Does God Predestine People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin
The following is a refutation to the following video:
Does God Predestine People
to Hell? (youtube.com)
This video was shown to
me by a friend of mine, Gavin, who believes in the big two: free will, and
eternal torment. I recommend watching the video first (it is 8 minutes.)
In it, a man named “Pastor John” breaks down why he believes that God predestines
people to hell. In this, I will be replying, in great detail, with the original
Greek scriptures.
The question on the table
is, of course, the title of the video: Does God predestine people to hell?
Pastor John says that before he wants to ‘give his clear and definite answer,’
he wants to deal with a few preliminary topics. We will cover these preliminaries
first.
His first preliminary is
the simple fact that many people who hear “Yes, God predestines people to hell”
will immediately reach the conclusion that this makes God unjust, and not good.
This is indeed the same conclusion that I have reached, though it is not
presumption, but rooted directly in Scripture.
For starters, we have to
consider “hell” itself. There is a simple fact that the word “hell,” as popularly
used in church today, either as a location of eternal conscious torment, or a
location where you are “eternally separated from God,” is not found in the original
Greek Scriptures. Sure, it’s in the King James Version. Sure, it’s in the
New Inconsistent Version. Sure, it’s in the English Standard Version. But these
are not pertinent. You need to be asking if it is in the original Greek
text by which the English versions should be inspired.
To do this, we will be
conducting a word study on the original Greek text, finding each and every
use of what English versions would translate as “hell,” and see if the
translation into “hell,” to be commonly used a place of eternal
damnation in any capacity, is sufficient.
This study will follow
Paul’s charge in 2 Tim. 1:13, that we are to “keep a pattern of sound words.”
We will be looking at each use of the English word “hell,” as documented in
Strong’s Concordance, and then comparing it to the original Greek and its
context.
Upon completion of this
study, you will find that this one English word, ‘hell,’ which is
interpreted in a million different ways, is actually an umbrella term for three
different Greek words. Without even getting into the details, we can
already see that if one word is being utilized for three different Greek
words, then there is something wrong, because a “pattern of sound words” is not
being sustained. As God’s word is careful, we must cover all three of
these Greek words here. We do not need to see why these words are mistranslated,
but only need to see them properly translated.
The first Greek word that
we will be studying is Gehenna. This word is used many times by Jesus
Himself. Here is the list of verses using the term. We will cover each and
every one in both the KJV, and the Concordant Literal Version:
-
Matt. 5:22
-
Matt. 5:29
-
Matt. 5:30
-
Matt. 10:28
-
Matt. 18:9
-
Matt. 23:15
-
Matt. 23:33
-
Mark 9:43
-
Mark 9:45
-
Mark 9:47
-
Luke 12:5
-
James 3:6
Let’s take a look at the
first three uses, in Matthew 5. This is used during Jesus’ infamous Sermon on
the Mount. Here are the three verses in the KJV, starting with Matt. 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.
Here is 5:29–
And if thy right
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell.
And, finally, here is 5:30–
And if thy right
hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell.
All of this, especially
apart from context, sounds super scary. But, like I said, the original word
used for “hell” in this verse is “Gehenna.” So, let’s start by looking
at the Greek elements of the term. When you find this term in the blue letter
bible, or Strong’s concordance, you will find that the word’s root is found in
the original Hebrew, from two words:
1) Gay
(no,
not ‘gay,’ but more like ‘geh’), a masculine noun meaning valley
2) Hinnom,
a
proper locative noun, meaning that it is a location. The name itself
means ‘lamentation.’
While separate, neither
of these words fully help us. But to have their etymology binded into one
word, Gehenna, you will find that, sure enough, the Greek elements are Ravine-of-Hinnom.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a location. It is still on our maps
today, and is easily identifiable, not just in Scripture, but on Google maps.
With that in mind,
let us now consider the context of Matthew 5. Here is the sentence
Matthew writes before documenting Jesus’ sermon, in Matt. 4:23 (CLV)–
And Jesus led [the disciples]
about in the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and heralding the evangel
of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every debility among the
people.
