Did Jesus Teach About Hell? (Hell Series #2)

Last hub (Hell vs. Gehenna) I explained the arguments I have heard against the existence of a literal hell. Here they are again, and this hub will be tackling argument #2.

1. Hell was just a place in Jerusalem called Gehenna where their garbage was thrown and fires were lit. It’s not a real place that people go to when they die for punishment.

2. Jesus didn’t even teach about hell!

3. Hell is not in the Old Testament, so it can’t be real.

Once again, I wish to explain my perspective.
Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, I believe God created the heavens (sky) and earth in a literal seven days. Yes, I believe that Jesus is God and was the perfect, sinless man, and that He died and rose again with the purpose of saving us from a literal, fiery hell. Yes, I believe in a literal heaven and hell according to the Scriptures. I am an all-Scripture kind of girl. I won’t avoid the tough topics like this one.

Although I’ve already demonstrated that this theory is bogus in my previous hub, let’s go further. You can't just look up "Hell" in the Bible, you probably won't get that many hits if you're not using a King James Version. So what if Jesus did actually teach more about hell, but used different titles to refer to this place of punishment? He did call this place by different names. I explained in the last hub that Gehenna was a genuine place, but in Jesus' teachings it was used to convey spiritual truth. In the same way, Jesus also talked about places like Hades, and a place of eternal punishment.

First, Hades. Jesus told a parable of a poor man and a rich man. The poor man died and was carried into Abraham's bosom (AKA heaven), but the rich man (who treated Lazarus with contempt) encountered death and went to Hades (AKA fiery hell?) He suffered in its flames, pleading for his finger to be dipped into cool water that he may cool his tongue.

Here is the conversation that ensued between "the rich man" and Abraham:

Luke 16:22-31

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers--so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

The rich man was experiencing “anguish” and “flames”. It's hard to interpret "anguish" any other way, obviously this hell/Hades places was not a good one to end up in. In the parable, after death there are two options: Hades or Abraham’s bosom. The man in the story explains that he was in Hades, suffering from flaming fire, seeking only for coolness, yet there was a chasm between Hades and Abraham’s bosom, an un-crossable chasm. He felt such “anguish” that he wanted to send someone from the dead to warm his own family of the terrors and suffering of Hades so they wouldn’t end up there!

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about the end of time, when “the Son of Man comes in His glory…the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another” (Matthew 25:31). Those who have done good will go to eternal life, but those who have done evil get a different reply:

(Matthew 25:41,46)

“Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels…(46) These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

Jesus didn’t need to use the word “hell” here. All that was necessary for us to get the hint was “eternal fire.” This lines up with Jesus’ use of Gehenna and Hades in other teachings of His. All take place after death, and are compared with eternal life or just “enter into life”.

I’ll leave the third no hell argument for my next hub—I like to try and keep ‘em as short as possible! Thanks for listening, and please consider that Jesus did teach on a fiery place of eternal punishment (commonly known today as "hell").