From a Jewish perspective, Is Sheol more like the Christian idea of Heaven or Hell? Or neither? What's it like
87955
Sheol is the grave with no concious. In the late 1500's early 1600's (when the KJV was written)the term hell meant to put something in the ground. ex: I am going to plant my seeds in hell next week to get the garden ready. To the English back then both words Sheol and hell meant the same so the KJV Bible writers substituted in the word hell. It was until later that the churches used this to their advantage as a scare tactic.
248528
All go to hell at death including Christians.\n\nI couldn't answer this question any better, so i borrowed it from pontiuspilatewsm . . i don't think he'll mind. but this is what the bible truly teaches about 'hell'\n\nAll go to hell at death including Christians.The original Hebrew word was Sheol and the Greek word was Hades, properly translated they mean: the grave or a pit.Another word also translated as hell was Gehenna(Greek),this is an actual place now known as the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem. This is a place that always had a fire and they burnt trash, animal carcasses, and live babies were sacrificed to molech the great owl god.Look at a map.In Psalm 16:10, & 49:15 David knew he was going to hell (grave) and would be resurected from it.Many of the older Bibles such as Geneva properly translated these words as grave or pit. It is impossible to have three totally different words and translate them all as hell. In the 1600's when the KJV Bible was made ,the meaning of the word hell was to put in the ground so when they changed the wording to hell they understood what it meant.If you look up Gehenna in Websters dictionary today you will see it tells you the same thing I said. Apparently its to difficult for most Christians to actually look up the meaning of a word, they prefer to listen to the lies that their preacher spews from the pulpit. My God will put you in hell(I worship the true God of the Bible) when you die,the grave, and regardless of your beliefs or how you lived you will be resurected for judgement. To receive eternal life you must know Christ as saviour, if not you will be thrown into the lake of fire Rev. 20:14,this is the second death, and consumed instantly. No eternal suffering and torment.I am a Christian and I think its a shame that churches use these kind of scare tactics to keep people in church.
286433
No Christians Don't think they're going to hell. On the contrary, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was jewish. (His mother Mary was a jew).  The jews are the chosen people of God and still are to this day.  God has blinded them to the truth of who Jesus is for now until all of us non-jews are saved.  The truth is our Christian heritage stems from the jews and if we bless the jews, God will bless us.
274380
Heaven is a state of eternal bliss, of closeness with God. There is no pain, suffering, or hate there. There is also no hope, but in a good sense: Heaven is more than we could ever hope for and more. In the book of Revelation, it is portrayed as a humongous walled city made of gold and jewels.\n\nAccording to the New Testament, we will be with our loved ones there provided they also die as believers in Christ ("He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned"). As for the spouse thing, I'll be honest: I'm not completely sure, but I THINK that no one is married there. Jesus said something to the effect that "in heaven they are not married, nor are they given in marriage." If you think about it, that would probably save remarried widows and widowers a lot of stress (as in "GAH! Which one am I married to?" stress). All the same, we can still remember that relationship and cherish a special fondness for our spouse/s in Heaven. That brings me to your last question...\n\nWe will definitely have our memory of life here on Earth. The story of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus on the mountain shows without a doubt that they hadn't forgotten who they were in life. Anyway, I hope my answer was helpful. We'll find out for sure when we get there, right?
1051532
The popular Christian vision of heaven is somewhat frightening I must admit. Yes hell seems more exciting indeed. I mean talking to the devil, wild parties, exceedingly loud music, drinking, (sex orgies without condemnation?), making fun of the devil to piss him off, etc. Well you know, people love fun, and for that you have to be a little naughty (or a lot). And we also need to consider that the Christians have demonised hell (like they demonise everything they don't understand), so yes I'll take my chances with hell and I bet it turns out to rock.
345512
There is no such thing as Hell. Not as the ascribed place anyway. Hey, its great to have a religion or spirituality to make you feel good and have importance in life, but the Idea of Hell was used to just terrify people into submission in the old ages. Its just carried over through the centuries. People used to believe in Zues and Medusa and all the Greek mythology too! Well, that should give you some indication...\n\nI'm not attempting to change your belief system, because I believe everyone should have thier own, however, I would suggest doing some research and introspective thought regarding Theocracy. Ask around. Talk to people and get other views. It may open your mind and free you of the anxiety of Hell or whatever.