Jesus is heralding an “evangel
of the kingdom.” Who, I ask you, is promised the kingdom ruled by
Christ? None other than Abraham, whose promise came through Isaac
(Gen. 12:1-3, Gal. 4:22-26.) This is confirmed by Christ later in Matt.
15:24, Who Himself explicitly says “I was not commissioned except for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.”
The Sermon on the Mount,
then, is breaking down the specifics of faithful Israel’s promised kingdom. Further
proof for this can be found in the fact that anyone who attempts to follow this
sermon with their works will be found wanting, as no one can follow the
law in its fullest scope (Rom. 3:19-20.) This is, of course, not because the
folk who seek to follow this sermon are insincere, nor is what I’m saying implying
that Jesus’ statements during this sermon are not inherently righteous. What I am
saying is that Jesus’ requests here are impracticable at present,
given the fact that we are rooted in death, through Sin (Rom. 5:12.)
The kingdom that Jesus is
heralding is the same millennial kingdom discussed in the last 8 chapters of
Ezekiel, where it is clear that the righteous law will again reign, being
enforced during this kingdom. The sermon on the mount, as beautiful as it is,
is not sharing new information, but complementing the Old
Testament’s promises, amplifying them with the fact that the kingdom of Israel
was near at that time (Matt. 3:2.)
Let’s take another look
at the same three verses, now, with the context that this is breaking down a
punishment during the millennial kingdom, and put the term “Gehenna,”
the location south of Jerusalem, in its place:
Yet I am saying to you
that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the judging. Yet
whoever may be saying to his brother, ‘Raka!’ shall be liable to the Sanhedrin.
Yet whoever may be saying, ‘Stupid!’ shall be liable to the Gehenna of
fire.
Now, if your right eye is
snaring you, wrench it out and cast it from you, for it is expedient for you
that one of your members should perish and not your whole body be cast into
Gehenna.
And if your right hand is
snaring you, strike it off and cast it from you, for it is expedient for you
that one of your members should perish and not your whole body pass away into
Gehenna.
This clarification is crucial, because it shows us, right off the
bat, that Jesus, during this sermon, is not preaching hellfire and brimstone,
but the location of the fulfillment of the kingdom’s punishment. His statements
line right up with the law’s statements. Now, with that in mind, compare
Matt. 5:22, where Christ is elaborating on the heart of murder (Matt.
5:21,) with the law’s stated penalty for murder, in Ex. 21:12–
The smiter of a man shall be put to death, yea death.
The Exodus passage is the penalty, and Jesus’ teaching proclaims how it
will be inflicted. But death, see, is certainly not the same
thing as being burned alive without end. God claims here that it is righteous
that the man who murders be put to death, which means that it is probably
unrighteous that the man who murders be placed into some fiery pit of
eternal flaying. You can further prove this by contrasting Matt. 5:29-30 with
the law’s stated penalty for adultery, in Lev. 20:10-12, where again the
adulterer and adulteress are put to death, not placed into eternal
flames.
One more thing, before we move on: Matt. 5:29 and Matt. 18:9 cover the
same topic, concerning the penalty for adultery in the kingdom, so I will be not
be repeating myself on that verse, for the sake of time.
Let’s move on from the sermon on the mount, now, and discuss Matt. 10:28.
Here is the verse in the KJV:
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell.
Let’s again compare this to a more accurate translation which removes man’s
reasoning about the word hell:
And do not fear those who are killing the body, yet are not able to kill
the soul. Yet be fearing Him, rather, Who is able to destroy the soul as well
as the body in Gehenna.
Here we receive further insight into Gehenna’s property. It is
clearly a location with fire, per Matt. 5:22. However, it is clear, in this
verse, that Gehenna’s fire does more than burn the literal body in some tormented
state, but destroys the soul as well as the body (Luke 12:5 makes
the same claim, so I will not be repeating the same point twice, for the sake
of time.)
This makes so much more sense when properly translated. The soul
is the combination of the body (your flesh,) and spirit (God’s breath of life –
Gen. 2:7.) The soul, the ability to see the living person, is destroyed.
