There are many NT accounts of punishment in the fire. Are you saying they are all erroneous?
The Bible is
harmonious throughout. In dealing with the nation of Israel, God has shown his attributes, with the most notable being love.(Ex. 34:6) So the question remains: How could God condemn the nation of Israel for ' burning their sons and daughters in the fire', which was only momentary, and yet eternally burn people in a hellfire ? You, along with a whole host of people
fail to grasp that with "the Father of the celestial lights, (that) with him there is
not a variation of the turning of the shadow."(James 1:17)
Hence, God
never changes, unlike a shadow that keeps changing in size and direction. Jehovah God is constant and dependable, even in the minutest details. He is “a God of faithfulness.”(Deuteronomy 32:4) Hence, if he has condemned the Israelites for their actions, calling it an "
abomination....evil in my sight....sin", then how could he, at the same time, burn people in a hellfire ? You know as well as I do that anyone who does this is a hypocrite ! So explain how God can be
righteous, unhypocritical, yet has people burning in a hellfire ?
I am well aware that the
King James Bible uses the word "hell" and "hellfire" several times. However, these words have been wrongly translated. For example, at Matthew 5:22, the
King James Bible reads of Jesus as saying: "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of
hell fire." Did Jesus really say "hellfire" ? No.
The word Jesus used here was
Gehenna (as also in verse 29, where the word "hell" is used), and comes from the Hebrew word
geh·hin·nom´, meaning “valley of Hinnom”. This place was for burning refuse outside of Jerusalem on the south wall.
No living persons were ever thrown there, only the
dead carcasses of ones such as criminals to be consumed by the "fire and sulphur", along with other trash from the city. Fire
destroys things whereby it cannot be used again. Hence, Jesus use of the word
Gehenna shows that individuals who are assigned there, are
not tormented, but everlastingly dead,
destroyed forever, with no hope of a resurrection.
This is even in harmony with Matthew 10:28, with the
King James Bible saying of Jesus words: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in
hell (Greek
Gehenna)." Thus here, Jesus says that those who are "hell" or
Gehenna, are
destroyed, not tormented.
That the
King James Bible is inconsistent with regard to rendering a Hebrew or Greek word, can be seen in the fact that the Hebrew word
she’ohl´ is translated 31 times as "hell", 31 times as "grave" and 3 times as "pit".(In the Catholic
Douay Version,
she’ohl´ is rendered “hell” 64 times, “pit” once, and “death” once)
Collier’s Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28) says concerning “Hell”: “First it stands for the Hebrew Sheol of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament. Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the
abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word ‘hell,’ as understood today, is
not a happy translation.”
And if you were really serious about your Bible study, you could of easily have found out that word "hell" in archaic English meant, not roasting someone, but to "
conceal" something.(Old English hel(l) . Ultimately from an Indo-European word meaning “to conceal,” which is also the ancestor of English conceal,
Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2005)
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under “Hell” says: “fr[om] . . . helan to conceal.” The word “hell” thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment but simply of a ‘covered over or concealed place.’ In the old English dialect the expression “helling potatoes” meant, not to roast them, but simply to place the potatoes in the ground or in a cellar.
“Hellfire” has been a basic teaching in Christendom for many centuries. It is understandable why The
Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.”
You take the illustration or parable that Jesus gave of "Lazarus and the Rich Man" at Luke 16:19-31 as being literal, when in fact, it is
not. It is, as said, an
illustration. How is this known ? By looking at whom Jesus was dealing with, in this case, the Pharisees. At Luke 16, Jesus had just given an illustration of a "rich man and his steward."(Luke 16:1-8) He then proceeded to tell his audience, which included the Pharisees: "Also, I say to you, Make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous riches, so that, when such fail, they may receive you into the everlasting dwelling places....No house servant can be a slave to two masters; for, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves to God and to
riches.”(Luke 16:9, 13)
Luke 16:14 says: "Now the Pharisees,
who were money lovers, were
listening to all these things, and they began to
sneer at him. Consequently he said to them: “You are those who declare yourselves righteous before men, but God knows your hearts; because what is lofty among men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight." To reveal their haughty and arrogant attitude that was "a disgusting thing in God's sight", Jesus gave the illustration of "Lazarus and the Rich man" and showed who were the ones that were really pleasing to God.
The "rich man" pictured the religious leaders, who fed spiritual "crumbs" to "Lazarus", the common people ("the people of the land", Hebrew
le‛am-ha·’a′rets). These looked down on them. But Jesus said that a change was to occur, for the death of each signified that God's favor would be reversed, and that the "rich man" or religious leaders would be in "torments" due to the strong condemnation of them by "Lazarus", the common people who accepted Jesus whereas the religious leaders rejected him.
Jesus said it succinctly only days before his death, by asking the religious leaders: "What do you think? A man had two children. Going up to the first, he said, ‘Child, go work today in the vineyard.’ In answer this one said, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go out. Approaching the second, he said the same. In reply this one said, ‘I will not.’ Afterwards he felt regret and went out. Which of the two did the will of his father ?”(Matt 21:28-30)
How did the religious leaders respond ? They said: "The latter." What did Jesus then tell them ? "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the harlots are
going ahead of you into the kingdom of God. For John came to you in a way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and the harlots believed him, and you, although you saw this, did not feel regret afterwards so as to believe him."(Matt 21:31, 32)
Hence, the common people, "the tax collectors and the harlots", were now ahead of the religious leaders in favor with God. As a result, the religious leaders were now being tormented by the scathing condemnations that Jesus and now the
am-ha·’a′rets or common people were giving out. For example, Stephen's cutting words at Acts 7, caused the religious leaders to retort in such anger as to murder him.(Acts 7:54-60)
So, Luke 16:19-31 is not about people being tormented in a "hellfire". Rather the rich man represented the religious leaders who were favored with spiritual privileges and opportunities but lost them, and Lazarus pictured the common people who hungered for spiritual nourishment, but were only fed spiritual "crumbs" by the religious leaders. Because the Lazarus class spoke Jesus condemning words, this tormented the religious leaders, who hated Jesus.(John 11:53)
