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cgaviria
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There are many who do not understand what Hell is, otherwise named Gehenna, and also the lake of fire. These are all names that describe one place, which is not the same place as Hades, otherwise known as Sheol. These are two distinct places, one is for the holding place of the souls of men to be resurrected, which is Hades or Sheol, and the other is a final place of punishment for the dead that are resurrected and thrown in it, which is Hell or Gehenna or the lake of fire. Let's first jump into a mention of Hell by Jesus,
Now, this passage corresponds with an old prophecy in Isaiah, which is,
Notice how this prophecy says and they will go out and look "on the dead bodies". You can only have a dead body if you die, therefore the first thing to know about Hell is that everyone that is thrown into this fire dies. Therefore, any notion that men burn endlessly in this fire is already wrong. Now, the next thing to note is that "they" will go out and look on these bodies. Who is "they"? They are mankind, or rather, people, that are still alive on the earth to witness these dead bodies in this fire. So therefore, if people on the earth will see these bodies in the fire, it stands to reason that this fire will exist on the earth, not in some secret chasm in the middle of the earth, where no one would be able to witness the dead bodies in this fire.
Going further, this prophecy goes into more detail describing this as a place where worms do not die and fire is not quenched, but one can more easily understand these two descriptions when one realizes what type of fire this will be. Let's first explain what type of fire this will be, then I will come back to this. Lets look at Revelation,
So this Hell, is also called a fiery lake of burning sulfur. How can fire be a lake? This is because this great lake of fire will be a lake of lava. Lava has the ability to be a fire, yet also be a liquid, hence able to be a "lake". Lava also has sulfur, which gives it's distinctive pungent smell similar to "rotten eggs". If you Google "volcano rotten eggs", you will see for yourself that volcanoes, which have lava, are known to have this pungent smell.
Now, why is knowing that this fire will be a lake of lava also significant? First, because lava is not easily quenched. Lava is not like an ordinary fire that burns and extinguishes once it consumes an object. Lava burns for a very long time and does not need an object, like a piece of wood, to burn. So it stands to reason, that this lava will indeed be an unquenchable fire, especially if there is a constant flow of lava coming from beneath the earth, and thus fulfill the prophecy this this fire "will not be quenched".
Next, how will worms not die in this place? To answer this, one must also understand that lava is not like water, where most things you throw in water will sink. Lava is denser than water, so naturally, any human body that would be thrown in it, will float, and thus fulfill the prophecy that these "dead bodies will be seen", because how could a dead body be seen on this lake of lava if it sinks? So if indeed these dead bodies are floating in this lake of lava, that can be seen by men, it therefore stands to reason that as these bodies would be decomposing on the surface as well, and thus have worms on them, that would thus not die, since the worms would be on the surface of the lava eating the rotting bodies on the surface, and thus fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah "that the worm does not die".
The next matter to discuss, will this lake of lava exist forever? We have already determined that people that are thrown into it die, yet we still have this verse,
The word "eternal" in this verse is the Greek word "aionon", which is derived from the word "aion", which means "age", or "eon". A usage of the Greek word "aion" can be found here,
So here "aion" refers to a specific amount of time with a beginning and an end, which is why this particular verse is rendered as "this age", and then "age to come", since "this forever", and "forever to come" would be nonsensical. Therefore, if "aion" refers to a specific amount of time, then it would stand to reason that "aionion", its adjective counterpart, would also relate to a specific amount of time as well. Yet even so, an "aion" is not a short amount of time, it is indeed a long time, usually in the thousands of years. So therefore, eternal fire is not a correct translation, it should instead be rendered as "eonial fire", meaning a fire that lasts a very long time.
Next, there is the matter of "tormented day and night", as seen in this verse,
And also a similar verse,
First, one must understand that the beast and the false prophet are not actual persons, they are nations. So how are two nations thrown into a fire? By throwing it's people into the fire. Now, we know that these two nations correspond to many people, in the millions if not more. So what this prophecy is saying is that there will be millions of people that will be thrown into this lake of lava. Now, why is this of significance? Because it greatly relates to "day and night". Lets look at other examples of day and night used in scripture first,
"Day and night" in these verse convey a constant continuance of whatever it is they were doing, yet it doesn't mean they were doing it forever, just that they were doing it without ceasing for many days. So how does this constant continuance of many days relate to millions of people being tossed into this lake of fire? That this tossing of millions of people into this lake of fire will happen gradually, day and night, until all have been tossed into the lake of fire. Why will they be tossed into the lake of fire gradually day and night and not all at once? Because they will all be judged first. Judging all of these millions of people is not a task that will be done in one day, but in many days. If for example, you had 100 people that were to be judged in total, and 10 were judged and punished each day, this judging and punishing would happen day and night for 10 days until all 100 are judged and punished. In fact, the elect will also judge these people and thus partake in the judging of the wicked, as this great task will not be done by only one person, which is why it is said,
Not only is the judgment of wicked men done gradually and continually day and night, but also the judging of fallen angels as well, as there are also many angels that have sinned, and will thus be judged gradually and continually day and night until all of them are judged and punished. The judgment of angels occurs at the final white throne judgment. And we also have affirmation that the elect will also judge angels,
Next, is the matter of "forever and ever". So we have concluded that "day and night" refers to however long it takes to judge the wicked, so how does "forever and ever" relate to this? Do you recall how we determined earlier that "eternal" is a mistranslation of the word "aion"? The same applies here. The correct rendering of this phrase should've been "eons of the eons", so in all, the text in Revelation 20:10 should read "they will be tormented day and night till the eons of the eons", as the Greek word "eis" can be rendered as "till".