485812
Definitely not!  All paths lead to God and Jesus is but one.  How judgemental to say that only Christians can get to God.  What about Jews?  Or Muslims?  Or Pagans?  Just because someone isn't a Christian, that does not make them an evil person deserving of going to hell.  Why not let God decide what will happen to a person instead of judging them yourselves?
442220
when Jesus said "today, you will be with me in paradise"\nhe meant in the place called Sheol(in the original text) it is in the center of the earth and is divived in two. hell on one side, paradise on the other. the word Sheol is always translated as hell or hades. now if you are talking about the garden of eden read in the Bible Genisis 2:10-14
1173527
What I have been taught is that before the resurrection, no one was in heaven, but in hades.  Not hell (although hades is sometimes translated hell).  In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus speaks of Lazarus being in hades in Abraham's bosom.  That's where those who were faithful waited for judgment.  Some say it's the same place Jesus refers to as paradise when He said to the thief on the cross, "This day you will be with Me in paradise."  Not the idea of heaven, but of going to Abraham's bosom, or the good side of hades.\n\nAs I understand it, all who died before Christ who were faithful to God are covered by His sacrifice.  All who refused to be covered by His sacrifice are not.\n\nI'm personally not sure if those who are dead are still in the hadean world or if Christ broke the barrier so that they may go now to be with the Father in heaven.  I still haven't looked up the verb tenses when it talks about the judgment.  I don't know if the dead have been judged, or are awaiting judgment.  \n\nI've heard it said that when the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom when Jesus rose that the veil between hades and heaven was also torn.  I haven't decided which I think is correct.  I need to study that more.
1180075
The Jewish concept of Messiah is one who brings freedom to the Jewish people and, usually also peace to the land of Israel. Moses, Cyrus the Persian, etc. were all Messiahs. \n\nIt's not an afterlife issue. Jews don't believe in Hell. Jews believe that dutiful following of G-d's Law results in a clear conscience at death, which results in ease in being in G-d's presence. Having a guilty conscience results in the person's spirit not being able to "face" G-d... it is the person, and not G-d, who defines one's afterlife experience. This is "deep," "subconscious" awareness of one's righteousness and/or sin, not some sort of "wish away the bad stuff" deal.  Why would you want the death of someone else (e.g. Jesus) on your soul? Having another human being "die" to take away the guilt of your own misdeeds makes no sense from the Jewish point of view. Actually any human sacrifice is clearly forbidden by the redemption of Issac. One does Mitzvah (prayer, charity, good works) to balance errors that you couldn't directly fix. If one is motivated by caring and good works, then the errors you make don't weigh too heavily on your soul, especially if you consciously seek to make things right. When the Temple existed, Temple sacrifice was a Mitzvah. It wasn't the actual food being sacrificed, but the willingness to give to the community through especially defined rules (an additional opportunity to follow Law), that cleansed the soul.\n\nWhen Jesus did not drive out the Romans and bring Israel into independence and peace, those Jews who were initially following him realized that he was not a Messiah.\n\nChristianity is actually Greco-Roman "dying god as bringer of life" cycle mythology tacked shakily onto Hebrew scripture so that Paul could start his own religous following with a Jew in the role of the dying spring god. When Rome took on Paul's concept in the 400's, they did so because they needed a religion based on submission to authority for their people, to try to hold a dying empire together.  To discourage people looking too closely at the actual concepts in the original Hebrew scripture and possibly converting fully to Judaism and away from Christianity, they modified scriptures and preached heavily to make Jews into evil servants of the ancient pagan gods (devils) in the minds of their followers, and only referred to Jewish scripture line by line, pulled out without historical and full-text (original text, not the modified stuff) context, to try to prove Jesus' divinity.
183749
The first two answers are correct. All go to hell at death including Christians.The original Hebrew word was Sheol and the Greek word was Hades, properly translated they mean: the grave or a pit.Another word also translated as hell was Gehenna(Greek),this is an actual place now known as the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem. This is a place that always had a fire and they burnt trash, animal carcasses, and live babies were sacrificed to molech the great owl god. Look at a map.In Psalm 16:10, & 49:15 David knew he was going to hell (grave) and would be resurected from it.Many of the older Bibles such as Geneva properly translated these words as grave or pit. It is impossible to have three totally different words and translate them all as hell. The more ancient Bibles such as the geneva OT did not use the word hell. In the 1600's when the KJV Bible was made ,the meaning of the word hell was to put in the ground so when they changed the wording to hell they understood what it meant.If you look up Gehenna in Websters dictionary today you will see it tells you the same thing I said.  My God will put you in hell when you die,the grave, and regardless of your beliefs or how you lived you will be resurected for judgement. To receive eternal life you must know Christ as saviour, if not you will be thrown into the lake of fire Rev. 20:14,this is the second death, where people are consumed instantly and permanently. No eternal suffering and torment. The lake of fire is a seperate issue from hell, yet churches constantly use the lake of fire verses and substitute in the word hell to deceive the masses.
