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To: INVAR
"Hell" as used in Acts 2:29 is the Greek word 'hades'. The term hades in Christian theology (and in New Testament Greek) is parallel to Hebrew sheol (שאול, grave,tomb or dirt-pit), and refers to the abode of the dead.

In Luke 16 (:19-31) Jesus talks about the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. When Lazarus dies he is immediately in heaven with Abraham. When the rich man dies he immediately discovers himself in hell (hades), a place of torments, as hell is always described.

Those who believe in God (the Lord Jesus Christ) will never die. Their flesh will die, but their spirits will not. And God is not a God of the dead, but the living.

(Mark 12) 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27* He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
(John 11) 25* Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26* And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

As a believer I shall never spend one second in hell. I have this as a promise from Jesus Christ himself. Those who go to hell are the unbelieving.

The Greek word Hades in this usage (11 times to be exact) is "ᾅδης" (Hades). The Greek word to denote the underworld of Greek myth is: ᾍδου, Haidou. Christians wrongly assume that the term 'hades' in the New Testament is a reference to the Greek underworld. The location of 'Hades' (or underworld) to follow tradition, the Greek words are ᾍδου, Haidou, an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades, the Greek God of the dead.

None of this is germane. It might be interesting phonologically--The contraction from two syllables [a.i] to a diphthong [ai] and then [a] (with subscript iota) is a natural linguistic process. [hades] and [haides] are the same word. When a Christians uses the word it doesn't (or shouldn't) denote the Greek underworld. (Just as Hell should not denote the old norse underworld). We let the Bible define what these words in fact mean. Hell is a place of torment where the unsaved go. Christians will never die--that is, their souls will never be in hell. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8):

(2 Corinthians) 5* Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6* Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7* (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8* We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Christians will go to be with the Lord (awaiting the resurrection of the body). The dead go to hell (1st death) and will be resurrected to damnation and will be cast into the lake of fire, the second death:

(Revelation 20) 12* And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13* And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14* And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15* And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

57 posted on 04/10/2012 9:38:13 AM PDT by nonsporting
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To: nonsporting

one correction. Lazarus was in Abraham’s Bosom, also known as Paradise, a compartment of Hades for believers. No believer’s soul ascended to Heaven, the abode of God the Father, prior to the Cross as they had not been purified to stand in Heaven at that time. Once the perfect sacrifice had been made, the veil was rent in two and now it may be feasible through faith in Him.

You are correct in the doctrine that today after the first death, believers are face to face with the Lord. Some theologies assert this implies the locative position of our souls prior to the Resurrection is in Heaven. If our souls and spirit remain separated, I believe you are correct.


61 posted on 04/10/2012 9:58:36 AM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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