The body, the flesh of the living person, is also
destroyed. The only thing that is not destroyed is the spirit, which,
upon death, returns to God, per His description of death in Ecc. 12:7–
The soil returns to the earth just as it was, And the spirit, it returns
to the One, Elohim, Who gave it.
Have we seen any evidence of a location of eternal torment so far? No,
we have not, in studying the original terminology of the Greek Scriptures. Of
course, I hear the peanut gallery in the back crying out that we “haven’t
reached that one verse that will prove it,” so let’s press on.
Here’s Matt. 23:15 in the KJV:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Jesus’ biting indictment here against the Pharisees is, ironically,
followed by the fact that they are falsely interpreting the Hebrew texts, and
adding to tradition things that God never required of them, nor did He ask. In
doing so, they are doubting the text. We can continue, but first let us rectify
the translational issue, which is following in the footsteps of these
Pharisees:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are going about
the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he may be becoming
one, you are making him more than double a son of Gehenna than you are.
If this statement is more difficult to apprehend than the first few uses
of “Gehenna,” don’t worry. You can rest assured that the Vale of Hinnom, in
this verse, has not suddenly transcended to some ‘lower depths of hell’ claim.
The Pharisees and scribes are to have their bodies and souls destroyed in
Gehenna. Not tortured, for we have not yet seen this claim, and as such have no
reason to believe this yet, but destroyed.
Here again, in the same passage, is Jesus indicting them in Matt. 23:33.
First is the KJV–
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell?
And then again, properly translated with a pattern of sound
words:
Serpents! Progeny of vipers! How may you be fleeing from the judging of
Gehenna?
Notice how they are not “damned to hell,” but suffer a judgment of
Gehenna, where, again, their soul and body are being put to death, and
not mercilessly tortured?
That said, I still hear doubts, so let’s change books. Here’s the only
times “Gehenna,” is used in Mark, found in 9:43, 45, and 47. For the sake of
context, I will quote 43-48. Let’s look at the KJV first:
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for
thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the
fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched.
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for
thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire
is not quenched.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for
thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be
cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Now, the million dollar question, yet again: are these verses saying
that an unbeliever will be burned alive if they do not believe God, or adhere
to every last one of His laws??
Of course, the answer is no. You can’t read this verse and say, “Why,
yes, that’s exactly what is said!” Even in the KJV, this interpretation, or
reasoning, is irrational. Not once does Christ say that you do not die, nor
does it say that you are never quenched. Indeed, it is the worm (that
is, the maggot) that does not die. And, it is the fire that is
not quenched. The verse doesn’t even say that the fire is unquenchable, but
that the fire is not put out. It is an active option of Christ to
keep the fire burning for the millennial kingdom, as that is the length that
this penalty will be in effect.
Read a proper translation of the original Greek with these points in
mind:
And if your hand should ever be snaring you, strike it off. It is ideal
for you to be entering into life maimed, rather than, having two hands, to come
away into Gehenna, into the unextinguished fire, where their worm is
not deceasing, and the fire is not going out.
And if your foot should be snaring you, strike it off. For it is ideal
for you to be entering into life maimed or lame, rather than, having two feet,
to be cast into Gehenna, into the unextinguished fire, where their worm
is not deceasing and the fire is not going out.
And if your eye should be snaring you, cast it out. It is ideal for you
to be entering into the kingdom of God one-eyed, rather than, having two eyes,
to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, where their worm is not deceasing
and the fire is not going out.
There’s zero reason thus far to read into what Jesus is saying,
as this penalty is threatening enough.
Hi! So this mini paragraph is me checking in on you. This is your
summary of everything I’ve said so far. We have considered eleven of the
twelve verses in which proof texts for “eternal damnation” are implemented, and
not one of them has affirmatively stated that “Christ will burn you everlastingly
if you do not believe.” We have, in seeking to understand Christ’s words
instead of interpreting them with our own reasoning, been told
that, during the millennial kingdom, the death penalty will be carried out in
the fires of Gehenna, as the final chapter of Isaiah also affirms. We have been
told that, during the millennial kingdom, the fire does not go out, but
the body and soul are explicitly said to be destroyed in it. None of
this says, “You go to hell if you don’t believe,” but “You go to Gehenna in the
millennial kingdom if you break a law.”
