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Monday, February 27, 2006

Hell, does it exist?

Having ended my previous post with the subject of Hell, I thought that I would discuss its existence and why Hell was created. Let's look at the latter first as this will lead into the former. Hell is a created place of torment that was designed for Satan and his angels, however the Bible clearly states in Isaiah 5:14 "Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it." Does this sound like men will not be be in hell? Reading more of Isaiah, ch. 5, will make it very obvious that man, not angels, are the focus of God's prophecy. Man's pride will be brought down, man will be made desolate, man's wisdom will be brought low, man will face judgment. While Isaiah is speaking to Israel, man as a whole should wonder that if His Chosen People face judgment, then who are the rest of us to think we won't? Hell is spoken of in the Bible, including the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Again, I am no scholar, but I have studied interlinear translations by various groups and all translations that I have read mention hell, in one form of the word or another. While some groups try to change the meaning of what hell is, the fact remains that Jesus pointed to it as a real place for us to avoid. Why should we avoid it if, as some say, we will not be there or, if we are, we won't be for long? Jesus is quoted in three of the four Gospels actually saying the word "hell" in warnings against following the enemy or we would be in danger of hell. In John, while not saying the word "hell", Jesus refers to it in numerous passages. We have no reason to believe that Jesus Himself would have warned against hell if it didn't exist. If we use our wisdom and try to talk our way around what Jesus says, and put spin on it to support our way of thinking, then we are in danger of calling Jesus a liar, and if He is a liar, then we have our faith in nothing. The Word of God is truth. The word of man is lie. Only when man speaks the Word of God does truth pass our lips. That seems a bold and contradictory statement, and some would use it to say that what I write would therefore be a lie, but when we begin to look at things through the eyes of God we will understand that we, who needed a savior, have very little understanding of righteousness, and therefore have little knowledge of the truth. So if we have little truth, then we can not give great truths to the world. Think of it this way, you are in a desert of lies and a single raindrop of truth falls every hour, will you quench your thirst with the sand?

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