John A. Broussard

When Paul and the other scriptural writers were preaching to converts and potential converts in the late 1st Century and early 2nd Century C.E. did they really want their listeners to believe in the fires of hell, a place of eternal damnation and torment?

I’m not concerned with what the preachers themselves believed or whether or not there’s a place of fire and brimstone waiting for sinners. What I am looking for is evidence that Paul and other leaders wanted their listeners to think in terms of a literal hell, where those who ended up (or down) there would burn for all of eternity.

I’m also not concerned with whether the early verses of the bible which reeked of a hell with its eternal flames are to be taken literally or figuratively today.

Since the early Christians and potential converts were for the most part slaves, soldiers and commoners, the literacy rate must have been very low among them and few had any kind of education. This was particularly true for the women who made up the bulk of these first converts.

All had undoubtedly heard of volcanic eruptions—some had seen them—along with lava flows. Many would have known about and visited sulphurous springs and felt the heat coming up from underground. The preachers would have been well aware of this, and since they were dealing with a superstition-ridden populace, it wouldn’t be too surprising to think that Paul and the other disciples would have played on those fears.

There's passage after passage referring to hell and eternal punishment.

Two should suffice:

Mattthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

So I’m back to my original question, “Did Paul, et al., want their audience to believe that there was a real hell, with real flames, with real torment waiting for the non-believers and sinners, for ever and ever and ever?�

drewcosten

I'd say it is possible, but it depends on the writer. Paul, for instance, never mentions hell or everlasting torture. He does make one reference to everlasting destruction in one passage but that's it, so I'd suspect not, but who knows for sure? The gospels, which were written later (and by who knows who), do make reference to either ages or eternity (depending on how you translate "aionios") of punishment in the fires of gehenna and one reference to punishment in hades (though no reference to it being everlasting), but they are generally in parables so who knows if they were meant to be taken literally or not (I'd suspect not, but again who knows). Revelation talks about ages or eternity in a lake of fire, but taking anything literally in that book is just asking for trouble. So the bottom line is, I doubt anyone knows for certain, although my personal opinion is probably not.

manimal2878

i don't think the eraly christian really believed in hell, it seems they believed more in a hades type of afterlife.

In fact it sems newer translations have been putting back the original names, like hades and sheol and gehenna, it seems hell as eternal torment is purely a roman catholic invention and the early christians didn't really believe in it, that aside i really don't see much evidence in the bible for hell as we think of it with eternal torment for non-believers.

judge

Not passage after passage just one or two

Nothing about eternal here.

from here



Ok this does mention eternal but as our earliest witnesses tell us Matthew was written in the hebrew dialect this reflects the hebrew "eternal" which did not necessarily mean "never ending."

eternal life is as I understand it, more a quality of life not a time span.


Hard to see how Paul could have held this. Where would he have got such an idea from?

Enda80

I would say that they did, since after all, they held quite a few odd ideas about the end of the world which the afterlife formed a part of. They held these ideas about the end of the world literally. So, no need to look to the long haul as there would exist no long haul.

Planning your life

The Biblical Jesus taught to seek the kingdom of God and to ignore future plans (Matthew 6:33-34). You don't need to work for food (John 6:27) or save your money (Matthew 6:19). Encourage people to persecute you (Matthew 5:11). Give away anything you own to every man who asks, and if he steals it, don't try to get it back (Luke 6:30). Sell everything you have and give it to the poor (Mark 10:21). If someone hits you, invite them to hit you again (Matthew 5:39). Don't ever marry a divorced woman because you'll commit adultery (Matthew 5:32). Don't even look at a women in a sexual way because that also constitutes adultery (Matthew 5:28). And don't think about your life, what to eat, the health of your body or about the clothes you wear (Luke 12:22).


These sayings of Jesus have no great symbolic meaning.

If people took the advice of Jesus, it would guarantee a miserable life of uneducation, poverty, persecution and poor heath. Would anyone dare teach their children such conduct?

http://www.nobeliefs.com/jesus.htm

Promises, promises

Most Christians do not realize that Jesus' promise of his second coming did not apply to our generation or to a future generation, but only to the generation of his time. As the alleged Jesus said to his disciples:

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

-Matthew 16:28 (KJV)

Unfortunately, every disciple died without seeing the "coming."

Behold I come quickly...

-Revelation 3:11 (KJV) (see also Rev. 22:20, the last words of Jesus in the Bible)

Those poor people of early Christianity! They thought the texts got written for them, yet Jesus never fulfilled his promise.

There is no great symbolic meaning to be discerned from these Biblical sayings. Since there were nuclear weapons, sophisticated biological and chemical weapons, or endemic pollution, Jesus could not have been warning these people about the need for disarmament or the need to recycle or cut down on air pollution. In any event, Jesus seems to welcome the end of the world, not want to stop it.

Liberal Christians today (who go for symbolism) do not talk this way. Just look at John Shelby Spong's ecological notes in Biblical Sins.

Chris Weimer

We already went over this before. Do a search on the topic.

Amaleq13

Here are a few starting with the most recent:

Hell: Merely a Temporary Annihilation?

Did Hell original exist in the bible?

External evidence of Jewish belief in Hell?

Does Old Testament make any references to Hell or Hades?