but rather an out-of-control fire will burn them up without stopping until they have died and their bodies are burned to ash (notice in the same prophecy, it says these people are not screaming in this fire being tortured: they're already dead and their lifeless bodies are being burnt up in this fire!)

“…the dead bodies ..[in]…the fire that burns them will not be quenched,…”

This matches completely with the rest of the prophecies of Gehennah hell: that humans that are thrown into Gehennah hellfire will die from the fire and be burnt to ashes.

Some Bible scholars and Christians reading this prophecy might also see this event as describing the afterlife hell and what is happening to the evil human’s souls there, but there is a big problem with reading the verse like this. This event is not described as taking place under the earth or even in another dimension in the afterlife: as shown in more detail in the last article and in the context of this verse, this is clearly describing a future event taking place on earth!

So, it’s important to realize this is not describing what happens in the afterlife to evil human’s souls right in this moment: it’s describing what’s going to happen to evil human’s actual physical bodies in the future.

So, if the fire of Gehennah and the humans in it are not necessarily going to last forever, what about the eternal worms: After all why would you need worms that live forever to eat the bodies of evil humans in this fire if the human’s bodies would not exist forever?

Well in the original Hebrew, this word referred to a specific type of worm that only lived in Palestine known as “The Crimson Worm”. However, this word did not just refer to this specific worm, but seems to also refer to any worm-like creature [4]. Specifically, this worm referred to in this passage seems to be a decomposer that eats dead (human) flesh. The Crimson worm does not do this; this sounds more like maggots or earthworms:

Specifically, this worm sounds like the exact same worm described in Job that is described as eating Job’s damaged skin even though Job is still alive:

Job 7:5
“My body is clothed with worms and scabs (damaged skin), my skin is broken and festering (dead smelly skin).”

This particular “worm” then, seems to be describing a maggot (a fly in larval stage) because though earthworms are decomposing worms, they do not eat off of living organisms (or even organisms who have recently died); maggots are one of the only worm-like creatures that eat dead skin even when the organism is still alive [5].

Though there is a whole other Hebrew word used to describe maggots, “worm” could also possibly be used as a synonym to describe maggots as well:

“…how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!”

It’s also important to notice these evil humans are not necessarily being tortured in this fire and maggots in their body: the prophecy says they have already died and what is left is their lifeless physical bodies: there is no torture going on here, it just what is happening to their bodies after they have died.

So, considering this event is a future event on Earth and is dealing with physical humans dead bodies (as opposed to their conscious souls being tortured in the afterlife) and, as covered above, the fire does not seem to be some type of magical/spiritual fire that tortures humans forever and never goes out but seems to be just a regular physical out-of-control fire. So, considering all this; where did these immortal worms come from? Sure, God could have made them specially for this onetime event, but considering the fire is not a fire that will last forever, and the human’s bodies will eventually be turn to ash in this fire, what is the point of having immortal maggots to eat their bodies if their will eventually be no more bodies left to eat?

Notice, (unlike the eternal fire covered above) in the original text of Isaiah, there is no mention of eternal worms it just says “their worm will not die” [6] though it sort of hints they are going to live forever (by not dying), is this what Isaiah actually means by this phrase?

“ The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon,…”

we see Isaiah uses a similar form of this phrase again to describe captives of Israel being set free: This phrase “they will not die” here, does not necessarily mean that there are literal prisoners in literal dungeons who will live forever (by not dying) in their dungeon, it’s simply saying that they will not stay in captivity for the rest of their lives until they do die, but will be set free before then.

In a similar way, when Isaiah also says the evil human’s worms “will not die” he was not necessarily talking about literal immortal worms forever eating their body: he seems to just be describing (much like the unquenchable fire) the worms as not being stopped from eating their dead bodies: no one is going to clean/kill their dead bodies from the maggots that are eating them.

Also here is something else to consider; maggots usually do not die anyways! They eat until they have had enough and then they turn into flies, and then after this they usually die!

They are going to continue to eat their bodies until they have had enough and turn into flies and if there is still some more bodies left the female flies will lay even more eggs and the cycle will begin all over again until there is not left.

So therefore, Isaiah is not necessarily describing immortal worms that will forever eat their bodies, instead they seem to be regular worms that will continue to do like they do to all dead things and eat their bodies until there is nothing left of them.

This phrase is used by the same prophet to emphasize an action that is definitely going to happen:

“ The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.”

The captives will soon be set free: That’s the point of the whole message! Not to show that some people in prisons will live forever as long as they’re in these prisons and they will never run out of bread!

This particular phrase in Isaiah prophecies are to emphasis a message: it is to show an action that it’s describing is absolutely going to happen no matter what.

So, when Isaiah says the one of the most misunderstood scriptures on Gehennah hell:

“…those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die nor will their fire be quenched,...”

He is not describing an afterlife for the wicked human’s souls, or even just a fire and maggots that will last forever: he is trying to emphasis the message:

He is emphasizing that these rebellious human beings are not going to escape their horrible fate of being killed and then their body being eaten up by worms and the fire burning what is left.

What Isaiah is describing might not necessarily mean anything to you in your culture, but in the ancient Middle East a dead body left unburied to be burnt by fire was considered the most shameful and disgraceful way to treat a human body:

Because this was not considered a proper or honorable way to treat a dead body; it was the way the dead bodies of criminals, like thieves or murderers, were treated! So what Isaiah is saying is very significant: these evil human’s bodies will be treated and viewed as the scum of the human race who God has cursed to die and be dishonored in death like this [7], and Isaiah even says this is how they will be viewed!

The point of whole prophecy is this: this is evil humans’ fate in Gehennah Hell, and nothing can save them from it or stop it! It was not intended to mean a literal fire will last forever somewhere to torture immortal humans for eternity as immortal worms that constantly crawl inside of their bodies eating them somehow. For many, this is assumed to be what the text is talking about, but by examining it closely along with what the rest of the Bible has to say about it through similar subjects, it says otherwise: therefore, this text alone is no proof that Hellfire will last forever, and immortal worms will torture human’s immortal soul’s forever.

