How theologians know the truth about hell but won't teach the church

How theologians know the truth about hell but won't teach the church. Episode 2. I believe that conversation about hell is by far one of the most important conversations that Christians need to have. Because we've been told as Christians, hell is one of two final destinations for us after we die. And if being burned alive eternally is a possibility for us, we deserve to know the truth about it. And quite frankly, I think it's been mistaught and used as a form of control and manipulation. Are you going to edit that part out? We might need to edit that part out. Okay, so this is probably the episode everybody's been waiting for, or the one that's going to get me in more trouble. So, if hell isn't what we've always been told it is, then what was Jesus talking about when he used the word hell in the Bible? I think that's actually a good question, one deserving of an answer. And it's exactly where biblical scholars begin. So let's finally talk about this word, Gehenna. Now, Jesus likely taught primarily in Aramaic, but the New Testament, however, the earliest written record of his teachings, were written in Koine Greek. So when scholars study what Jesus said, they didn't start with the English word hell, like we do. They start with the Greek word that's actually in the text. When Jesus warned people about what our English Bible often translates as hell, the word in the Greek New Testament is frequently Gehenna, not the English word hell. Now here's what I think is pretty fascinating when you think about it. Gehenna wasn't some mysterious word Jesus invented. His audience already knew exactly what he was talking about. See, Gehenna was the Greek name for the Valley of Hinnom, just outside Jerusalem. Gehenna was a real place. And in Israel's history, Gehenna had become associated with some of the nation's darkest moments. Those moments included idolatry, child sacrifice, a people who had lost their way. Prophet Jeremiah declared that because of those atrocities, this valley would become known as the Valley of Slaughter, a place of death, judgment, and unburied corpses because there wouldn't be enough room to bury the dead. That's where the imagery begins: fire, death, judgment, not because God approved of what happened there, but because the valley became a permanent symbol of what happens when a nation abandons justice and turns away from God. By the time Jesus arrives, Gehenna is no longer just the name of a valley. It becomes a powerful image in Jewish thought. So when Jesus warns about the Gehenna of fire or hellfire, he's using an image his audience already knew. He's invoking one of the darkest symbols in Israel's history. When we think of hell or a Gehenna, most of us picture a place where people go after they die to be tortured forever. But here's the question biblical scholars ask. Would the people listening to Jesus have pictured that? That's the question we need to address, because that's where biblical scholarship begins. And honestly, I think that's where our healing begins. So when Jesus said Gehenna, his audience didn't picture a medieval painting of people burning forever. They pictured a place they already knew, a place that reminded them what happens when people, societies, and even religious leaders lose sight of God's heart. We should be allowed to think critically as Christians and ask good questions, the kind of questions we were never taught to ask in church. One of those questions is, why did Jesus choose Gehenna instead of some other word to prove his point or to tell his story? Jesus uses Gehenna as a prophetic warning, not just as a geography lesson. He isn't trying to satisfy people's curiosity about the afterlife. He's calling people to repentance, covenant faithfulness, and a different way of living before it's too late. Jesus wasn't trying to answer the question what happens after you die. He was trying to answer the question how are you living right now. That was the lesson, the parable that he was teaching. Gehenna is the warning image that says, don't keep walking down a path that destroys you, destroys others, and leads you further away from God. Now here's the thing, Gehenna isn't the only word our English Bible translates as hell. There is other words. The one we're going to look at next is Hades. Now here's the problem, Hades isn't Gehenna. They don't have the same history or meaning at all. So why did our English Bibles translate them with the same word, hell? Yeah, that's where things really get interesting. See, Gehenna means one thing, and Hades means something completely different. How did they both become hell? That's the mystery we're unraveling next time.