I believe you must understand that, if this simple grammatical breakdown
of the word “hell” continues, and we’ve no reason to accept that a place of “eternal
torment” is in Scripture, then we must also come to accept the fact that
Pastor John’s preliminary statement, the statement that he started with, is
not some “initial skeptical idea that you may have, that you must immediately
brush away without rational thought.” It is a very valid question that
your conscience has, and if this is even remotely the case with you after
reading so far, then you must continue, for the satisfaction that you
would have in covering all your bases, especially if the potential that
hell is not in Scripture truly continues. Considering that this is the
most important writing to be spread across the world, the Greek Scriptures must
be shared for God to make Himself truly known to His beloved saints, as
they are the only documents that show His heart. This is highly valuable that
you do not superimpose, or walk into this discussion with the presumption
that what you are believing is true. By no fault of your own, you may be accepting
a lie from Satan, whom God, through Paul, calls the relative god of this eon (2
Cor. 4:4,) the one that has been feeding you this lie through a mistranslation
of God’s heart, for your entire. Life.
Anyways, look, I doubt that James 3:6 will magically change what we’ve
studied so far, but that may be my bias showing. I want to show you the verse
in James 3:6, as it really highlights what I’m talking about above, with
you being fed a lie. The verse is so strangely written, and obscured, but
people just like to toss the reference at you without actually explaining (and
proving) the context for James, and how many issues he actually presents
for your favorite theologians. Then they like to make whatever claim they want
and theorize to make the verse fit whatever point they want to make. So first,
here’s James 3:6 in the KJV:
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the
tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire
the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
This verse, out of
context, is clearly very difficult to apprehend. Are you trying to
figure it out? Maybe you’re carefully searching each word in google just to
make sure. Maybe you’re creating a theory. Maybe you’ve still got nothing. It
sucks, not really knowing the context, doesn’t it? And just knowing that
‘hell’ here is really ‘Gehenna’ in Greek, the location, and not the eternal
fire damnation place. So what are we looking at?
James could not be any more clearly separate from Paul’s evangel
to the nations. James is a slave to the circumcision, for one (Jam. 1:1.)
He is following in Jesus’ footsteps, preaching instead the circumcision evangel
(it is called the ‘circumcision’ evangel by Paul in Gal. 2:7-8, to clarify the
separate message he was bringing to the table than Peter and the rest of Christ’s
gang.) To quote A.E. Knoch:
“None of the circumcision epistles so clearly indicates the class to
whom it is written as the letter of James to the twelve tribes in the
dispersion. Its conflict with Paul’s epistles is so pronounced that Luther
rejected its authority, and endless attempts have been made to find a means of
reconciliation, without coming to any satisfactory solution. Once it is
apprehended that this epistle is for a different people and a distinct
administration, all need of reconciliation vanishes and we are not tempted to
tone down Paul or drag up James to a common level.”
Moreover, he was not an apostle. His name, “James,” in Greek, is
suggestive of the Hebrew’s “Jacob,” which means “supplanter.” His name’s
meaning is highlighted in the very first verse of the chapter, where he
presents himself, not as an apostle, but as a slave. Here’s James
1:1, in the CLV:
James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes
in the dispersion.
He was subjected – supplanted – by Christ, His brother (Gal. 1:19.) He
is directly speaking to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. He is never
called an apostle in Scripture, and thus his letter is entirely focused on conduct,
through the circumcision evangel.
If you’re going to tell me that you, yes you, dear reader,
are of the twelve tribes in the dispersion, that is, that you must follow a
ruleset from a completely different administration, when Paul is
clearly the apostle that you should be listening to (given that he is
the only one in Scripture speaking to all,) then you will
assuredly take everything James says ripe out of context.
Let’s follow Paul’s instruction and now consider James 3:6, in its
context to Israel, mixing law and grace, slaving for conduct in a separate
evangel than that which believers today adhere to:
And the tongue is a fire, a world of injustice. The tongue is
constituted among our members that which is spotting the whole body, and
setting the wheel of our lineage aflame, and is set aflame by Gehenna.