In revelation, angels claim smoke from a fire will keep rising “forever and ever”:

In this chapter, there is an evil city/system called “Babylon the Great” that is ruling and oppressing the world with sin. For her evil, God destroys this city/system with fire: afterwards the angels in heaven begin celebrating Babylon’s destruction this is where the verse above is said:

So, we need to realize this is being described as taking place on earth in the future to an actual physical system/city (once again, as opposed to happening right now in the afterlife/spiritual Hell). It also does not say this is necessarily Gehennah hell being talked about but is just a destructive fire (no real description of where it comes from or what it is).

Notice, the text does not say the fire will last forever, but the smoke from the fire will rise forever. Thought it strongly hints there is an eternal fire, because the smoke from the fire will rise forever; and if there is smoke rising forever then there must be fire making it to burning forever. is this what the verse is trying to say?

There is another verse in the Bible that talk about a fire that produces smoke forever, this is in a prophecy in Isaiah describing the fiery destruction of Edom: notice how similar this prophecy sounds to the destruction of Babylon (this Might even be referring to the same event in Revelation under a different name):

“…Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day(this is an unquenchable fire);its smoke will rise forever.”

So we see another Biblical case where smoke is rising forever: and it’s caused by an unquenchable fire as well. However, as we have learned before, an unquenchable fire does not necessarily last forever. However, it also says that this fire will last day and night and the smoke from it will rise forever: could this unquenchable fire be different from all the other unquenchable fires in the Bible and last forever?

Well, let’s see what happens to Edom’s land in this unquenchable fire that lasts day and night:

“…From generation to generation (hundreds of years) it will lie desolate(deserted of people); no one will ever pass through it again. The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there…Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,.. all her princes will vanish away(as opposed to suffering in this fire forever: be burnt up).Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds(abandoned ruins). She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls. Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other;…”

So, as we read the effects of this unquenchable fire not being put out day or night and the smoke from it rising forever, we do not read descriptions of a fiery place filled with sulfur and people being tortured in never ending fire. We now read descriptions of an abandoned/destroyed country that was once inhabited but is now completely destroyed (by the unquenchable fire). However, this place cannot no longer be on fire at this point, because it’s now a home for wild animals and plants are growing all over the ruins: animals don’t typically make homes in fire and plants usually get burned up in fire, so it seems this unquenchable fire that lasts day and night went out and has been out for some time because plants are beginning to grow back. Of course, in the first part of the prophecy there are descriptions of fire and burning, but this will obviously not last forever because right after this, it’s described as just uninhabited ruins.

So, this is our example of what smoke rising forever is: it’s coming from an unquenchable fire which will not last forever, so why does it say the smoke will last forever?

When the Bible says “the smoke will rise forever” or a fire will last “day and night” it’s not necessarily being literal: it's emphasizing the eternal and total destruction of what is set on fire: that it will be completely destroyed by fire and that destruction will last forever.

So, when the Angel says that Babylon the great’s smoke from the fire will rise “forever and ever” the point is not necessarily saying there is an eternal unquenchable fire that will make smoke forever but is emphasizing the permanent destruction of Babylon from that fire.

There is even more proof this is the case for Babylon, because in revelation, after this system’s destruction; the effects are described as being very similar to the destruction of Edom:

“They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished(as in, being burnt up into ashes), never to be recovered(this is permanent destruction).’”

“The merchants who…gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment (so there is torture associate with this fire). They will weep and mourn and cry out: ’…such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’”

“Every sea captain…and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning(so there is also smoke and burning), they will exclaim… with weeping and mourning cry out:’…she has been brought to ruin!’”

“Then a mighty angel…said: ‘With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down(destroyed), never to be found again(permanent destruction). The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again(it is silent). No worker of any trade will ever be found in you again…. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again(it is silent).’”

So, while we see this fiery destruction is torturous and does produce smoke (as covered before, this does not contradict verses describing Gehennah hell), we also get descriptions of burn out/abandoned ruins that seem to no longer be on fire, or the fire is going out and has destroyed this system. The ultimate point is this: this is not describing Gehennah hell and even if it was, it does not mean this is an eternal fire: it will go out, but the destruction will be permanent.

Revelation also describes an Angel is describes the fate of evil humans that are thrown into Gehennah Hellfire: that they will be tortured with burning sulfur(fire) “for ever and ever” and “will have no rest day or night”:

“…They will be tormented with burning sulfur...And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night...”

Do is this verse prove that human’s souls who go to Hell will suffer forever and have no rest being constantly tortured? Let's look more closely at this verse to find out for sure.

However, this event is not happening now, like almost all verses talking about Gehennah Hell: it’s describing a future prophecy taking place on Earth when Jesus returns to earth (as it says earlier in the chapter where this is taking place):

“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb (Jesus’s name in revelation), standing on Mount Zion (A mountain in Jerusalem: that is, on the Earth),”

This is where these angles come in to announce warnings (notice ,one again, this is happening/referring to events on the Earth):

“Then I saw…angel[s] flying in midair, and…[they]…had…[news]…to proclaim to those who live on the earth…”

This verse in particular, is a warning of the punishment for evil humans at this time who worship a false idol called “the beast”:

“If anyone worships the beast …they, too will drink the wine of God’s fury,.. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image,...”

As detailed in the next chapter, this punishment for the beast worshipers is not necessarily talking about Gehennah hell here; it’s specifically talking about God’s wrath on rebellious human on the earth:

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.’”

