2 Peter part two

We are at 2 Peter 1:12. The author says he will always remind the reader of the stuff they already know. That seems rather pointless doesn't it? He thinks it is right to keep doing this as long as he is alive, because Jesus has made it clear to him that he hasn't got much time left. But no fear, he will find a way to be responsible for helping them remember, even after he shuffles off this mortal coil. This guy has issues.

He goes on to say that he and his cronies didn't make stuff up when they told about "the power and coming of our lord Jesus Christ." They were "eyewitnesses of his majesty" because they were with Jesus on a sacred mountain when a voice from god said, "This is my beloved son, with him I am well pleased." Well, well, well. This is the story of the transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of Peter, James and John. It is found in Mark 9, Matthew 17, and Luke 9. Mark says god's words are "This is my son, whom I love. listen to him." In Luke it is "This is my son, whom I have chosen. listen to him." In Matthew it is "This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him." Notice that 2 Peter appears to be quoting from the book of Matthew. In all of the instances, god supposedly also commanded those present to listen to Jesus, but the author of 2 Peter did not include those words of god. Will he ever tell us any of the things Jesus is supposed to have said?

The author goes on to say that the readers would also do well to pay attention to the words of the prophets. (What about the words of Jesus?) However, they need to understand that no prophecy of scripture ever came about by the prophets own interpretation. That's funny. He's acknowledging that prophets got the meanings of their prophecies wrong. He says that's because the prophecies didn't come from the will of man, but from god, through the holy spirit. Excuses excuses. So, how in the world can anyone know what the prophecies actually meant, or if they came true, if even the prophets got it wrong?

We are now in chapter two.The author says, "There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign lord who bought them (AKA Jesus)." Okay. Let us recognize that both liars and truth tellers will say that the people disagreeing with them are wrong. These people "spreading heresies" could actually be the truth tellers, but of course the author begs to differ. He says people will follow the heretic's shameful ways and bring the truth into disrepute. They will also exploit the reader with made up stories. Is this projection? I'm pretty sure the story of the transfiguration is made up. The author says the story tellers will get the destruction awaiting them. When we point our finger, three fingers are pointing back at us.

The author goes on to say that after all, "God did not spare the angels when they sinned but sent them to hell, putting them in gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement" He also did not spare the people who were drowned in the flood. Nor did he spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were burnt to ashes, "an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly." These are all proof that sinners will get what is coming to them. A note about the angels who sinned and got sent to hell: there isn't actually any Old Testament scriptures that say this. Also the word "hell" here is translated from the Greek word Tartarus, which is a deep pit located below Hades, the land of the dead. This isn't the "lake of fire" hell that Christianity is fond of.

Till next time.

Edited to add: the bit about angels in prison and  the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah very closely echoes terminology found in Jude 6.

Jesus Burning part 5, wrap up.

We continue on in Luke. In chapter 16, we come to the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a poor beggar who was never helped by the rich man. They both died. The rich man went to hell hades) and was in torment. Lazarus went to a place far way, but not so far that the rich man couldn't see him with "Father Abraham." (You remember Abraham, the lying, deadbeat father of Ishmael who was willing to kill his son Isaac.) The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus with water to cool his tongue because he was in agony in the fire. This looks to me like the only time in the bible that hades, not gehenna, is said to be the fiery tormenting place. Plus, they went there right after death, which leaves out the gathering of souls and final judgement.

Abraham tells the rich man that he just got what he deserved, a kind of divine karma. Plus, Lazarus couldn't deliver water if he wanted to. An uncrossable chasm has been fixed between the two realms. However, they seem to be able to see each other. Lovely.

In chapter 19, we have a version of the parable of the talents that we saw in Matthew 25. This time the money the master (god figure) doled out is in minas.  A talent was 60 minas. The master/king in this story is not quite as wealthy as the last one. Anyway, again, one servant did not invest the money he was given and increase it for the master. The money was taken away from that servant and given to a servant who had made interest on his minas. The king then says, "To everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--bring them here and kill them in front of me." Remember that this king is supposed to be a representation of god. This parable is supposed to represent divine judgement.

There are a few more vague references to judgement in the book of Luke, but nothing obvious. Next we look at John. I could find no obvious references to a final judgement/condemnation, until I reached chapter 12. Verse 48 says,"There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him in the last day." There are no specifics about how what condemnation entails.

The next reference is in chapter 15. There Jesus calls himself the true vine. Unproductive branches, those that don't remain in the vine, are pruned off and cast into the fire and burned, an obvious reference to divine punishment. Believe it or not, that seems to be it. We are at the end of our study of damnation and hell. There may be a few more scattered references, but I'm tired of this topic.