996884
US Catholic Magazine writes:  “There are in fact so many strong biblical, doctrinal, and logical argument against the existence of a literal “hell” that this question naturally arises. Why do the churches teach it and why do people often believe it.” -  Robert Short, Methodist clergyman, U.S. Catholic magazine, April 1980 pp. 37-40\nConcerning this use of “hell” to translate these original words from the Hebrew and Greek, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2, p. 187) says: “HADES . . . It corresponds to ‘Sheol’ in the O.T. [Old Testament]. In the A.V. of the O.T. [Old Testament] and N.T. [New Testament], it has been unhappily rendered ‘Hell.’”\n\nWebster’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.’ \n\n In the century after Luther, the English Bible that was authorized by King James I of England, in 1611 C.E., translated Sheol as “the grave.” The Hebrews, the Jews themselves, ought to know what their own word Sheol means; and so the English Bible translation by the Jewish Publication Society of America translates the word as “the grave.” (1917 C.E.) And so too does the English translation by the Jewish rabbi, Isaac Leeser. (1853 C.E.) Note, however, that Sheol does not mean “a grave.” It means “the grave,” that is, the common grave of all dead mankind. Once we understand this fact about the “hell” as taught in the Holy Bible, it helps us to understand the situation as to dead mankind.\n\n“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.” \n\nIn ancient Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs the “nether world . . . is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” (The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, Morris Jastrow, Jr., p. 581) \nEarly evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt. (The Book of the Dead, New Hyde Park, N.Y., 1960, with introduction by E. A. Wallis Budge, pp. 144, 149, 151, 153, 161) \n\nBuddhism, which dates back to the 6th century B.C.E., in time came to feature both hot and cold hells. (The Encyclopedia Americana, 1977, Vol. 14, p. 68) \nDepictions of hell portrayed in Catholic churches in Italy have been traced to Etruscan roots.—La civiltà etrusca (Milan, 1979), Werner Keller, p. 389.
903783
Yes I have read the book and it was not very good in relations to going to hell. If hell is really all like she told it then if everyone read it, would surely get saved and live their best lives for the lord.
494163
Yes. Both exist, BUT many MANY MANY people have a misconception about what heaven and hell are.  \n\nIf you look at the literal translation from the greek of the word heaven, you will see that it means spending eternity in relationship with God.  We paint the picture of "paradise" because it's the best we can come with to describe spending eternity in relationship wtih Him.  \n\nIf you look at the literal translation from the greek of the word hell, you will see that it means eternal separation from God.  We get the imagery of burning and gnashing of teeth from the Bible which is used to paint the picture of something as bad as spending our eternity separated from God.\n\nNote in both explinations here that I used the word RELATIONSHIP. That is what Christianity is all about.  Where you spend eternity is not about works (what you do or what you don't do) it's about building relationship with Him.