No mention of Gehennah Hell exists here (or as Gehennah seems to be referred to in Revelation as: the lake of fire): what is mentioned is curses of sores, water being turned to blood, being scorched by the sun, and a kingdom being plunged into total darkness (The rest of Revelation 16). No mention of the lake of fire exists, however torture in fiery sulfur is mentioned:

Burning surfer is describing a fiery punishment for the worshipers of the beast; so is this describing Gehennah hell? Possibly, it does not say what exactly will be the punishment that involves fiery Sulfur (It could be a reference to Gehennah hell, or some other destructive fire) It could be referring to an actual physical curse on these evil humans that deals with fire (like the curse of the sun or some other destructive fire no mentioned) or could refer to the future when they are judged and thrown into Gehennah hell:

Whatever this fire is (wherever Gehennah or not) will humans who worship the beast eventually be tortured and suffer in this fire forever because the verse says they will be tortured in fire and smoke forever and have no rest day or night?:

“.. They will be tormented with burning sulfur… And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image,...”

But on a closer look at this verse, notice this term does not say the people themselves will be tortured forever in this fire, but rather (like the last verse covered) just says the smoke from the fire of their torment will rise forever:

And (as also covered before) this term does not mean that this fire that they're tortured in will last forever, but means this fire that they are in will destroy them forever (or complete its purpose by torturing them as a curse).

The next phrase “they will be no rest day or night” does not necessarily refer to eternal suffering in fire either: this phrase is also covered before (the same phrase is used to describe Edom’s unquenchable fire) and does not necessarily mean eternity: it means an unstoppable force or event that will not stop no matter what until it is completed: for Edom’s unquenchable fire, it means the fire will not be stopped until it burns everything and in this verse it seems to mean that these evil humans who worship this beast will not be at peace (rest) anymore because of God’s wrath constantly on them.

By the way, Even if this statement is referring to Gehennah Hell, only the beast and false prophet are said to actually have been thrown into Gehennah hell in the end:

“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the…earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against…[Jesus]…and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf…The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

But this does not happen for the rest of the evil humans who followed the beast, they are eventually killed by Jesus and their physical dead bodies are eaten by scavenging birds.

“…The rest were killed with the sword (in battle)…and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh(ate their dead bodies).”

So, how can these humans be tortured forever if they are eventually killed and their dead bodies are eaten?

So basically, what this verse is saying is, these people are going to be cursed for worshiping a false idol which will torment them (some of that possibly involves fire: also possibly a direct reference to Gehennah hell) they will suffer from curses until they either repent from their idolatry or die in battle: and later they possibly will suffer in Gehennah hell for their sins ( if this verse is referring to it) but this does not necessarily mean these evil humans will be tortured forever in Gehennah hellfire: like all other prophesies of Gehennah hell, they will suffer in this burning fire until the fire eventually kills them and they turn to ash: no contradiction here! So, this verse is not proper proof of eternal torture in hellfire either.

One of the biggest verses seen as proof for eternal torture in Hell found in the entire Bible is this one verse found in revelation, where the last mention of Gehenna hell is found when Satan is being thrown into here:

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

So unlike the other verses in Revelation, this verse is a direct description of Gehennah hell (the lake of burning sulfur). So, this verse is directly talking about Gehennah hell, and it says clearly in this verse that once thrown into here there will be fiery torment forever! So, is this verse really proof that humans are tortured in hell forever? Let's look at it closely

First off, this verse is not talking about regular evil humans in general being thrown into Gehenna hell and their experience once in there, but it’s referring to someone in particulars experience: It says the Devil (Satan) is being thrown into this lake of fire. So, this verse is specifically talking about the devil. The devil/Satan is not considered human: the Devil/Satan is considered a fallen angel (which is an angel that has willingly sinned/rebelled against God).

While it's true that Tartarus/the abyss is described as the “prison” for fallen angels to be held or trapped in (as covered in the last article) the Bible also says that this is only a temporary place of holding for their ultimate judgement in the future:

“...God…sent them (Angels) to hell[Tartarus], putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;…”

Eventually these Angels will be taken out of Tartarus/the abyss for their ultimate and final punishment for their sins: their punishment is also Gehennah Hell (as told by Jesus himself):

"...everlasting fire [Gehennah Hell], prepared for the devil [Satan] and his angels."

And in Revelation, all this is described as happening to Satan (often called the old serpent/dragon in Revelation):

When Jesus comes back to Earth, Satan will be captured by an angel of God and thrown into the abyss to be trapped for a thousand years:

“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss…He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him…He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him…until the thousand years were ended.”

However, this is not Satan’s ultimate punishment: once these thousand years are over, he will be set free from this place, but will eventually be punished by being thrown into Gehennah hell (the lake of fire: where the original verse comes in):

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,…They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

The beast and false prophet were thrown into Gehennah hell a thousand years earlier when Jesus first came back (Called here the lake of fire):

“…But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf…The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

However, thousand years after this, Satan himself is thrown in and then all of them are said to then be tormented in hellfire constantly “day and Night” forever and ever:

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are.They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

So, does all this mean this verse is proof that evil humans that go to Gehennah hell really will suffer forever in eternal fire? Not exactly:

As covered before, this passage is specifically dealing with Satan, the false prophet, and the beast: Satan is considered a fallen angel but its not exactly clear what the false prophet and the beast are: if they're humans then this would be proof that humans suffer forever but it would also contradict what the rest of the Bible seems to say with what happens to evil humans in hellfire. If they are demons/fallen angels then this does not necessarily contradict descriptions of Gehennah hell:

because some demons reveal (in their fear of seeing Jesus: calling him “the Son of God”) that there is a future punishment for them involving torture:

“‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’ ”

However, since it's not necessarily known what “species”(that is: either human or demon/angel) the beast and false prophet are, this is not necessarily proof that humans suffer in hellfire for all eternity.

because the rest of the humans that are being thrown in Gehennah hell in the same chapter of revelation are described as not suffering in Gehennah hell forever but as dying instead!

And this “death” in Gehenna is not some symbolic word referring to torture in fire for eternity, because other parts of the Bible describe this “death” in hell as actually dying in this fire and being burnt to ash!

