Testament? It seems as if it wasn't told to the masses until Jesus came. That would mean people weren't fully aware of where they were going after they died. Someone please explain this to me.
2007-06-04 03:59:21 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Our (Humanity) understanding of God and eternal things grew progressively through the whole bible. Adam and Eve didn't know as much as Abraham, Abraham didn't know as much as Moses and so on. God progressively revealed more to humanity over time.
So it is true that the concepts of heaven and hell were not fully developed in the Old Testament. (Though if you look hard you can see some hints of it that are foreshadowed.)
The concepts of heaven and hell were developed in the intertestamental period, mostly based on those hints in the OT. By the time Jesus came, the average Jewish person was aware of heaven and hell, and was familiar with the concept already.
And then Jesus enlightened us further of course. And then we learn even more as we go through the New Testament.
It's like school. You learn as you go, building on what you've learned before.
2007-06-04 04:14:19 · answer #1 · answered by Philippian 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The concepts of both heaven and hell are fairly vague in both the old and new testament. There is, as you've noted, far less in the old testament than the new, and what is there is certainly open to interpretation. So, there is no fixed doctrine about hell (or the afterlife in general) in Judaism. It would range from no afterlife at all to something sort of like the the traditional Christian doctrine, although I think there's generally not a permanent hell. I think it's fairly safe to assume that at least some of the language and concepts used by new testament figures comes out of (non-scriptural) Jewish tradition, but I've never really studied it, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
The new testament version of the afterlife is also open to broad interpretation. Although it's pretty rare to find Christians of any stripe advocating a "no afterlife" view, you will find a very broad range of thought on what actually happens in the afterlife. Almost all of the traditional ideas of heaven and hell come from non-biblical sources (folklore, Dante, Milton, etc.).
So the short answer (too late, I know) to you question is that most specific ideas about the afterlife in the Judeo-Christian tradition arise from non-canonical sources.
2007-06-04 11:32:22 · answer #2 · answered by JohnnyQ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The concept of Hell did exist in the old testament, just in a different form from the new testament. The old testament hell was seen as more of a place of holding, rather than a place of punishment. I guess it comes down to a place of punishment being a better tool at the time range when the new testament was written.
2007-06-04 11:04:01 · answer #3 · answered by firstythirsty 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Although the word hell isn`t used so much, the concept of choices having very serious consequences is still very clear in the OT. See Deuteronomy 30:16-18:
"If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees and ordinances then you shall live...but if your heart turns away... I declare to you today that you will perish."
2007-06-04 11:15:57 · answer #4 · answered by andy c 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Greek word "gehenna" was the translation from the Hebrew word "gueh hin-nom" (Valley of Hinnon). It was mistranslated as hell the truth is that the Hebrew word was used in regard to the trash dump-site. The 1800's doctrine of hell that the church adopted and we all know today is based on Dante's "The Divine Comedy".
2007-06-04 11:05:25 · answer #5 · answered by Millie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Jews do not believe in hell - it is a Christian invention. So since the Old testament is what the Jewish religion believes it should be no surprise that hell isn't mentioned.
2007-06-04 11:04:18 · answer #6 · answered by jautomatic 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is a history of hell, devil, the history channel has the best thing ive have seen on it. jesus was a man who gave people hope in a bad time , and now the the masses are great. we created the hell that is hear now ,but its only how you lead your life .if you read to much into the teastment .or the bible its self . take god be agood person life is good .he gave us that .but now we question ever thing ,mabe to much time.
2007-06-04 11:20:39 · answer #7 · answered by rocko 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the old testament the term sheol was translated to "hell" in old english language translations when the real translation is "grave" or "common grave of mankind"
The word sheol is used a lot in the old testament.
2007-06-04 11:10:02 · answer #8 · answered by .*. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on the church
Ecc 9:5 shows the dead sleep
2007-06-04 11:03:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because Satan is not in Hell he walks between heaven and the earth as Job states. Read Job or even Revelations neither one says anything about Satan being in hell. Satan is the angel of temptation. His job is to try to distract you from achieving the one true purposes of life. Peace and love for God 1st, then your fellow man and yourself 3rd. people forget God made Satan to do exactly what he does. Satan is not Gods enemy because God has no enemies. Satan’s job is to test the faith of we humans just as he did to Job and Jesus. These two passed the test of faith. Ahab, Judas, and Jezebel failed the test miserably. Ahab was too weak for his no good wife. Even after he recognized what God was requiring him to be he listened to his envious wife and died instantly. So he never got a chance to repent. Jezebel died instantly as well. Judas could have been forgiven for his sin but he was to prideful and didn't want to take full responsibility for his action so he killed himself. The New Testament and The Old Testament constantly talks about Hell. Hell is not a physical place it’s a state of mind. Hell is to be hidden from the light of God. This mental place is were Satan wants you and I to be all the time because he wants to prove to God he's more deserving of his love then us. Satan is "Hell Bent" on showing God we love ourselves more than we love God. He wrongly believes eventually God will give up on humans and only love him. Satan wants you to get so caught up in your Worldly thoughts to the point you don't believe God is the answer and you don't reference God at all. SO TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS Q & A remember this one thing forever, the battle is not between neither good nor evil nor God and Satan. The battle is will you always have total faith in God and do your best to live the way he tells you to live or will you get so caught up in the World to the point you don't believe in the teachings of God and don't have faith that no matter the obstacle God will see you threw if you keep faith. The later half is Hell. The definition of hell is to put yourself in a state of mind that you shield "YOURSELF" from the glory of the Lord. God will never ever give up on you. You can only give up on him and this is what Satan wants you to do. Satan wants all of Gods love for himself. In revelations when Jesus says the seven headed dragon will be cast out of Heaven and thrown down to the one with a human’s body and horns like a ram in Hell. I believe he's saying the temptations of the "seven deadly sins" the seven crowns and the actions of these seven traits the five heads"actual physical sin" (1.worship false idols like money, other gods, people or material things, 2. steal, 3. kill, 4. cheat, 5. and teach the seven dealy sins to others) All of these seven deadly mental sins and five physical sins (the dragon) will be cast out of your body (heaven) when we have made total peace with God. So when you take your last breathe your literally like Enoch, Jesus, and Elijah. You don't die you cross over to heaven once you've cast that five headed dragon with seven crowns out your body back to Satan in his wicked crazy state of Hell. The rams horns is saying Satan is so head strong he will continue to keep his head down and ram away at us forever. Remember He's in Hell forever because he refuses to accept that God loves others outside of him and so you will be if you think selfishly like Satan. Hopefully I was of some help to you. Peace and Luv
2007-06-04 12:05:51 · answer #10 · answered by Big Sam D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