Now, this passage corresponds with an old prophecy in Isaiah, which is,
Notice how this prophecy says and they will go out and look "on the dead bodies". You can only have a dead body if you die, therefore the first thing to know about Hell is that everyone that is thrown into this fire dies. Therefore, any notion that men burn endlessly in this fire is already wrong. Now, the next thing to note is that "they" will go out and look on these bodies. Who is "they"? They are mankind, or rather, people, that are still alive on the earth to witness these dead bodies in this fire. So therefore, if people on the earth will see these bodies in the fire, it stands to reason that this fire will exist on the earth, not in some secret chasm in the middle of the earth, where no one would be able to witness the dead bodies in this fire.
Going further, this prophecy goes into more detail describing this as a place where worms do not die and fire is not quenched, but one can more easily understand these two descriptions when one realizes what type of fire this will be. Let's first explain what type of fire this will be, then I will come back to this. Lets look at Revelation,
So this Hell, is also called a fiery lake of burning sulfur. How can fire be a lake? This is because this great lake of fire will be a lake of lava. Lava has the ability to be a fire, yet also be a liquid, hence able to be a "lake". Lava also has sulfur, which gives it's distinctive pungent smell similar to "rotten eggs". If you Google "volcano rotten eggs", you will see for yourself that volcanoes, which have lava, are known to have this pungent smell.
Now, why is knowing that this fire will be a lake of lava also significant? First, because lava is not easily quenched. Lava is not like an ordinary fire that burns and extinguishes once it consumes an object. Lava burns for a very long time and does not need an object, like a piece of wood, to burn. So it stands to reason, that this lava will indeed be an unquenchable fire, especially if there is a constant flow of lava coming from beneath the earth, and thus fulfill the prophecy this this fire "will not be quenched".
Next, how will worms not die in this place? To answer this, one must also understand that lava is not like water, where most things you throw in water will sink. Lava is denser than water, so naturally, any human body that would be thrown in it, will float, and thus fulfill the prophecy that these "dead bodies will be seen", because how could a dead body be seen on this lake of lava if it sinks? So if indeed these dead bodies are floating in this lake of lava, that can be seen by men, it therefore stands to reason that as these bodies would be decomposing on the surface as well, and thus have worms on them, that would thus not die, since the worms would be on the surface of the lava eating the rotting bodies on the surface, and thus fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah "that the worm does not die".
The next matter to discuss, will this lake of lava exist forever? We have already determined that people that are thrown into it die, yet we still have this verse,
The word "eternal" in this verse is the Greek word "aionon", which is derived from the word "aion", which means "age", or "eon". A usage of the Greek word "aion" can be found here,
So here "aion" refers to a specific amount of time with a beginning and an end, which is why this particular verse is rendered as "this age", and then "age to come", since "this forever", and "forever to come" would be nonsensical. Therefore, if "aion" refers to a specific amount of time, then it would stand to reason that "aionion", its adjective counterpart, would also relate to a specific amount of time as well. Yet even so, an "aion" is not a short amount of time, it is indeed a long time, usually in the thousands of years. So therefore, eternal fire is not a correct translation, it should instead be rendered as "eonial fire", meaning a fire that lasts a very long time.
Next, there is the matter of "tormented day and night", as seen in this verse,
And also a similar verse,
First, one must understand that the beast and the false prophet are not actual persons, they are nations. So how are two nations thrown into a fire? By throwing it's people into the fire. Now, we know that these two nations correspond to many people, in the millions if not more. So what this prophecy is saying is that there will be millions of people that will be thrown into this lake of lava. Now, why is this of significance? Because it greatly relates to "day and night". Lets look at other examples of day and night used in scripture first,
"Day and night" in these verse convey a constant continuance of whatever it is they were doing, yet it doesn't mean they were doing it forever, just that they were doing it without ceasing for many days. So how does this constant continuance of many days relate to millions of people being tossed into this lake of fire? That this tossing of millions of people into this lake of fire will happen gradually, day and night, until all have been tossed into the lake of fire. Why will they be tossed into the lake of fire gradually day and night and not all at once? Because they will all be judged first. Judging all of these millions of people is not a task that will be done in one day, but in many days. If for example, you had 100 people that were to be judged in total, and 10 were judged and punished each day, this judging and punishing would happen day and night for 10 days until all 100 are judged and punished. In fact, the elect will also judge these people and thus partake in the judging of the wicked, as this great task will not be done by only one person, which is why it is said,
Not only is the judgment of wicked men done gradually and continually day and night, but also the judging of fallen angels as well, as there are also many angels that have sinned, and will thus be judged gradually and continually day and night until all of them are judged and punished. The judgment of angels occurs at the final white throne judgment. And we also have affirmation that the elect will also judge angels,
Next, is the matter of "forever and ever". So we have concluded that "day and night" refers to however long it takes to judge the wicked, so how does "forever and ever" relate to this? Do you recall how we determined earlier that "eternal" is a mistranslation of the word "aion"? The same applies here. The correct rendering of this phrase should've been "eons of the eons", so in all, the text in Revelation 20:10 should read "they will be tormented day and night till the eons of the eons", as the Greek word "eis" can be rendered as "till".