So even if the beast and false prophet were human this would not be the norm for all evil humans!

Though there is some debate of the original meaning of the verse concerning the best and false prophet being tortured forever [8], Even if these individuals were humans, this would be the only recorded case of humans being thrown into this lake of fire to suffer forever in the entire Bible. In fact, these two individuals are thrown into this lake before Satan, the demons, and the rest of the evil humans are: In fact, the beast and false prophet are the first two beings know to be tossed into Gehennah hell a thousand years before anyone else. So we need to keep in mind even if these two are humans this would be an exclusive case dealing with two specific evil humans but nevertheless this does not necessarily prove that all humans suffer forever in Gehennah Hellfire because the rest of the Bible (even in this exact chapter of Revelation) describes the rest of the evil humans being killed in Gehennah and burning up into ash: so this verse alone is not proper proof that humans suffer forever in Gehennah hellfire.

The final and most ultimate verse proving an afterlife Gehennah hell of eternal torture in the entire Bible: The Story of the Rich man and Lazarus

Out of all the verses in the entire Bible that seem to say that Human souls go to a fiery hell immediately when they die and are tortured forever, the story of Lazarus and the rich man has to be the strongest verse in the entire bible supporting humans going to an eternal fiery hell when they die. Many pastors and Christians for hundreds of years have used this story to show that there is a fiery punishment in the afterlife for evil humans if they don’t turn to Jesus and become Christians in this life. So, let’s take a look at this verse:

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day (was very rich). But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,…So it was that the beggar died,…The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.’ ' ”

So, Jesus tells an interesting story here: a poor man named Lazarus and a unnamed rich man both die and what happens to them after death is clearly told: Lazarus dies and seems to go to a place of comfort (heaven) and meets his ancestor Abraham, while the rich man seems to go to a fiery place of torture (Hell) where he seems to be literally on fire. For this study on hell, we’re going to focus on the rich man’s part of this story.

Even more important, Jesus himself is speaking about all this. Jesus, as God himself, would know everything that happens in the spiritual world/afterlife and cannot lie. So, Jesus would definitely know what happens after death and tell the truth about it!

However, at the same time, there is a very real problem with this story that pretty much contradicts every other Bible verse on the topic:

This man was obviously in pain in hell which does not contradict the Bible at all: Jesus says himself in that Hell is painful.

When Jesus said the rich man went to “hell” In this particular story, he was referring to “Hades” [9] and as said before:

“Hades” is Greek equivalent of the Old Testament “Sheol”, which means “the physical grave”

While it’s true that the rich man died and was buried in a grave in the story, Jesus also says that in the same place, he was also being tormented in fire as well!: This is the contradiction: Hades is not Gehenna (The fiery hell) Hades is the physical grave, he could not have been tormented in the physical grave since this contradicts all other Biblical descriptions of it (as a dark place of decomposition not a torturous fiery place) Even far into the New Testament, Hades is still described like this:

“…abandoned to the realm of the dead (hades),…his body see decay(decomposition).”

Is Jesus saying there really is a fiery spiritual hell in the afterlife for evil humans who die?

If he was, then this would be the only description of such a “hell” in the afterlife in the entire Bible!

So, since this seems to be such a massive contradiction, let’s take a closer look at this passage:

This “Hades” does not match the Hades/Sheol description, but seems to describe Gehennah more: however, Jesus says this is Hades; not Gehennah. What can Biblically explain this massive contradiction?

While Hades and Gehennah are two separate things, by closely looking at all Bible verses talking about them, it does seem they will “combine” one day at the end of the age when God begins the fiery destruction:

“Then death and Hades(The dead evil humans) were thrown into the lake of fire(Gehennah).”

“…the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves(Hades/Sheol) will hear His(Jesus’s) voice and come forth—…those who have done evil, to…condemnation [punishment: which is Gehennah!].”

In this way, Hades and Gehennah seem to be connected: that is at the end of the age, when Jesus comes back, this place will be on fire and dead evil humans there will be punished in this fire. So, considering all this, when Jesus said the rich man was in torture in “Hades” he could have been referring to the time at the end of the age when hades/sheol is being burnt in Gehennah and dead evil humans are being punished here. This would make this major contradiction agree with the rest of the Bible perfectly.

If this is the case, then this would mean Jesus was not saying there is a separate fiery “Hell” for evil human souls in the afterlife, but rather that it’s really the same fiery “Hell” in the future that Jesus had been warning about.

However, even with this major contradiction aside, there are still some contradictions with this hell and other verses in the Bible:

“…his angels,...will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace,…”

But in this story, the rich man just seems to “appear” in hell (no mention of angels carrying him here unlike Lazarus:

Not only that, but the rich man does not seem to be turning into ash/dying like every other verse in the Bible seem to say about the fate of evil people in this fire, instead he seems to not be dying in the fire but just suffering. Also in the story are humans in Heaven that can be seen and spoken to in hell; there is no other verse in the entire Bible that tells of humans speaking to each other in heaven or hell (thought this is not necessarily a contradiction, it’s important to notice no other verse in the entire Bible tells of this) and there seems to be no other verse to change these contradictions in the entire Bible, so what about all these contradictions?

One of the ways to solve contradictions in the Bible is to look at the larger context of a verse, so what’s going on in the whole chapter?

In the greater context of Luke 16, Jesus is telling multiple parables to demonstrate a message; this started in the last chapter when Jesus was being judged for hanging out with sinners:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ ”

Jesus's response to this judgmental remark was to tell a parable directed at the Pharisees and teachers:

He then explains what he means by this parable to the Pharisees: It’s important to find one lost sinner rather than stay with 99 righteous people of God.

Then on the next chapter, he stops talking to the Pharisees and then tells a parable to his disciples:

“Jesus told his disciples: ‘There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions… he had acted shrewdly(sly).’”