931339
Hi Gorgeous,\n\nYou just did a straw man argument.  Hell is a Christian theological concept.  In fact, it is generally a new testament concept.  It is impossible to discuss it without referring to how it came to be defined.  I’ll do my best to minimize any references and use reason and common sense. \n\nA common religious and cultural concept is “punishment” for bad people.  I think it is a just concept.  Buddha say, if you are bad, you will have bad karma in your next life.  Bad Karma is hell.   The Greek Gods had Hades, in the underworld.  \n\nOr, Jesus says, Good = love God (faith) and love others as yourself (action).   “ON THESE 2 COMMANDMENTS HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS”.  (Read Matt 22:34-40).   So Ted says, if you read something that contradicts this, then check your premises, you will find one is wrong.  Everything in the bible has to (it must) logically align with this statement.  So, what is the interpretation basis to align with this one statement?  That’s a longer answer, and not part of your question.  \n\nHowever, what is the GOOD that will be the basis of judgment?  Most people say, “got to have faith”.  What is faith?  They then start prescribing rules and beliefs.  Now can you prove that these rules and beliefs 100% align with loving God?  Not usually.  There are many main religions, and then 100’s of sects.  Carl Jung says, “The shoe that fits one person, pinches another.”  So I also am skeptical.    \n\nNow do not forget this one dynamic of human nature that exists.  A religion (versus personal belief in God), as any and all organizations, always tries to grow and sustain itself.  It is pure human nature, in fact, it is good, for without it there would not be progress.  As for all human organizations, belief is based on some dogma or “Vision Statement”, loyalty to the organization, and growth thru product sales (corporations) or people or faith (religion).  In a sense, it is survival of the fittest.  The religion with the best message and the one that meets the most human needs, or aligns with an inspiring spiritual message the best, wins.   So they are all competing and believe they are right.   But they do say a lot of different things.  From the outside, this does not sound spiritual.   From the inside, it can be very spiritual.   Religion and church is a choice, and can be a very satisfying choice, if it meets your needs.  \n\nBack to what Jesus, is said to have said, [paraphrased]:  to be good, to pass His judgement, “feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the stranger in need, clothe those who need it, help the sick, and visit those in prison.”  (Matt 25:35-36).  How else can it be known that you have loved others as you love yourself?  It is your actions.  Think about it, there is not one single word on belief, just actions.  This aligns with love others as yourself.  This is a good statement.     \n\nDo not forget, that in a solely materialist universe, which is cause and effect only, this leads to nihilism on a grand scale.  That is why philosophy and politics and much more is so nihilistic today.  If we are random quirks of nature, then in the grand scheme of nature, neither purpose, nor the sanctity of life can be justified.  This has and will have increasingly terrible implications to civilization.  Inherently, most people are not nihilistic, they are good people, with or without religion.  But if you are brilliant person without a conscience, heaven help us. \n\nRead the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30).  If you do not work to reach your human potential, and thus contribute your potential to mankind, then “cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness”.   This seems to align with loving others as yourself, and proving it by action, and being judged specifically on this aspect of your life.   What is the outer darkness?  It is not explained.  \n\nTo me it seems that religions try to make having faith the critical issue, in their
1185979
The old paradigm of Christianity (hell = inflicted punishment) might allow this question, but I know that mine (hell = self-inflicted decision to abandon God) sees it as non-sensical.\n\nFrom what it seems to me, heaven and hell are not physical locations to which you are given access or damned to. \n\nHeaven is being in (and enjoying) the presence of God (just as you would enjoy being with your spouse, only moreso). \n\nHell, on the other hand, is not being in God's presence.\n\nRejection of God implies a lot about how someone deals with their relationships. When you experience deep intimate relationships, and you perceive that God offers the same thing (but even deeper), he becomes more desirable to you, and you want to be with him, and you love others more. \n\nWhen you fear others, or you're more interested in self-gratification or taking care of yourself, you tend to put distance in your relationships and treat other people and God more as objects. Eventually you have no real relationships with others; you are the only "person" in your little world of objects; and this is the painful, agonizing alienation of hell.\n\nHeaven and hell are, really, states of "being" and not physical locations.\n\nSo the question is sort of non-sensical to me, as much as is the old standby of, "Can God make a stone He couldn't lift?":\n\n* Hell (alienation from God and others) exists as long as we have been given the gift to choose God or reject him... and he is fair and just enough to honor our decision. \n\n* There are always negative ramifications for choosing to protect and/or gratify oneself ahead of others (including God). That's simply how people work -- even according to secular psychology.
920752
The English word "hell" is not a biblically precise term.\n\nSome bibles use "hell" to translate the Hebrew word "Sheol", the Greek word "Hades", and the Greek word "Gehenna"; other bibles consider these three terms to be proper nouns and so leave the capitalized original-language names untranslated in their English translations. \n\nBoth "Sheol" and "Hades" clearly refer to the common grave of mankind, the condition of being dead from which resurrection is possible. "Gehenna" refers to death without the possibility of resurrection; "Gehenna" is synonymous with the bible expressions "lake of fire" and "the second death".\n\nNone of these terms, and nothing in the bible, teaches that "hell" is a fiery place of torment.\n\n(Ecclesiastes 9:10) there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol ["hell"]\n\n(Revelation 20:14) And death and Hades ["hell"] were hurled into the lake of fire\n\nLearn more:\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20020715/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20020601/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/lmn/article_07.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20010901/article_02.htm