Caroline wrote: > The King James bible translated certain words in > the OT as hell that later scholars feel should be > properly rendered as the grave or sheol.
Sheol is the Hebrew word translated as "hell" in the KJV, but this does not mean that it is equivalent to "grave." The Hebrews had another word, "qeber," which refered to grave. Caroline wrote: > All the modern translations do not use the word > 'hell' in the OT because the modern word no > longer means what the OT writers were trying > to convey. You make a correct observation here concerning "most" (not all) modern translations. The trend has been to transliterate the words, so that instead of hell, we read "Sheol" in the OT and "Hades" in the NT. The result is that some modern translations do not have the word "hell" anywhere in the Bible at all! Isn't that strange. This is done under the guise of making the translation more understandable, but that is debateable. I think the common person understands "hell" better than they understand "Sheol" or "Hades" or "Gehenna." As for scholars, it does not really matter because we consult the original language anyway and have a good understanding of what is being said. Caroline wrote: > Jesus spoke a lot about hell but his listeners have > a very different concept of what he was talking > about. Most likely they were thinking about being > cut off from God, life, joy etc when one is dead > and in the grave. This is what many modern theologians try to get you to believe, but they are bearing false witness. Jesus was the one who truly revealed to us the tortuous nature of hell. He spoke about hell (Sheol / Hades) in Luke 16, describing it as a place of torment. In Mark 9, he tells us that in hell (Gehenna) "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." In Mat. 25, he speaks of the judgment resulting in "everlasting punishment." The doctrine of Christ makes it very clear that the Sadducean idea of Sheol being the grave was in error. Many modern theologians try to resurrect that idea in new garb, but they are dead wrong (pardon the pun). It is very clear that when Jesus spoke of hell (Sheol / Hades / Gehenna), he had much more than the idea of the grave in mind. Caroline wrote: > The odd thing is that the NT authors don't speak > a lot about hell. James spoke metaphorically about > our tongues being fuelled by the fires of hell. > Peter spoke of fallen angels being held in hell. > Odd if the whole world is going to hell and our > job is to save as many as possible. It does not seem odd at all to me that Jesus was the one who spoke most about hell. None of us have been there except for him. Furthermore, people generally do not like to think about impending punishment. A child who deserves a spanking does anything he can to change the subject and get out of it. I trust what Jesus says about hell over what any man will testify about it. Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