He then tells them what he means by the story: You need to wisely use what you have been given to please God with it and above all love God more than your own wealth:

However, the Pharisees were still there listening, and once they heard that money could not be loved as equally as God, they got offended because they knew they loved money more than God:

“...The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”

“He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others,…What people value highly is detestable in God's sight .’”

Well, we see Jesus is trying to demonstrate important points to the Pharisees and his disciples in the form of parables:

So, we should first consider the obvious here: If this story of Lazarus and the rich man is even to be taken literally in the first place.

Christians and pastors almost all agree that the story of the rich man and Lazarus is not a parable but was based on an actual event of real people who had died and what happened to them in the afterlife and is proof that there is a fiery punishment in the afterlife.

However, in the context it’s in, this seems to make no sense seeing that all other stories before it are considered parables: That means Jesus is not telling about actual events, they’re just made-up stories to show real important meanings (And many Christians/pastors/Bible scholars usually and rightfully see these other stories as parables not mean to be taken as actual events). So, if this is true for all the other stories in the context, then why does it all of a sudden not apply to the last story of this section?

It would make sense, at first, to say that this story was just a parable, but there are some very real differences in this story and all the other parables Jesus ever told:

While the rich man is not named, “Lazurus” is a specific and real name, and Father Abraham is a very real person right from the Old Testament. This is important because all of Jesus’s other parables had no specific names in them; just general terms (like “woman” “man” “merchant” etc.)

Also, this story refers to a real event: that is Gehennah. Though Jesus told other symbolic stories and parables referring to Gehennah (like the symbolic story of evil trees and the fire and parable of the cruel slave driver) no other story was so detailed and specific like this one: describing the actual fire, heat, and the experience of a person in it.

A Parable is a short story used to teach a similar lesson or truth.[10] Usually (but not all the time) when Jesus would tell a parable he would tell what it meant at the end of the story (either to the crowd who was listening or alone with his disciples) and often when Jesus was beginning a parable he would state “it is like” to start the comparison that he was about to do. However, in this story, he does neither: he just starts the story and ends it without clear explanation.

So, this story is different from all other parables Jesus ever told; but does this mean it’s not a parable, but was a real event because it’s so personal and different?

We need to remember this story (and almost all the others) were told for the Pharisees, and many of the parables before this story seem to have a strong similarity to the parables/ideas the Pharisees might have had during this time:

Like the parable of the lost coin sounds very familiar to a possible traditional Pharisee parable they might have told:

“If you seek wisdom as silver, that is, if you seek the things of the law as hidden treasures--A parable. It is like a man who loses a shekel or ornament in his house, he lights some candles, some torches, until he finds it. If it be true for the things of this world, how much more is it for the things of the world to come!”[11]

There are also similarities to the other parables in this chapter to other Pharisees parables/ideas [11]

This goes to show that Jesus (as well as other Jews at this time) might have been very familiar with Pharisees beliefs (which is very likely, because this group was very dominate in Jewish areas). If this is the case here, as it seems to be, then Jesus might have been trying to use their own traditional stories/ideas to try to make a point.

So, what does all this this have to do with this story? Well, the story Lazurus and the rich man seems to contradict every other passage and description of Hades and the fate of those who are in it.

Angles carrying righteous humans to Heaven, humans in Hell and Heaven talking to one another, and a see-through barrier of some sort blocking entrance and exit from these two places:

“…Abraham said, ‘…between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’”

All these descriptions and ideas are nowhere found in the Bible describing the afterlife: but they match perfectly with the Pharisee’s belief in the afterlife at this time!

Because they believed Hades was not just the physical grave (like the Bible says) but was also an actual place underground somewhere where both Heaven (specifically a place called Abraham’s bosom) and Hell were.

They believed (just like the traditional view of hell today) that the souls of evil humans at death went to Hades to go to the eternal fiery punishment there in the afterlife to be tortured forever.

And they believed that humans in both places could see one another and talk to one another but could not go to the other place because something (in most beliefs at this time: a river) was blocking the way.[11]

This story is a perfect description of what the Pharisees thought about the afterlife: but what about the actual theme of the story?

Also, during this time, a popular story seems to have been around the Pharisees that was very similar to this story:

The story is about a rich politician and a poor scholar: the rich politician lived a life of wealth while the poor scholar lived a life of poverty. Both of them died and went to Hades (the physical grave and the afterlife): but instead of the rich politician being in Heaven (like it would have been expected at this time) he was in hell suffering and the poor scholar was in heaven wearing the rich politician’s clothes.[11]

Notice this story is almost exactly the same as Jesus story of Lazarus and the Rich man: containing all the believes, ideas, and most importantly the major point of this traditional story of the Pharisees!

Though this story seems to not be a traditional parable of Jesus, all evidence is pointing to this story as being a unique parable that Jesus borrowed from the Pharisee’s own parables and ideas to demonstrate a point. And if this is the case, then this story is not an actual event about real people and what happened to them in the afterlife, but rather it’s just a made-up story using the Pharisees own ideas of the afterlife and thus this story alone cannot be considered proof that there is a fiery hell in the afterlife that evil people go to and suffer forever.

But if all this is true, why did Jesus choose to support these false unbiblical ideas?

