Nieto Bible Page

  What the Hell, Part 4 So far we have seen that hell is used in the Bible to translate Hades/Sheol and Tartaros. We have seen that Hades and Sheol are used to the Place of the Dead. At times it is used as a parallel to grave or pit but there are uses that seemed to teach that Hades is way more than the pit (See What the Hell, Part 3). Believers and unbelievers alike in OT expected to went there though as I argued the last time they went to different compartments. Tartaros is the holding area for the horny angels of Gen 6 and another area called the Abyss holds the deranged and murderous creatures that will be released during the Tribulation. I also addressed Jesus' descent into hell. Now the third and last word used to translate hell is Gehenna, (Geena). I almost hesitate to post this because I am sure that what I will write will not be popular to some of you. Most dictionaries and commentaries will list Gehenna as the equivalent of Lake of Fire, and that this is an eternal consci...

  What the Hell? Part 3 In my two previous posts I argue that one should be discriminating when one read the word hell in the Bible. The word translates three different words and they are not the same. I have presented the Hades of the dead humans and the Tartaros of the horny angels of Gen 6. For simplicity, I grouped all these Hells as compartments into one Underworld. In addition there is a separate Abyss for the murderous angels to be released in the Trib period, a possible Place for the Nephilim and also identify two separate compartments for the dead- the Place of Torment (a temporary facility for unbelieving dead) and Abraham's Bosom (a temporary place for believing dead), otherwise known as Paradise. I posted previously that Jesus did descend into hell and that is what I will elaborate now. When Jesus died, His physical body is deposited at Joseph of Arimathea's tomb for three days in accordance with the prophecy of Is 53 that He'll be buried in a rich man's t...

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 wen...

WHAT THE HELL? Filipino concept of hell may not be what the Bible says.  Act 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (See also vs 31 and Ps 16:8-11) I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; HE DESCENDED INTO HELL; -The Apostles' Creed For Filipinos the word hell evoked images of ever burning fire that destroys the wicked in opposition to Heaven where the righteous dwell. So every time they read the word hell or impiyerno they think it always refer to the eternal final destiny of the unrighteous, of the unbelievers. This is a mistake since the word hell translates several words that are not always referring to the same thing. Failure to distinguished the various hells of the Bible leads to some absurd teaching like J...