Bible Questions and Answers

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Hell is not a place of eternal fiery torment as falsely taught by many Churches.  In the Old Testament, ‘hell’ in the King James Authorised Version of the Bible is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘sheol’ which means grave.

 

Sometimes the word is specifically translated grave.

 

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave (sheol), that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

 

Psalms 89:48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave (sheol)?

 

In other places the word is translated pit.

 

Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit (sheol), when our rest together is in the dust.

In other places as hell.

 

Psalms 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell (sheol), behold, thou art there.

 

Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 

In the New Testament the Greek word translated hell is ‘hades’. This is the Greek equivalent of the word ‘sheol’ as can be seen from Peter’s quotation of Psalms 16:10.

 

Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (hades), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 

The word is translated grave when Paul quotes Hosea 13:14.

 

1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave (hades), where is thy victory?

 

Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave (sheol); I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave (sheol), I will be thy destruction.

 

The hell associated with fire that Christ speaks of is a translation of the word ‘gehenna’.

 

Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell (gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched:

 

The valley of Hinnom (‘ge’- valley; ‘henna’ – hinnom), south of Jerusalem was the place where the refuse and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned.  Christ is uses it as a figure of complete destruction. The fire didn’t go out until all was consumed.

 

At the end of the millennial reign of Christ, hell is destroyed by figuratively being cast into a lake of fire – again a symbol for complete destruction. Death will be no more and there will be no further need for graves so both have an end.

 

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

 

From the above you will see that we all go to hell – the grave – whether we smoke weed or not.

When we are dead the Bible says that we have no conscious existence.

 

Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing...

Psalms 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

 

The dead are said to ‘sleep’ in the dust.

 

Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

 

The only way that we can escape from hell (the grave) is by resurrection from the dead.

 

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (not to be confused with everlasting torment at death).

 

The gospel preached by Jesus and the apostles teaches us what we must do if we want to be saved from the dead by resurrection.

 

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

 

The damned are not condemned to eternal fiery torment but to remain dead forever.

Proverbs 21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

 

Those who believe the gospel and are baptised into Christ and live by his commandments will be raised from the ‘sleep’ of death when Christ returns.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope... 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

 

The important thing then is this:

 

If we have not believed the gospel, whether we smoke weed [or pot or marijuana] or not, we will eventually die and remain in the grave forever. If we have believed the gospel and been baptised into Christ and we want to be raised to eternal life, we must live by his commandments.

 

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

 

We must ask ourselves ‘does smoking weed constitute living by the commandments of Christ?’

 

I hope this helps.

Glenn