Ah! Now this is clearer. What was once a bunch of gobbledygook of
Old English and inconsistent translating has been made clearer with harmonious,
concordant translations of each Greek word. Here, “the tongue is a fire.” The
language used here is figurative, not literal, because the tongue of the
most vile people on the planet figuratively, not literally, burn.
This “spots,” or defiles, the entire body. There is power
in the tongue. To quote Vladmir Gelesnoff, “an unruly tongue is like the
noxious flames which will burn night and day outside the walls of Jerusalem.”
The passage, notably, does not say “if you say the wrong thing,
you go to hell,” but is presenting a simile as to the fierce severity
of the false tongue. This means that all 12 uses of Gehenna in the
New Testament, translated as “hell” in popular versions, are not accurately
proclaiming an “eternal damnation.”
* * *
We have now considered one of the three Greek words that are
popularly translated as “hell,” and have considered many so-called “proof texts”
that an eternal punishment is going to occur for unbelievers or transgressors
of the law – none of which have said this yet.
Now, to some of you, this word study of ‘Gehenna’ is incomplete because
we have not considered Old Testament texts. Because the Old Testament is much
larger, it is naturally much harder to go write out a consideration of each and
every verse using ‘Vale of Hinnom’ in a timely manner. So, instead, I will cite
a few verses, as well as one big verse to clarify my point, that Gehenna
is a future location of an incinerator that does not go out for the millennial
kingdom (as if Jesus wasn’t clear enough about it already!)
As a brief reminder that we are giving an in-depth reply to the beginning
video, let’s take this back to Pastor John’s initial preliminary statement.
As a reminder, he said that many people who hear that “God
predestines people to hell” will immediately reach the conclusion that this
makes God unjust, and not good. We know, of course, that God is just,
and every word He says is true. Thus if Pastor John says that eternal hell is
true, but God says no such thing, then Pastor John is in
disagreement with God. Who would you rather believe? Creation or The
Creator? The conclusion that God is unjust if He sends people to hell is only
fair if God does 2 things: first, He must not say that He is sending
people to an eternal hell. If He is just, and never lists this as a punishment,
then the punishment is unjust, because God doesn’t say it. And
second, there must be sufficient evidence in the text that the idea of burning
people alive disturbs God.
We are slowly proving the
first point, in our word study, but let us pause on that front for a brief
moment and consider the second point – that the idea of hell, if unjust,
must disturb a just God.
First, in the Concordant Version (and the original Hebrew, and even
the flawed KJV,) Nehemiah 11:30 and Joshua 15:8 makes it clear that the vale of
Hinnom (or “valley” of Hinnom) is a location that people dwell by. This
is important for both points we are considering here, about Gehenna (Greek for ‘valley
of Hinnom,’) and God being disturbed by hell.
Let’s take a look, here, in Jeremiah, at 32:35. In the passage, God is speaking
through Jeremiah, while the Israelites are in exile, expressing His jealousy over
their worshipping another god. For the context, here is Jer. 32:30-35 in the
CLV–
For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been only doing evil
in My eyes from their youth; indeed the sons of Israel have been only provoking
Me to vexation with the deeds of their hands, averring is Yahweh.
For this city has roused in Me My anger and My fury from the day on
which they built it until this day to put it away from My presence, because of
all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah that they have done to
provoke me to vexation – they, their kings, their chief officials, their priests
and their prophets, even the men of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem.
They are turning around the nape of their neck to Me and not their face,
though I taught them early and taught them again, yet there are none of them
hearkening to take admonition.
They placed their abominations in the House over which My Name is
called, to defile it. And they
built the high-places of Baal which are in the ravine of the son of Hinnom,
to have their sons and their daughters pass through fire for Molech (which
I DID NOT INSTRUCT them, NOR did it come up ON MY HEART,) to do this abhorrence
that it may cause Judah to sin.
Geez! That was pretty direct, wouldn’t you say?? You don’t have
to be a rocket scientist to recognize that God has explicitly said that passing
someone through fire while they are clearly living is not in His name.
He did not instruct it. It did not come up on His heart. It is an abhorrence to
Him. And He attributes it to a demon.
