Rapture and Hell 10/1/2026

[cfudyma]

I had to consult AI about Jenny's comment about rapture and hell being new concepts. Here's what I found;

• The Word: The English term "rapture" comes from the Latin translation (rapturo) of the Greek verb harpazō (ἁρπάζω), which means to "snatch away," "seize," or "catch up".
• The Concept: The idea is derived primarily from 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where the Apostle Paul writes that living and dead believers will be "caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air". Another key text is 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, which describes believers being transformed in a moment.

The English word "hell" appears in older Bible translations, but the original Hebrew and Greek texts use four distinct words with different meanings.
Original Biblical Words
Instead of a single concept of hell, the original scriptures use these terms:
• Sheol: A Hebrew word from the Old Testament meaning the grave or the general realm of the dead.
• Hades: A Greek word used in the New Testament that means the same as Sheol (the grave or underworld).
• Gehenna: A Greek word referring to the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, which was a literal trash dump with fires. Jesus used it as a metaphor for final judgment and destruction.
• Tartarus: A Greek word used once in the New Testament (2 Peter 2:4) to describe a place of restraint or judgment for fallen angels.
Translation and Interpretation
Older translations like the King James Version translated all four different words into the single English word "hell".

What is truth and what is interpretation? It is so confusing. Thankfully Mason works at providing truth.

Carol
Salt Lake City Utah

[Randall]

This was very interesting, Carol. I suppose if one wanted to really simplify, we could just say hell is wherever the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not.

[admindp]

Older translations like the King James Version translated all four different words into the single English word "hell". ...
Carol
Salt Lake City Utah

Dealing with the concept and terminology of "hell" is a matter of seeing the forest, not the trees. Jesus Himself is the source of our information, and time and time again He warns us that we will suffer eternal punishment -- terrible punishment -- if we do not find forgiveness and salvation. He often uses fire metaphors. Just look at Matthew 23:41, 46 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Such warnings occur repeatedly in Matthew. Jesus did not share these descriptions merely to frighten people, but to stress the gravity of sin, the reality of moral accountability, and the urgent need for repentance and reliance on God.

Jesus did use Gehenna, an awful burning garbage dump outside Jerusalem, as a sort of illustration, and Gehenna is translated "hell" in many Bibles. "Hell" is a really good thumbnail descriptor. You can find a difficult tangle of words and concepts relating to the afterlife (especially the changing and often contradictory ideas of the Pharisees and other Jewish theological schools). But again, these are the "trees". We need first and foremost to see the "forest" -- i.e. "hell" -- which is an eternity of desperate misery, comparable to a lake of fire, "prepared for the devil and his angels".