It is strange that Jesus would choose to tell a story that would contradict all other passages of the Bible. But there seems to be a reason: remember in this context, Jesus was mostly speaking parables to the Pharisees by using their very own parables to demonstrate a point. Right before he uses this parable, the subject was about money and greed:

“...The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”

“…You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others,…What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

And then to demonstrate his point about this, he then uses their own parable (the poor scholar and the rich politician: which he changes it slightly to Lazarus and the rich man) to make a point against their love of money:

Even though their traditional parable contained unbiblical beliefs of Hades and the afterlife, these details were not the main point of Jesus telling this story: This is NOT about the details of what happens when good and bad human’s die an go to in the afterlife; The main point of (re)telling this story was to show the Pharisee’s that the things they value highly (which in this case, was money) and think because they are blessed with it, means they are right with God and would go to heaven was not necessarily true. In the end, the rich man was NOT right with God: he went to the eternal punishment (which, as said above, is the Biblical equivalent of Gehennah) and the reason he went there was that he was not right with God because he did not believe and follow God’s commands for him:

"Abraham said to him, ‘ [you had]…Moses and the prophets;…[you should have listened to]…them…’ ”

This was the whole point of the parable! Not to explain in detail what happens to someone in the afterlife: this was just a part of the original story which came from popular Pharisee’s believes and explains why many parts of the story do not agree with the rest of the Bible. They were never apart of the Bible, they came from pagan (non-Biblical) beliefs that the Pharisees (and ultimately all Jewish people) began to believe about the afterlife [11] (however there can be some similarities in this parable to descriptions in the Bible: as covered above. Like Hades could be an indirect reference to Gehennah even though they are usually considered separate places, and the rich man suffering in the fire could have been a reference to the suffering that will happen before a human die in Gehennah).

The point of all this explaining on this one story is this: This one story is one of the major proofs for a spiritual eternal fiery Hell for wicked Humans in the afterlife and has been used as the ultimate proof that there is a hell in the afterlife. Even though this one story pretty much contradicts every other verse on the subject. But once someone realizes the very likely possibly that this was not an actual event but simply a parable with Jewish belief’s mixed in this story, it is no longer proof of a spiritual fiery hell or even what happens in the afterlife.

To say this story alone is proof of a hell in the afterlife or any afterlife for humans at that, would be not only hugely talking this story way out of context but also to throw out every other scripture about “Hell” (Sheol/Hades and Gehennah) in the Bible.

The conclusion of souls going to a fiery torturous Gehennah hell afterlife

All these contradicting verses about hell that seem to either tell there is an afterlife hell and/or there is an eternal torture for humans in this hellfire, can pretty much all be proven to be out of context of the original message of these verses. But when the context of these verses is considered, and the Biblical meaning of certain words is found; all these verses harmonize perfectly with Gehenna being exclusively a physical future event that is going to talk place on earth:

Not only has that proven to be very unbiblical, but also the traditional concept of being tortured in hellfire forever is not either: since this fire is a physical fire dealing exclusively with physical humans it will not torture them forever but will eventually kill them and turn their dead bodies to ash!

While there is not a Gehennah hell (or fiery torturous hell) for human souls/consciousnesses once they die what about another type of afterlife under the Earth, where human bodies are buried in Sheol-Hell?

While nowhere is Sheol-Hell really openly described as an afterlife for human souls/spirits in the Bible (as covered before in Biblical Hell it’s mainly described the physical grave of all dead humans and nothing more) there are a couple of verses in the Bible that seem to say Sheol is a little bit more than just the physical grave: they seem to say that Sheol (or somewhere below the earth’s surface, is also the afterlife of human souls/spirits as well!

So, while not openly stated nor really described as the traditional fiery and torturous hell, is Sheol-Hell the real afterlife for wicked human souls or any human souls?

A mysterious phrase is mentioned throughout the New Testament (beginning in the book of Philippians) that seems to hint of living humans being under the earth. This phrase is used in different verses:

One mentions all living beings eventually coming to honor Jesus Christ’s ultimate authority.

“...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,…”

“But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.”

These verses mention all places where there are living beings that will one day (or who do already) come and worship Jesus/recognize Jesus as the ultimate ruler:

On Earth: this would primarily include all living Humans and Animals living on Earth's surface

According to these verses, apparently there are also living beings under the Earth’s surface as well who are going to (or already) acknowledge Jesus and realize he is the ultimate ruler, but its not clear what living beings this statement is referring to. Some conclude this statement referrers to all the human souls who are in Sheol-hell underground,

Therefore, this statement is proof that there is an afterlife hell under the Earth where rebellious human souls (the living beings) are, and will one day be forced to honor Jesus Christ (if they do not already honor him now).

Is this what these verses are saying? and if it is, is this verse proof that there really is an afterlife hell below the Earth?

Why it might seem to be a strong hint to human soul’s in hell, there are some things to consider here:

This phrase is referring to all living things in these places; not just human life:

Notice when this phrase is mentioned again it mentions every creature (or living being) as worshiping the lamb (Jesus):

“Then I heard every creature (living being) in heaven and on earth and under the earth…”

Not only that, but this time this phrase has two extra places not mentioned before: that is ‘on the sea’ and ‘in the sea’.

“Then I heard every creature (living being) in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’”

So apparently there is life on the Earth’s seas and within those seas as well; and life in these specific places can be easily identified through the observation of anyone on Earth:

the life on the sea are living beings that live on Earth's water surfaces this could range from seafaring humans who practically live at sea to animals such as seagulls, ducks, water insects etc. That mostly live on the surface of the water. The life in the sea are all sea creatures on Earth such as fish ,dolphins, whales, seahorses ect. that all completely live in bodies of water: in the sea. This strongly seems to be the creatures these phrases are referring to.

With this definition of ‘living creatures’ above, the phrase ‘under the Earth’ could just be referring to animals who live under the surface of the earth: And there are animals on Earth that almost totally live under the ground’s surface: such as earthworms, moles, voles, etc. so this could be referring solely to these living things: therefore this reference to living beings under the Earth is not necessarily a reference to human soul’s in underground somewhere in a Sheol-Hell afterlife.

The fallen Angels in Tartarus could also fit into this category of life under the Earth’s surface:

Since Tartarus is strongly described as being somewhere underground (as covered in ‘Biblical Hell’), this statement of living creature under the Earth could also equally refer to these particular fallen angels, but not necessarily humans' souls underground in the afterlife hell.

So, a closer look at this phrase ‘under the earth’ could refer to animals living underground to Angel’s trapped in Tartarus. therefore this phrase is not necessarily referring to human’s souls underground.

