What the Hell? Part 2

What the Hell? Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I noted that most Filipino Bible readers upon reading IMPIYERNO (HELL) concludes that it always refer to a place of torment for the wicked as opposed to Heaven which is for the righteous. But as I explained previously that is an oversimplification. The word hell which comes from a Nordic realm of the dead (which ironically has areas that are icy) translates three different words: Hades (the Greek equivalent of Sheol), Gehenna and Tartaros (or at least a form of it). I noted that Sheol seemed to mean either a pit/grave or the realm where all the dead, righteous and wicked, stay. Even Jesus went there. So to make Hades equivalent to a place of torment is to put Jesus into a place of torment for at least 3 days. 

Now we'll continue discussing Hades. Even though all the dead, believers and unbelievers alike expected to be there, it seemed that the Bible makes a distinction between the place a believer went and the place the unbeliever went. In Isaiah 14 we have the king of Babylon being sneered at by the dead, and in 1 Samuel 28 Samuel is pissed at Saul for disrupting his rest. Note though that Samuel is aware of what's going and even prophesy Saul's death. David expected to join his son and I don't think he meant in torment since he is a man after God's own heart. But probably one of the clearest is in Luke 16. So we'll turn there and see what it has to say about the Underworld.

In Luke 16:18-31, we have a story of Lazarus and the rich man. Some wanted to make this a parable but to my knowledge, no parable have their names mentioned, and I take this to be a true history, a behind the scene glimpse at the Underworld if you please. 

In this story, both are dead and the unnamed rich man was sent to the part of Hades that is a place of torment. 

Luke 16:23

[23]In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 

On the other hand, Lazarus is in a place of comfort. For lack of a better name let us call it Abraham's bosom. I believe that this is the Paradise mentioned by Christ in Luke 23. Remember that Jesus lived in OT economy under the law according to Gal 4. The word implies a garden. 

Luke 16:22,25

[22]Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

[25]But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

Setting aside the fact that fingers and tongue are mentioned which imply some kind of body, note that the dead talk, they can feel pain or comfort and they have memory ("remember"). Later on, it appears that they do not lose their natural affections as implied by the fact that the rich man cared for his brothers who he feared will follow him to torment.

Back to the geography of the place- it seemed there is also a chasm that separate between the two so no travel is possible between the two sides. So contrary to the beliefs of some it is implied that the final destiny of man is final and can't be changed. And it is settled while still alive- do you believe in Christ or not?

What the text (and elsewhere) does not mention is the existence of either purgatory or limbo. These simply do not exist in the Bible. There are no seven (or 9) circles of hell either. Sadly there is no Cloud 9 either. Sadder still there is no Ikapitong Langit. 

So at the very least you have two components in Hades- a place of torment and a garden of comfort. 

Now there is another word that is translated Hell and in 2 Pt 2:4 the occupants are "angels that have sinned." It is not my purpose to elaborate on what this sin is but suffice to say that I believe these are the angels in Gen 6 that can't hold their pants up when they saw really beautiful women. A comparison with Jude 6,7 imply some sort of sexual sin (I believe it is the sexual union between women and angels. They did not kept their proper domain and f*** other kinds. They forget the principle of "after their own kind". Horny angels!). Anyway it is an attempt to contaminate the human race to prevent the seed of the woman from being born.

So back to this Tartarus-Hell. This seemed to be associated with darkness ("pits of darkness"; "eternal bonds under darkness"), probably because its occupants are creatures of light that fell. Whether these angels are demons or a different category of creatures, the theologians are divided. But since I am lazy and I hate to make many categories, I think they are the same- some demons are free and some are incarcerated. 

So the second word for Hell, Tartaros, seemed to be different from Hades. Hades is occupied by dead humans while Tartaros is occupied by jailed horny angels. Both seemed to be temporary holding facilities because in 2 Pt 2:4 and Jude 6, the occupants are reserved for eternal fire, which I take to be the LoF, Matt 25:41; whereas in Rev 20 Hades gave up its dead occupants to be judged in LoF before being destroyed itself, the biblical equivalent I supposed of burning the bridges- there is no coming back, the judgment is final! I take this to be the third component of Hades, or maybe it is a separate facility. I just prefer to simplify and it is simpler to have one Underworld with several components than have several world. Though I am cool with either. 

There is a suggestion in 1 Pt 3:19 that Jesus preached there but I will reserve it for the next post. 

The Bible also mentioned an Abyss or bottomless pit where another, separate set of angelic creatures are incarcerated. This is also called the bottomless pit and its occupants seemed to be murderous locust like angelic creatures.

Revelation 9:11

[11]They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.

So while Tartaros incarcerated horny angels, Abyss incarcerated the crazy, murderous ones. It is open for discussion whether they were so evil in the first place that they were incarcerated to restrict their wickedness and only left loose in the tribulation for awhile OR they go crazy after being there for a long time. They have a leaser, aptly named THE DESTROYER. That is a really good WWE monicker. In interest of simplicity, I take this to be the fourth and possibly the last component of Hades. By the way elsewhere, The Depth is under the oceans.

I said possibly because a pastor friend is theorizing that there might be another one called the Assembly of the Dead- Prov 21:16. 

Proverbs 21:16

[16]A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead.

This is literally Qahal of Rephaim. The Rephaim are the giants of OT, possibly the Nephilim, whether pre-Flood or post-Flood (another debate- is there a second angelic infiltration other than Gen 6?). Maybe it simply means the idiots will die and join the Rephaim-  that is dead. Or probably it means that the horny angels of Gen 6 are in Tartaros while their fallen giant offspring (Nephilim- fallen ones, Gigantes- earthborn) are in the Assembly of the Rephaim. I am excited to read his comclusions.

That ends this long post. We have discussed the four (or five) components of Hades and also touch the second of the three Hells of the Bible- Tartaros.

See part 1 here:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4061048953957601&id=100001576080343

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, alas 8:30-10:30 am. Sa Amoguis, 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.)