I`m rereading the NT now, for the first time in years. And yeah yeah, I know the JW-view and the politically correct view (which, oddly, are in agreement, for once) that there is no such thing as hell, you know, the fiery place somewhere deep down, where Satan and the demons torture the souls of the wicked. I find the gospels intriguing, because here, Jesus himself is talking about Hell quite a lot:
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says ‘Fool’ will be sent to fiery hell.
Matthew 5:30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.
Matthew: 23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
...and that`s just in the first Gospel, there are countless more.
Ok, so the JW-explanation, which is pretty much the same as the footnote in Matthew:
The word translated hell is “Gehenna” ( gevenna , geenna ), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).
Also, the notion of Hell is believed, by JWs, to be related with the greek teaching of Hades, the place for the dead. However, I don`t think that`s the case. Hades is something different, and clearly signifies simply death, in the NT:
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
This means simply "death will not overpower it", right? Nothing about Hell. And then, another place, Jesus mentions "the fiery furnace", which probably is a referance to Daniel, so the "fiery place" is NOT just Gehenna! I also like the part in :
Matthew 25:45 Then he will answer them,‘I tell you the truth,just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 25:46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Hmm....maybe the catholics aren`t that mistaken after all? What do you all think? I`m very interested in opinions on this, I also have a lot of questions about the teaching of the "soul", but I can come back to that later.
Edited to add: Oh, I forgot: What about the passages that speak of "the place where there will be gnashing of teeth"? The passages indicate that there IS some sort of "existence" in that place, don`t they? And in death, there is no existence... Has this issue been discussed before, by the way? If so, could someone point me to a thread?