I can show you Gehenna on a map if you like. I don't like the doctrine of no eternal torment, but after reading through many times where Gehenna was used, I have to conclude that it's a physical place. Hell is a concept given by men for the most part. Jesus described Hades as having a gulf with a hot side and not so hot side.
As much as I want to make Gehenna hell, it still comes up as being a physical place that was bad and understood that people were cast into fires and sacrificed.
So then I guess we need the scripture where people are still in torment, in hell. One was already given where death and hell gave up it's dead. "Hades"
There is ZERO connection to Gehenna being the lake of fire................. ZERO in scripture. Jesus used it a few times and one time in James. To say the lake of fire which is translated "Pool of fire" means Gehenna, has no scriptural backing.
Lake of fire is just that, a lake of fire. Some take the meaning of outer darkness and attempt to make Gehenna the lake of fire but it is a stretch of imagination. I mean a big stretch...............
The conclusion is that hades is actually hell (Translated English) and is the the place for the unrighteous dead to go. A place of eternal (Aionious) torment "punishment" Jesus said.
Gehenna is a physical place, and nothing in scripture denotes it's not. The Holy Spirit would have been clear if Gehenna was actually the lake of fire, and the Holy Spirit did not, or is the author of confusion.
There is a doctrine that keeps Jesus sayings as not a parable, Hyperbole, or fake saying. It makes his account of what Abraham said is true, but makes Gehenna the lake of fire. The doctrine falls flat when you ask for the connecting scripture to the lake of fire and Gehenna.
I would re-examine Free. Remove the English concept of Hell or the Word, and look at Hades (Jesus and James once for Gehenna) then come to the conclusion.
I perceive this goes beyond what others have studied and don't expect feedback much.
Jesus Is Lord.
Yes, Gehenna is a real place. The lake of fire is a real place. Jesus said the wicked would be cast into Gehenna. John says the wicked will be cast into the Lake of Fire. It would seem that either Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are the same place or either Jesus or John was wrong. Also, other than John the other apostles didn't see the book of Revelation. If the Lake of Fire is where the wicked are cast then it would mean that none of the apostles knew what happens to the wicked because they thought they wee cast into Gehenna. Saying Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are not the same place creates quite a few difficulties that do not exist if we understand them to be the same place.
Consider this passage from Rev.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying
to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God1,
18 "that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free1 and slave, both small and great."
19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And
the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.
And all the birds were filled with their flesh. (Rev 19:17-21 NKJ)
Now compare Jeremiah,
31 "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
32 "Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.
33
"The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. (Jer 7:31-33 NKJ)
4 "Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents
5 "(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),
6 "therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD,
"that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 "And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and
I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives;
their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. (Jer 19:4-7 NKJ)
These passages in Jeremiah and Revelation sure seem to be describing the same place.
