Preachers warn from their pulpits – ‘If you don’t accept Christ as your Savior, you are condemned for your sins! When you die, you would be sent alive to hell to be tortured forever in raging fire!’ Eternal torment is the ominous warning. Many claim that a fire-proof Satan rules this underworld and that his demons torture the people cast down there. On what basis is this preached? What is the soul’s punishment for sin according to the Bible? Does the Bible preach eternal torment?

Four words have been translated as hell in the Bible – Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartaroo. The first one is Hebrew (Old Testament) and the rest are Greek (New Testament). Do all of these words mean the same? (At least that's what many of the English bible translations imply). Or do they mean different things?
When we refer to Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and the Bible's own descriptions of these words, we find deeper insight into their meanings.
And we also get clarity on many seemingly contradictory verses in the English bibles.

The Greek word Gehenna is translated as hell 12 times. If Gehenna denotes hell, we can actually book a flight and go to hell! Yes, it’s a real place in Israel. That’s why translations like YLT render it as Gehenna instead of hell. When Jesus says ‘the fire in Gehenna’, it’s like a New Yorker saying ‘the water in Brooklyn’! The Valley of Hinnom, named Gehenna in Greek, lies just outside the city of Jerusalem. During Jesus’ time, it was the city’s garbage burner. Its fires were kept continually burning (everlasting fire).

The Greek word Gehenna is translated as hell 12 times. If Gehenna denotes hell, we can actually book a flight and go to hell! Yes, it’s a real place in Israel. That’s why translations like YLT render it as Gehenna instead of hell. When Jesus says ‘the fire in Gehenna’, it’s like a New Yorker saying ‘the water in Brooklyn’! The Valley of Hinnom, named Gehenna in Greek, lies just outside the city of Jerusalem. During Jesus’ time, it was the city’s garbage burner. Its fires were kept continually burning (everlasting fire).

Preachers warn from their pulpits – ‘If you don’t accept Christ as your Savior, you are condemned for your sins! When you die, you would be sent alive to hell to be tortured forever in raging fire!’ Eternal torment is the ominous warning. Many claim that a fire-proof Satan rules this underworld and that his demons torture the people cast down there. On what basis is this preached? What is the soul’s punishment for sin according to the Bible? Does the Bible preach eternal torment?

Four words have been translated as hell in the Bible – Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartaroo. The first one is Hebrew (Old Testament) and the rest are Greek (New Testament). Do all of these words mean the same? (At least that's what many of the English bible translations imply). Or do they mean different things?
When we refer to Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and the Bible's own descriptions of these words, we find deeper insight into their meanings.
And we also get clarity on many seemingly contradictory verses in the English bibles.