Even if this was the case (and it’s not), it’s not the main point of this phrase to specifically pinpoint specific places in order to pin-point where specific living things are:

The point of this phrase is to group all known places known to humans where their is life (that would be the heavens: the sky/third heaven the Earth: the ground's surface, below the earth: underground, on the sea: body of water’s surface, and in the sea: within a body of water) in order to ultimately show that what was being talked about was an absolute to all living beings everywhere: that means whatever is being talk about all living beings everywhere are going to be involved! [12]

God uses a different version of this phrase to tell the Israelites to not make an idol of any living thing (or non-living) they might see:

“You will not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.”

God was basically saying do not make an idol looking like ANYTHING ANYWHERE! (Basically, he's saying do not make an idol period!)

King David uses another variation of this phrase to say that everything in existence should rightfully praise the Lord!

“...Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea resound, and all that fills it. Let the fields exult, and all that is in them. let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord…”

So basically, this phrase is just referring to everything (or all living things) in existence: including life under the Earth but does not specifically have to refer to Human souls in an afterlife Sheol-hell below the Earth.

Isaiah: ’the spirits are excited in Sheol'

This is the most direct reference to human spirits in Sheol in the entire Bible where Isaiah describes what happens to the king of Babylon after his death when he enters Sheol/the grave:

“The realm of the dead (sheol) below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.They will all respond, they will say to you, ‘You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.’ ”

This verse seem to say once The King of Babylon died, not only did his body enter into Sheol (his physical grave) but his soul also seemed to have entered into a spiritual side of sheol not really spoken of in the rest of the Bible: where it seems many other spirits in this place were exited for this kings coming to sheol and all the former kings and leaders of nations of the past have gotten off of their thrones in this place to greet this new king to Sheol and point out he was no different than them.

Why all other verses concerning hell were not necessarily talking about an afterlife under the earth this verse clearly is! Because this is telling what is happening to king of Babylon after his death and tells of spirits in Sheol (where dead people are) who also have died greeting him.

So, is this verse proof there really is an afterlife Sheol-Hell even though it's not a fiery Gehenna-Hell?

This definitely is proof! but before we jump to a final conclusion, we should examine this verse a little more:

While at first the verse seems to say these spirits are excited and can’t wait for this king to join them in Sheol a closer look into the original words used to describe this event tell a slightly different story:

Though it might seem the spirits in Sheol are the ones excited in the original Hebrew it's really saying Sheol itself is excited (or Sheol is shaking, that is, the earth itself is shaking; this word is pretty much used everywhere else to describe an earthquake as well) [13].

So, because of Sheol/the Earth’s excitement (not the excitement of any other spirits) to receive The King of Babylon, Sheol is said to have ‘stirred up’ or makes the the spirits of dead kings and leaders of the past rise from their thrones (apparently, they are described as having some type of spiritual throne in Sheol) to go and greet this new king:

“The realm of the dead (sheol) below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you…it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.”

But right in this part of the verse we have a contradiction to two other verses in the Bible; Isaiah also says later that spirits of the dead do not rise up in Sheol as he describes with the spirit of these dead kings!

And he is not the only one who says this; In the Psalms a traditional song of the sons of Korah also asks rhetorically if spirits in Sheol rise up for where they are and praise God:

Which was just a part of a longer series of rhetorical questions questioning God if he waited to save them from their dangerous life-threatening situation if they were killed from his delay to save them if they would still see him answer their prayers in Sheol and praise him for it:

“I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death…I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day [to save me]; I spread out my hands to you [in prayer].

Do their spirits rise up and praise you?…Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,…?”

Once again, these are all rhetorical questions: the singer is not really asking God if he dies will God be able to answer his prayers in Sheol:

He knows the answer to his questions is NO because he even says earlier that God forgets about those who die and go to sheol and that these spirits are completely cut off from any his care or answered prayers:

“…the dead,…in the grave (or sheol), whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.”

So obviously if God no longer remembers those in sheol and they are completely cut off from him he is not going to answer their prayer or perform miracles for the spirits in Sheol: therefore, the answer to these questions (including the question if spirits rise up in sheol) is a NO!

NO, Spirits in Sheol do not rise up and praise God, this completely agrees with what Isaiah said.

So considering all this, how could the spirits of dead kings and leaders rise up to meet The spirit of this Babylonian king if spirits CANNOT rise up in Sheol? This seems to be an unexplained contradiction until the main context is considered:

This verse is a part of a much larger taunt to mock the death of the king of Babylon:

“On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: ”

So the verses below this one are primarily concerned with taunting this dead king of Babylon.

“Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, ‘Now that you have been laid low (died), no one comes to cut us down.’”

So, since Isaiah said the trees gloated over this king no longer cutting them down does this mean that this really happened when the king of Babylon died and does this verse alone prove that all trees are conscious and can speak?

Most likely no, this does not mean that trees are conscious and can speak nor does this mean that these trees said this when this king of Babylon died: it's just a personification of trees (that means making them more human-like: in this case aware and able to talk) in order to mock this king’s death further.

In the same way, this seems to also be the case with Isaiah’s description of the spirit’s meeting in Sheol (and the personification of Sheol itself being excited to receive the king's spirit): it’s not necessarily meant to be taken literally in this context (unlike the other verses that say spirits do not rise up in Sheol as well as the fact that no other verse in the Bible describe Sheol/underground as somewhat conscious and even aware when someone dies and has power to rouse and make spirits of the dead rise up as described by Isaiah here). It’s seems Isaiah is emphasizing (and mocking) the kings large ego:

That even a king as great as the king of Babylon who possibly thought of himself as great as the God of the Bible and his empire (which was the greatest ever known at the time) would never end; was finally killed and his empire finally destroyed proved that his proud ego was no better than any other king or leader of any other great empire or nation in the world:

because they all died and went to Sheol (the grave!) and he finally joined these kings their (he died like they did).

Isaiah not only personifies sheol itself as being excited for the death of this great king but also paints a picture of all the dead kings/leaders getting up off of their thrones to tell this newcomer that he has also been brought to an end just like they were.

