he consensus opinion of

not even a single time

there had never been any mention of "hell" or any possibility of suffering after death?

not even once

The good news is that the evangelical Protestant Bible experts and the Catholic Bible experts agree

―there never was a "hell" in the Bible!

all

reek

Those are wonderfully comforting words to have been discovered in "hell," don't you think?

only

not eternal

not for human beings

A: The Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades were both located beneath the earth, because both words mean "the grave" or the "abode of the dead." But as explained above, these words clearly do not mean "hell." The Hebrew Gehenna was a physical valley in Israel, and also does not mean "hell." The Greek Tartarus does appear to mean "hell" but as explained above, was not eternal and was not for human beings. Its location is nonspecific.A: According to the Bible, there is no reason to believe in an eternal hell, or in unremitting suffering after death.A: Not according to the Bible when it is translated correctly.A: Not according to the only Bible verse that contains a word that actually means "hell." The verse (2 Peter 2:4) says that fallen angels will await judgement in Tartarus. So even that hell is not eternal.A: Since there is no mention of "hell" or suffering after death in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), the most likely source of the idea of "hell" is the silent period between the writing of the last books of the Old Testament, and the first books of the New Testament. During that silent period, Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East. According to the Greek philosopher Celsus, the ancient Greeks used the threat of "hell" to control the ignorant masses, but Celsus said that no wise man believed in "hell." Ironically, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, the only Jews who believed in "hell" were the Pharisees! Perhaps they saw how the Greeks and Romans used "hell" to control human behavior, and deliberately added "hell" to their warped religion (which Jesus Christ strongly, sternly and angrily criticized).A: As mentioned above, "hell" was a belief of the Pharisees, probably adopted from the pagan Greeks. In his parable of Lazarus and the rich man (presumably a rich Pharisee), Jesus seems to have been ridiculing the pagan Greek vision of the afterlife. We can clearly see the Greek vision of Hades, with its heavenly regions separated from the hellish Tartarus by an impassable abyss. The "saved" and the "damned" could chat with each other across this abyss. Jesus mocked the Pharisees by putting a beggar they considered "unclean" in the "bosom of Abraham," because they claimed they would be saved by their relationship to Abraham. Jesus put the rich Pharisee who claimed he would be saved in the dark pit of Tartarus. But that doesn't mean Jesus believed in such an absurd afterlife. What he did would be like me telling a flat-earther: "Please be sure not to fall over the edge of the world when you get there!"A: Please see the answer immediately above. The most likely answer is that the Pharisees adopted the myth of hell because it suited their evil purposes. But it is also possible that they were foolish enough to fall for the ancient con game, and actually believed in hell, as many Christians do today.A: No, none at all. To confirm this, just start reading the Bible from the beginning, and you will see that no one was ever threatened with "hell" or any possibility of suffering after death, in thousands of years of Bible chronologies. If there really was a "hell," God and the prophets would have warned human beings about such a terrible place, and would have explained how to avoid it. They would also have warned human beings about the terrible risk of bringing children into the world, if the children could end up suffering in hell for all eternity when they grew up. But of course there are no such warnings anywhere in the Bible. And to be considered just, God would have had to have warned theabout the existence of hell. But of course Native Americans and multitudes of other people never heard a word about "hell" because they never had a chance to read the Bible until 1,500 or more years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If any of those uninformed people woke up in hell after death, God could not claim to be loving, wise or just. Thus, the idea of "hell" has always been incompatible with the idea of a loving, wise, just God who is able to save. A God who is able to save does not need a "hell." Only a God who is unable to save would need such an infernal place.A: The Bible is not "inerrant" or "infallible." A true religion cannot be based on lies, so Christians should be honest about the Bible. The Bible contains obvious errors and contradictions. For example:The Bible says plants and fruit-bearing trees were created before the sun (Genesis 1:11-19). That is obviously wrong.The Bible says "No man hath seen God" (John 1:18) but it also says "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Genesis 32:30). According to the Bible, God was seen by Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah and Moses.The Bible says "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man" (James 1:13) but it also says "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham" (Genesis 22:1).The Bible says "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father" (Ezekiel 18:20) but it also says "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 20:5).Who was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary? Was Joseph's father Jacob (Matthew 1:16) or Hell (Luke 3:23)?These are just a few examples.Related Pages: No Hell in the Bible