Please, good Lord, listen to reason! So far we have considered Gehenna,
with no “eternal conscious torment” proof, and we have now read that a just
God considers flaying people alive to be abhorrent. And, as if that
wasn’t enough, here He is again in Jer. 19:3-6–
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall bring such
evil on this place that anyone hearing about it, his ears shall tingle… they
have forsaken Me and are making this place foreign, and are fuming incense in
it to other elohim that they have not known, they or their fathers or
the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place with the blood of
innocents, and because they have built the high-places of Baal to burn their
sons with fire as ascent offerings to Baal, which I DID NOT INSTRUCT nor
even SPEAK of, NOR did it come up ON MY HEART.
Therefore, behold the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when this
place shall no longer be called Topheth or the ravine of the son of Hinnom,
but rather the ravine of killing.
The most interesting point that I gather from this is that these
people died. The blood of the innocent burned alive in the name of a demon?
At least their life ended (2 Chron 28:3, 33:6.) To the
bulk of Christendom, however, hell is a place of never ending life after
death, where you are continually burned alive.
The response I’m sure I will receive from this bulk of Christendom
(because direct words from God are not enough to convince them of anything
these days,) is that “the people who go to hell will deserve it. The passage
you quoted speaks of innocent people being flayed, but obviously evil
people deserve hell.” To this I will remind you, again, that Christ
has not once claimed that a permanent, never-ending torture is the final
location of all evil people, in the ‘proof texts’ for ‘hell’ that we’ve
covered so far. We will consider more, of course, but if you have any sense
of trust in God, then it is only fair for you to be considering that you may
have just had the wool pulled over your eyes as to God’s true love for
His creation, hardened by Satan in this wicked world’s systems for your entire
life.
* * *
And so what we have learned…
-
2 Tim. 1:13 points out that we are to “keep
a pattern of sound words.”
-
This one English word, ‘hell,’
which is interpreted in a million different ways, is actually an umbrella term
for three different Greek words – ‘gehenna,’ ‘hades,’ and ‘tartarus.’
-
The word ‘Gehenna’ is referenced 12 times
in the New Testament.
-
The Sermon on
the Mount heralds specifics of Christ’s coming kingdom, which at the
time was near. Their promised Messiah was unveiling the kingdom to them
(Matt. 4:23.) It is not a handbook for saved people, nor were they prerequisites
to entering the kingdom.
-
The first three uses of ‘Gehenna’ are at
the Sermon on the Mount, and describes a location southwest of Jerusalem, at
the milliennial kingdom’s location, where those who break the righteous laws
against murder or adultery under Christ’s rule, will be executed.
-
The righteous
penalty for murdering in the kingdom is death. – not eternal torment
-
The righteous
penalty for adultery in the kingdom is death – not eternal torment
-
God is the only
One that can destroy the body and the soul. He is the One, ultimately,
in authority of both (Matt. 10:28)
-
Soul = body +
spirit (Gen. 2:7)
-
Death =
return of body to soil (Gen. 3:18-19,) and return of spirit to God (Ecc. 12:7.)
-
Matthew covers
Christ as King
-
Pharisees and
scribes are set to go to hell
-
I’m kidding,
Pharisees and scribes are set to go to Gehenna
-
“Gehenna” is
used most often in Matthew
-
Mark 9:42-28 notes
that the worms of Gehenna don’t die, and the fire is unextinguished during
the kingdom
-
James is a
slave – not an apostle – for the circumcision (Jam. 1:1)
-
James is
Christ’s brother (Gal. 1:19)
-
James 3:6 is speaking
of the power of the tongue
-
Not one of
the uses of “Gehenna” have proven that God will eternally burn anyone
-
Neh. 11:30
and Josh. 15:8 shows that Vale of Hinnom is a location southwest of Jerusalem
-
Jer. 32:30-35
and Jer. 19:4-6 show God’s feelings toward hell
-
If man says
hell is just, and God says that it is unjust… who do you believe?
(to be continued)
- GerudoKing
* * *
Here are the links to the remaining articles in this series:
Does God Predestine People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin, Part II
Does God Predestin People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin, Part III
Does God Predestine People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin, Part IV
Does God Predestine People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin, Part V
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