Raising Hell | Ep 10: Epic Bible Fails for Properly Warning People About Hell @RaisingHell | Uploaded June 2020 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Find this info helpful? Want to make this knowledge available for countless others? Help me undo the damage and change the world’s mind about God for just $3/month!): patreon.com/RaisingHell. All Patreon subscribers will get a chapter each month from my upcoming book that deals with the hard questions after deconstruction of one's religious beliefs/worldview, such as if God really loves us so much, what about evil and suffering? How do we navigate paradoxes and contradictions? How do we keep from getting lost, off track, or duped again?
Share Freely:
Youtube Channel: youtube.com/raisinghell
The book: Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire
Free PDFs of all versions at: raisinghellbook.com (full length version, short and sweet version, and Spanish version)
Purchase or Review:
Full length version Amazon: amzn.to/2y4jCsc
Abridged version Amazon: amzn.to/2x58bBp
Spanish version (Controversia infernal) Amazon: amzn.to/2JlNwA4
1. Genesis. The warning for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was “death." No scare tactics of eternal death, ultimate doom and fiery destruction. And what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate? They died. And as a result, all people die.
2. The Old Testament. Never once mentions hell to anyone at any time. Again, no big warnings that if you disobey God you will be forever tortured in flames. And what do we do about the fact that Jesus hadn’t lived yet, if Jesus (literally) is the only way to God? What do we do with all those heroes of the faith who died before Jesus and didn’t know about putting their faith in him?
3. Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s interesting that Jude 6-7 talk about Sodom and Gomorrah being punished in "eternal fire.” If such a thing exists, why does God say he will restore Sodom and Gomorrah in Ezekiel 16:55? Ezekiel was written 1500 years after S&G were destroyed. The Septuagint says, “your sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as they were from the beginning.”
4. Jesus. In an earlier video, we noted that Jesus never actually spoke of hell, but of Gehenna, a literal valley outside Jerusalem. Even if someone did want to make a case that he meant hell when he used the word Gehenna, he never preached about this place or condition of judgment to the crowds, or to the Gentiles. What kind of savior refuses to warn most of the people he encounters? Also, Jesus was never in a hurry, and did not urgently proclaim a message of deliverance from eternal doom. Instead, Jesus said, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do. ...When I am lifted up [I] with draw all humans to myself.”
5. The Gospel. The word “gospel” actually means “good news.” In Luke 2:10 the angel says, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people…” If most of the people who have ever lived are going to hell, wouldn’t the “good news” actually be really bad news for multiple billions? If hell is true the angel should have offered a stern warning, “I bring you good news of great joy for only the people who receive it and believe it. Everyone else will be doomed for all eternity.”
Once I looked up “gospel" in all the places it occurs in the NT Greek. It appears fifty-two times as an action, “bringing good news,” and seventy-three times in noun form, “good news.” It is never used in the same context with hell or everlasting torment or even judgment. The NT writers didn’t share it as “The good news or else!”
6. Apostle Paul. Paul was assigned as the apostle to the non-Jews. As Christians, he is our one chance to make sure we know how to get to heaven. Paul never once mentions hell. Only once he talks about “age-abiding judgment,” and he only ever talks about the gospel in a favorable light.
7. The Book of Life. In ancient Jewish tradition, the Book of Life (or "Book of Remembrance") is a dynamic, changing document whereby our deeds are recorded and measured—yes the way we treat others matters.
Ex. 32:32–33: “[Moses said] ‘But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!’ The LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’”
And in Revelation 21:27 (literal translation), we see a present progressive verb: "And in no way should anything common, and committing an abomination, and a lie enter into her (the New Jerusalem); only the ones being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (see discussion in Raising Hell on pages 263-4).
