Christians: "Fiery Hell" vs. "Hell is the grave". Which is correct and why?

Answer 1

Depending on the translation "hell" = "the grave", "the world of the dead", "sheol" (Hebrew), "hades" (Greek).

Hell isn't a place of eternal torment, but the common grave of the humankind.

The teaching of hell fire has pagan origins. In ancient Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs the “nether world . . . is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.”
Early evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt.

The Bible says that "The wages sin pays is death" -- Romans 6:23. So, in the day we die our sins are erased. See also Romans 6:7.

The Scriptures say that Jehovah is love (1 John 4:8). A loving God wouldn't torture us an eternity. Actually that never crossed his mind. Consider the next verse:
"They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart." -- Jeremiah 7:31

But what is the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 21:8 ("But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.")?

The lake of fire means second death, the Gehenna.
"And do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." -- Matthew 10:28
It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible.

"And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Ha′des gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire." -- Revelation 20:13,14
As this verse shows, hell or Hades isn't the same with the lake of fire (Gehenna).

The soul is a man. The soul is not immortal. After death it ceases to exist.

"And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul." -- Genesis 2:7

"In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return." -- Genesis 3:19

"The soul that is sinning—it itself will die." -- Ezekiel 18:4

"For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten." -- Ecclesiastes 9:5

"All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going." -- Ecclesiastes 9:10

"His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground;
In that day his thoughts do perish." -- Proverbs 146:4


For more information go to:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/7/15/article_02.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/7/15/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20010715/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20001001/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2002/6/1/article_02.htm

Answer 2

Not two hells, three. The grave, then death, then hell.

1. The first, the abode of those who await judgement.
2. The second, the abode of evil spirits, fallen angels, now emptied out on earth.
3. The third, the eternal hell prepared for the devil and his angels. This is the fiery hell, a constant subject of false doctrine among Christians; who would rather preach hell than eternal life in Christ Jesus..

The main concern is not hell vs. the grave but heaven vs. the grave. Hell was not prepared for man and no man can survive there but for a moment. Jesus Christ died that we might have eternal life. If you do not accept and receive that life you cannot live eternally in heaven or hell.

Many references to hell are interpreted with the assumptions of the reader and do not reflect what is actually written. You will find that some versus talk about an eternal fire, but not about an eternal life in that fire. Also the abodes of hell changed with the death of Christ; who took the keys to all three.

In order to understand the Bible on the subject of hell, or any other subject, you must take the subject from Genesis to Revelation. You work on it until there are no discrepencies. If there is any discripency you are not reading it right because it always gives its own correct interpretation.

You can work with the King James of 1611 or the Douay, the accepted Roman Church English translation. The rest, based on various excuses, such as errors and hard to read, have been seriously altered. Most of these have perverted Scripture with every change they make. Changes which number between 800 and 1,000. And remember, marginal notes are not scripture.

Answer 3

"Sheol", "Hell", and "Hades" commonly refers to mankind's grave. At Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, ....for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going." The term "Fiery Hell" has been used inaccurately, because nobody can feel pain or use any of their senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hear) to know that they are in some place of torment. They cannot talk to you. Refer to the Holy Scriptures that the dead are total unconscious of their whereabouts. "The Lake of Fire" and "Gehenna" symbolizes everlasting destruction without hope of a resurrection. Read Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4, 5; Revelation 20:14, 15; Revelation 21:8.

Answer 4

Start with the very first lie told. The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit she would not die. This same lie is told over and over again by well meaning Christians who have listened to what others have said rather than studying the truth as presented in the bible. While there are a couple of texts that could give you the impression that hell is a place of eternal torment for the wicked, the bible clearly states that truth is found by adding text upon text. A sincere study of this subject in the bible can leave you with no other belief than that which is clearly stated in one of the most popular texts known.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in Him, should not parish but have everlasting life."

Answer 5

Neither really. The "Fiery Hell" is a man made concept (Dante) that was adopted and exaggerated. The "Hell is the grave" concept is primarily the Jehovah Witnesses, they get this idea from translating this into that word, in to this word, back to that word, that relates the grave to death.

Really if you think about it, If God loves us like most Christians believe; then why would he have us suffer for only a minuscule life of Sin? Doesn't make sense does it.

Answer 6

Fiery Hell would be the permanent death after the Judgement Day. The second death.

The hell that is the grave is the death all good and bad people experience. The first death.

Answer 7

There are several "Hells".
1)" Sheol" is the grave as in "You will not let my body stay in Hell(the writer uses the word Sheol)
2)" Hades" is the holding place for the unsaved until judgement day.That's where the "Rich man " was in Jesus' story of 'Lazarus and the rich man'.It is a place of "darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth" according to Christ.
3) There is a deep place called "Gehenna" where a lot of the fallen angels are bound .
4) Hell itself is the Lake of Fire.Jesus said it "was created for Satan and his angels".It just ain't open for business yet.That will be after the "White Throne of Judgement" at the end of Revelation.
Man is not supposed to go there.He goes there by his own choice.By rejecting the work of Christ.

Answer 8

Fiery hell would be the lake of fire, hell would be the grave

Answer 9

nicely, via use of that analogy, then some further possibilities contain; Lazarus = Muslim, rich guy = Christian Lazarus = Buddhist, rich guy = Christian Lazarus = Hindu, rich guy = Christian Lazarus = Jew, rich guy = Christian Lazarus = Shinto, rich guy = Christian Lazarus = Tao/Dao, rich guy = Christian etc etc, for each non secular man or woman who has tried to talk over with a Christian about their beliefs. Heck, atheists or perhaps agnostics ought to in good structure into the Lazarus position to boot.

Answer 10

Fiery is better.

The grave is the end of everything.
You lived as a pig dog, a altogether piece of crap, hurting everything you came into contact with.
And all you get is the grave?
No I don't think so.

At death, time to pay.