So, is Isaiah actually describing a real event happening in a spiritual sheol-hell somewhere?

The odds are no, he is not actually describing what is going to happen to the king of Babylon once he dies. He is rather more likey using personification and political imagery of dead kings already in sheol (their graves) to mock his proud ego (Isaiah pretty much treats these the verse of the talking trees and this part about sheol like a political cartoon: in this case, something is exaggerated in order to mock something political).

So, this one verse speaking about spirits in sheol (especially since it contradicts two other verses) based on the context it is in is not telling there are spirits in sheol or if there is even an afterlife in sheol-hell, so this verse is not proper proof that there is an afterlife of some sort in sheol.

the conclusion we can come to is an afterlife hell of any kind does not exist underground because there is no true solid proof in the Bible, and Sheol-Hell is therefore not a true afterlife that human souls go to after death either! since Gehennah Hell is only a future destructive fire and nothing else. So, since we know about what the Bible really says about hell, let’s move onto the next Christian afterlife: Heaven.

[A] Strong’s Greek--165. αἰών (ahee-ohn')-- a space of time, an age, by Biblehub

[A] Strong’s Greek—166. αἰώνιος (ahee-o'-nee-os)-- agelong, eternal by Biblehub

[A] Strong’s Hebrew 8438-- תּוֹלָע (to-law')-- worm, scarlet stuff by Biblehub

[B] תּוֹלָע (to-law') originally referred to a very specific type of worm: the crimson worm

“You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.”

And actual worms (like earthworms) and maggots (fly babies: larva) that eat rotten food and dead things

“But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank(rotted). And Moses was angry with them.”

[A] TheWormPeople “The Earthworm Diet – What food do earthworms eat?” June 27, 2021 by Jeffery

[A] ‘Decent burial was regarded to be of great importance in ancient Israel, as in the rest of the ancient Near East. Not only the Egyptians, whose extravagant provision for the dead is well known, but also the peoples of Mesopotamia dreaded above all else the thought of lying unburied. One of the most frequently employed curses found in Mesopotamian texts is: "May the earth not receive your corpses," or the equivalent.’ From Jewish Virtual Library “Death & Bereavement in Judaism: Ancient Burial Practices” on 2008 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

[B] ‘In ancient times, the Jewish washed the corpse, treated it with spices, and wrapped it in linen. Professional mourners were hired. Coffins were not used.’ From The funeral source “Asian Funeral History: Middle Eastern Traditions Ancient Jewish Rites” Cincinnati, Ohio 45231

The original Greek text does say this is the same place where the Beast and false prophet were thrown into a thousand years earlier for sure:

“...the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are,…”

But what is not fully clear in the original text is wherever the beast and false prophet are still alive after being in this fire for a thousand years or not. While the way the text is put says they are still alive in the fire there is some debate about if this is suppose to be translated as the beast and false prophet are still in this fire or if its saying this is the same fire that they were thrown into but are now no longer alive in it:

Notice in the original king James translation , this particular part of the verse is put in the present (saying they have been in here and is strongly hinted that they are still alive in here 1,000 years later):

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are,…”

But notice in a different translation (The New International Version) this part is now put in the past (saying they have been thrown in here a thousand year earlier but is now sort of hinting that they are no longer alive in this fire 1,000 years later):

“...the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown….”

The original Greek text does not seem to clearly say if they are still alive or not: it just says this is where the beast and false prophet were thrown.

However in the next part of the verse (right after mentioning the false prophet and beast) it says THEY will be tortured “day and night” forever and ever (even in the original Greek text it says this). Well who is the “they” Referring to in this verse? Because “they” means more than one individual is being refereed to. Well the only individuals mentioned here are the Devil,the Beast, and the False Prophet! However we should also note from other verses that Satan will not necessarily be alone in being tossed into Gehennah hell here. Eventually other Devils (Demons/Fallen Angels) will be tossed into here too and suffer the same fate as Satan so this could also be what is meant by “they”. However is equally important to notice that even though demons will eventually be apart of this “they” they are not directlly mentioned in this verse only Satan, the Beast and the false prophet are direcly mentioned.

So the main point is there is alot of confusion on this specifics in this verse, but here is the main point: This is the ultimate fate for Satan and his angels(as well as the beast and false prophet) once in this place they will never escape it for eternity.

Which literally means “age of/to the ages” does absolutely mean forever in Greek (either in the future tense or both past and future the English term of forever) and with the addition of day and night it emphasizes this torment (not smoke of torment) will last forever! However here is the catch in this verse: the torment in this lake of fire does seem to last forever( or the punishment of it) but this does not necessarily apply to all evil humans but to specific individuals: the false prophecy the beast and Satan.

immortal beings obviously are not affected by physical things we see in other parts of scripture, we are left to believe Satan (and other fallen angles) is mentally tormented day and night constantly reminded of their new prison one second to the next. The others mortal humans (the false prophet and the beast, if they were literal humans, I’m assuming they were) they defiantly would have not been tormented forever as we have already covered above humans are not immortal and would instantly be turn to ashes in the fire (Psalms 37:20) so this does not have contradictions with the Bible. According to the verses above Satan along with his angles are thrown into Geenna and they (not humans) will be the ones being tormented forever with the destroyed humans who turned into ashes 1,000 earlier.

LiteraryDevices Editors. “Parable” LiteraryDevices.net. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

[B] Things Paul & Luke “Luke and Egyptian Folklore” 8/5/2020 by Edward L. Bromfield

“This mode of expression is equivalent to saying, ‘all that is above, around, and beneath us,’ and arises from what appears to us. The division is natural and obvious - that which is above us in the heavens, that which is on the earth where we dwell, and all that is beneath us…the whole universe ...”

Do Evil Human’s Souls/Consciousness go to “Geheenah Hell” (the fiery punishment) when they die?