What have we learned? It appears that the modern generic version of the christian hell is a muddled mash up of all the elements we have found scattered throughout the bible. If I were to try to create a sythesis with as few internal contradictions as possible, I would say that after death, everyone goes to hades/sheol, which is underground.  In hades, there may be separate places for good people and bad people separated by a chasm. The bad people are those who did not help the poor and needy, those who did not follow jesus's teachings, and those who were unproductive for god. They may or may not be thrown into a pit (which may be tartarus/abaddon) or a fire in hades. The good people may or may not get to be with Abraham. Some stories seem to imply that the dead are still possessors of physical bodies that feel pain or pleasure. Some people get to be resurrected early. They have priveledges. At the last judgement, everyone still in hades comes out to get their eternal reward or punishment. Everyone is judged according to what they have done. The sinners, unbelievers, Satan, and hades,  are all thrown into a lake of fire (of unknown location), the second death, which may or may not be Gehenna. They may or may not be tortured forever. If the parables acurately represent god, he will have no qualms at meting out the consequences of his divine wrath. Jesus and the saved may or may not watch the punishment of the damned. Is this what you believe? Why?

Lakes of fire and burning sulfur or brimstone

Let's look at some of the terms associated with the wrath of god and punishment after death. First the lake of fire, aka the second death.  This phenomenon is found exclusively in Revelation chapters 19, 20, and 21. The rest of the authors of the bible appear to be unaware of its existence. Wikipedia suggests that the lake of fire in Revelation is directly related to the fire of gehenna mentioned by Jesus. However, gehenna is not mentioned in Revelation and it does not have any history of being referred to as a lake.

Fire is mentioned as an instrument of god's wrath so many times in the Old Testament that I don't have the time and inclination  to go over every instance. It is often paired with sulfur, which is called brimstone in the KJV. Brimstone or sulfur appears seven times in the Old Testament. 1. In Gen 19:24 it rains down on Sodom and Gomorrah. 2. Deut. 29:23 refers again to Sodom and gomorrah. 3. Job 18:15 talks of fire and sulfur at the home of a wicked man. 4. Psalm 11:6 says "on the wicked he (god) will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur. 5. Isaiah 30:33 says a place called Topheth has been prepared for the king with a large pile of firewood, ready to be set aflame by the breath of the lord, which is like a torrent of brimstone.

Pause there. Apparently Tophet is associated with the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna. I did not know that. Besides the mention in Isaiah, Jeremiah also refers to it a couple of times, in chapters 7 and 19, and says it is a place of foreign gods, or Baal, where innocent children were burned as sacrifices. 2nd Kings 23:10 says it was where children were sacrificed to Moloch.

Back to brimstone in the OT: 6. Isaiah 34:9 speaks of a day of god's vengeance when Edom's streams will be turned into pitch and the dust into burning sulfur. The fire will not be quenched night and day, its smoke will rise forever. This is in the midst of a quite bloody diatribe against all "the nations." 7. Ezekiel 38:22 says god will rain hail, and burning sulfur on the armies of Gog and many other nations. Apparently Gog isn't actually a real place or group of people. It may be a metaphor for enemies of god. The rain of sulfur must be metaphorical too. You can't rain real sulfur on a metaphor.

In the New Testament, the only sulfur/ brimstone not in Revelation is in Luke 17:29. Which is just referring to Sodom and Gomorrah.

A sulfur passage in Revelation we did not cover yet is found in chapter 14. There we find the lamb, presumably jesus, standing on mount zion with 144,000 people who had his name and god's on their foreheads. Then there is a kind of heavenly musical concert which only the 144,000 can hear. These people are special. They are men who have never "defiled" themselves with women, which made them pure. (Good grief!)  I guess saint Peter won't be one of them, since he was married. They had never lied and were blameless. 144,000 perfect men? Excuse me while I laugh. These perfect men were purchased and offered as firstfruits to god and the lamb. Hmm. Sounds like human sacrifice to me. Revelation chapter seven tells us that the 144,000 are twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Next in chapter 14, an angel flies around the earth proclaiming the hour of judgement has come. A second angel yells that Babylon the great has fallen. A third angel says that anyone who has worshipped "the beast", who is not Satan,  will drink the wine of god's fury and will be tormented with burning sulfur IN THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY ANGELS AND THE LAMB! "And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever." There will be no rest for them. Lovely imagery, huh?

Hell part 7

As I promised, we will have a closer look at the first paragraphs of Revelation chapter 20. The unknown John is having a vision and in it he sees an angel come down out of heaven. So heaven must be up. Up where? The angel is holding a key to "the abyss" and a chain. He binds up Satan, who is also called the dragon, that ancient serpent, and the devil. Then Satan is thrown into the abyss and it is locked and sealed over him, to keep him from causing mischief, for one thousand years. The abyss here is not hell, gehenna, hades, or the lake of fire. It is a separate place, possibly in hades. In other scriptures, the abyss appears a kind of holding cell for the most despicable of the dead. So, apparently, the earth will enjoy a millenium without old scratch. After that, he will be set free for a short time.