The Jewish teaching on this appears to contrast eonian, age-abiding life (obtained by loving God and others, justice, mercy) with the need for another death cycle and atonement (based on outward evidences/works of justice, regardless of faith), which supports the purpose of the refining process in life in the ages (do-overs, as many as needed).
myjewishlearning.com/article/book-of-life
Find this info helpful? Want to make this knowledge available for countless others? Help me undo the damage and change the world’s mind about God for just $3/month!): patreon.com/RaisingHell. All Patreon subscribers will get a chapter each month from my upcoming book that deals with the hard questions after deconstruction of one's religious beliefs/worldview, such as if God really loves us so much, what about evil and suffering? How do we navigate paradoxes and contradictions? How do we keep from getting lost, off track, or duped again?
Share Freely:
Youtube Channel: youtube.com/raisinghell
The book: Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire
Free PDFs of all versions at: raisinghellbook.com (full length version, short and sweet version, and Spanish version)
Purchase or Review:
Full length version Amazon: amzn.to/2y4jCsc
Abridged version Amazon: amzn.to/2x58bBp
Spanish version (Controversia infernal) Amazon: amzn.to/2JlNwA4
1. Genesis. The warning for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was “death." No scare tactics of eternal death, ultimate doom and fiery destruction. And what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate? They died. And as a result, all people die.
2. The Old Testament. Never once mentions hell to anyone at any time. Again, no big warnings that if you disobey God you will be forever tortured in flames. And what do we do about the fact that Jesus hadn’t lived yet, if Jesus (literally) is the only way to God? What do we do with all those heroes of the faith who died before Jesus and didn’t know about putting their faith in him?
3. Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s interesting that Jude 6-7 talk about Sodom and Gomorrah being punished in "eternal fire.” If such a thing exists, why does God say he will restore Sodom and Gomorrah in Ezekiel 16:55? Ezekiel was written 1500 years after S&G were destroyed. The Septuagint says, “your sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as they were from the beginning.”
4. Jesus. In an earlier video, we noted that Jesus never actually spoke of hell, but of Gehenna, a literal valley outside Jerusalem. Even if someone did want to make a case that he meant hell when he used the word Gehenna, he never preached about this place or condition of judgment to the crowds, or to the Gentiles. What kind of savior refuses to warn most of the people he encounters? Also, Jesus was never in a hurry, and did not urgently proclaim a message of deliverance from eternal doom. Instead, Jesus said, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do. ...When I am lifted up [I] with draw all humans to myself.”
5. The Gospel. The word “gospel” actually means “good news.” In Luke 2:10 the angel says, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people…” If most of the people who have ever lived are going to hell, wouldn’t the “good news” actually be really bad news for multiple billions? If hell is true the angel should have offered a stern warning, “I bring you good news of great joy for only the people who receive it and believe it. Everyone else will be doomed for all eternity.”
Once I looked up “gospel" in all the places it occurs in the NT Greek. It appears fifty-two times as an action, “bringing good news,” and seventy-three times in noun form, “good news.” It is never used in the same context with hell or everlasting torment or even judgment. The NT writers didn’t share it as “The good news or else!”
6. Apostle Paul. Paul was assigned as the apostle to the non-Jews. As Christians, he is our one chance to make sure we know how to get to heaven. Paul never once mentions hell. Only once he talks about “age-abiding judgment,” and he only ever talks about the gospel in a favorable light.
7. The Book of Life. In ancient Jewish tradition, the Book of Life (or "Book of Remembrance") is a dynamic, changing document whereby our deeds are recorded and measured—yes the way we treat others matters.
Ex. 32:32–33: “[Moses said] ‘But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!’ The LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’”
And in Revelation 21:27 (literal translation), we see a present progressive verb: "And in no way should anything common, and committing an abomination, and a lie enter into her (the New Jerusalem); only the ones being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (see discussion in Raising Hell on pages 263-4).
The Jewish teaching on this appears to contrast eonian, age-abiding life (obtained by loving God and others, justice, mercy) with the need for another death cycle and atonement (based on outward evidences/works of justice, regardless of faith), which supports the purpose of the refining process in life in the ages (do-overs, as many as needed).
myjewishlearning.com/article/book-of-life