Next, John sees thrones of judges. Then he sees the souls of those beheaded because of their faithfulness to Jesus. They come to life and get to reign with christ for one thousand years. Two questions: Is this the same thousand years that the devil is locked up? And, do they get their heads back? John says this is the first resurrection. All those who get to be in the first resurrection, do not need to worry about the second death. They will be priests of God and Christ and reign with him for a thousand years. Is this reign in heaven or on earth?

What happens at the end of the thousand years? According to verse five, the rest of the dead are resurrected. That must be the second resurrection. According to verse seven, Satan is released from his prison. He gathers an army and marches against the camp of god's people, the city he loves, maybe Jerusalem? Wait a minute. By the time of the writing of this book, Jerusalem has been destroyed by the Romans. Is this fictional alternative history? In this story, fire comes down from heaven and devours the army of Satan. Then the devil gets thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet have already been thrown. Since we haven't read the previous chapters of Revelation together yet, I have no comment on these other beings. Obviously they are not Satan. However, verse ten ends by saying that in that lake of burning sulfur, they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. As if forever is not enough. This appears to be the same lake of fire that is called the second death later in this  chapter and the next. You know, where the unbelievers like me will be thrown, along with the murderers, idolaters and liars.

There you have it. We see that the ideas about Hell that modern Christianity has popularized don't exactly match up with what the bible says. We have examined gehenna, hades, and the lake of fire. Which one is actually hell? Does hell even exist in the bible? Or is it a conglomeration of all the various uncomfortable and scary metaphorical words about death, the grave, and the "second death" for those who dare to cross God in some way. Where is the reality behind all the talk? I can't find it. Can you?

Hell part 6

Now we come to the word Hell/hades as found in The book of Revelation. Revelation is the youngest book of the bible and written in almost purely metaphorical/symbolical apocalyptic imagery. The author is simply "John." Noone is quite sure which John he is. The book's place in the biblical canon, as well as its purpose and meaning, has been disputed throughout the centuries. We will not go into much of that here today.

The passages with hades translated to hell in the KJV:
*Rev. 1:18-Here the author sees a vision of a fantastical person who calls himself "The Alpha and the Omega"(the first and the last), "The Living One" (because he was dead but now he is alive forever and ever! Two evers make it longer.) He goes on to say he holds the keys of death and hades. This being is presumed to be Jesus. His words are in red in my NIV study bible. In Matthew 16:18 we saw Jesus say the gates of hades would not prevail, now we see his resurrected self saying he has the keys to hades. Does hell/hades actually have a gate with keys to unlock it? Job 38:17 also talks about gates of death.

*Rev. 6:8- In this passage, the author is telling about his revealed vision. There is scroll with seven seals (magical number!) being opened by a Lamb that looked like it had been slain. (Jesus, duh.) As each seal is opened something incredible happens. Seals one through four produce four horsemen. The first is a conquering king on a white horse. The second represents the violence of war on a red horse. The third represents inflation and scarcity on a black horse. The forth seal is opened and the author says he saw a pale horse and its rider was Death; Hades/hell was trailing behind him. These four horsemen were given power over 1/4 of the earth to kill by the sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. Interesting note: the pale horse that Death rode on was actually a sickly green color. The greek word here is chloros.

*Rev. 20:13,14- This is in a famous passage about the supposed day of judgement. We read about all the dead standing before a great white throne. There were open books which held records of what the dead had done. The sea, death, and Hades/hell gave up all their dead and each person was judged according to what he had done. (Not according to what he believed?!!) Then, Death and Hades/hell were thrown into the lake of fire! What? Hades/Hell is not actually the lake of fire itself? It looks like hell/hades was just the holding place for the dead, just like Sheol. Ah, but we are not done. The lake of fire is "the second death." There was also a special book among the record books, the book of life. If anyone's name was not found in the book of life, they were thrown into the lake of fire!

What is this book of life, and who will not be in it? Ex. 32:32 Yahweh tells Moses "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." Daniel 12:1 talks about a book which has names written in it, but it is unclear if it the same book. Malachi 3:16 speaks of a "scroll of remembrance" in which was written the names of those who feared Yahweh and honored his name. Is that the same thing?

Who will be thrown into the lake of fire? Rev. 21:8 says it is "the cowardly, the unbelieving (uh oh), the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars." Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur- the second death. "He who overcomes" will not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. 2:11) But what does it mean, to overcome? We find clues in the first paragraphs of Rev. 20. Let's look at them next time. There are no more passages with the word hell/hades, but there is plenty of descriptive stuff about afterlife punishments. It seems that this "second death" is what we should really fear, not hell.