Hell Know: it doesn't last forever! - Softcover

Johnstone, Theodore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1490775706 ISBN 13: 9781490775708

Verlag: Trafford, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Having practiced medicine for more than 55 years, Dr. Johnstone has witnessed more than one of his patients take their last breath. But sometimes, in his mind, questions popped up. Is the persons soul in the presence of its maker? Or is the soul now suffering in the flames of hell? Or did it simply die with the body and with it will soon be encrypted, buried, or cremated? What is the soul anyway? Is it conscious? Can it feel all of the stimuli coming to it from light, sound, heat, taste, smell, and touch? If so then a soul in heaven would be able to appreciate all of the blessings of that place, but if in hell; it would be suffering in the torment of eternal flames that never consume or destroy. However, if the soul dies with the body, then it would experience nothing. The above questions are not so meaningful if the person who has just died in your presence is not a loved one. However, a loved ones death makes these questions come alive, sometimes with strong emotions not the least of which is sorrow. Dr. Johnstone experienced these feelings one summer afternoon, when he was called by his mother, who was at the bedside of his dying sister, to come to the hospital and pronounced her dead. Recently retired, Dr. Johnstone decided to research Scripture for himself to find answers in it, as to what happens to a person after death. In an effort to prevent bias from forming in his mind, he decided not to consult with any commentaries, but confine his studies mainly, but not exclusively, to The New International and King James versions of the Bible along with an English translation of the Septuagint. He also decided to obtain help from the Interlinear Bible, written in Hebrew, Greek, and English, in conjunction with The New Strongs Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. From these sources, he performed a metaphoric autopsy to ferret out the answers to the souls postmortem existence. The pathology report, portrayed in Hell Know, came as a complete surprise.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Born in 1932, then at age 17, I was challenged by the sudden death of my father, which left me with the responsibility of running the family dairy farm, and getting an education at the same time. In succession, I graduated from high school in 1951, college in 1955, and medical school in 1959, having paid for 90% of my education with money earned from running the farm. I have had no formal Biblical training in a seminary, nor have I had any education in Hebrew or Greek languages. The information I needed for writing the book, derived from careful study of the Interlinear Bible and The New Strongs Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible Red-Letter Edition. Anyone with a high school education and dedication, will find that these two books can give one the needed grasp of Hebrew and Greek to write a book similar to mine. In addition to the aforementioned books, I bought a Greek-English translation of the Septuagint, which helped tremendously. However, I must admit that I would have had a lot of trouble writing Hell Know without considerable prior knowledge of the KJV Bible. I can thank my mom and Grandmother for teaching me this.

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Hell Know

Does It Last Forever?

By Theodore Johnstone

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2016 Theodore R. Johnstone
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-7570-8

Contents

Chapter One: Hades, 1, 
Chapter Two: Ge(h)enna, 14, 
Chapter Three: Isolation or the Eradication of Evil, 25, 
Chapter Four: Biblical Evidence Used to Support an Everlasting Hell, 36, 
Appendices A, B, and C, Three KJV Old Testament Translations of Sheol, 51, 
All Sixty-Four Old Testament English Translations of Sheol are Noted, Taken from Seven Different Biblical Versions, 69, 

CHAPTER 1

Hades

Like mistletoe attached to a tree limb, theological dualism is a tenacious psychological adherent to various branches of our modern societies, be they religious or secular. Theological dualism can be described as the belief that each human being is composed of two separate but related entities, the physical body and the spiritual soul. The former is made from physical matter, whereas the latter is thought to be a nonmaterial essence that can see, hear, feel, think, speak, move, reason, choose, and remember. The soul, at death of the body, is thought to separate from the corpse and continue to exist in a conscious immortal state, retaining all of the previously mentioned mental and neurological functions of the human brain.

Some branches of Christianity openly accept the dualistic concept and are comforted at the funeral of a loved one whose soul has been consigned, by the preacher's words, to the courts of heaven. In Islam, belief in an afterlife existence differs from that of Christianity mainly by how one avoids hell and enters into the bliss of heaven. However, many in our secular community with an atheistic mindset claim freedom from roots of dualism. Notwithstanding, every time one of them tells someone to "go to hell" or uses other common expressions, such as "Oh my god" or "for heaven's sakes," they show that the roots of dualism are subtly present in their minds.

For these traditions in our societies, an attempt will be made to show our debt to ancient Greek polytheism and mythological concepts. Moving from Greek thinking to the Hebrews and from them to us, these beliefs are found in modern Christian and Islamic societies. Our approach will ignore any influence on this subject possibly coming from Egyptian or Eastern Religions.

Looking back in history, from our vantage point now, we can see that ancient Greek culture was more advanced than other cultures existing at that time. For instance, in ancient times, Greek knowledge of mathematics and geometry along with astronomy far exceeded that of other cultures. In addition, because of their salient position in these arenas, the Greeks no doubt thought that their philosophy and religion were also superior to others. With this thinking as their modus operandi, they couldn't resist attempts at introducing their language, customs, mathematics, and religion, etc., into surrounding cultures. This desire increased even more after Alexander the Great conquered much of the then known world. The Greeks were so successful in their endeavor of inculcating their culture into others around them that it continued even after Rome conquered the Greeks and beyond to the present, as when you learned the Pythagorean Theorem back in high school.

Beginning soon after Alexander conquered the homeland of the Hebrews, the Greeks used political as well as psychological pressures in their effort to Hellenize the Jews. To aid in their attempt at changing Jewish culture, the Greeks built ten cities in Palestine known as the Decapolis. One of these cities, actually a remodel of an existing ancient one, was Beth Shan, located just south of the Lake of Galilee, on the west side of the Jordan River. From here, the Jewish people living around Galilee were introduced to Greek customs, culture, language, and religion.

Beth Shan had all of the usual Greek trappings. Among these were a race track and a stadium where duels to the death between two men or between one man and one furious animal were often scheduled. Also, Beth Shan could boast about its gymnasium where both men and women participated at the same time in the nude. In all of this milieu, which included amphitheater plays, the Greeks introduced the Jews to stories of their polytheistic gods and Greek terms. Some of these included ghosts or conscious souls in Hades and Tartarus, all of which were ideas foreign to Jews and completely missing, as we will soon learn, from the original Hebrew writings of the Old Testament.

Beth Shan became the "Las Vegas," so to speak, of Palestine, where for more than three centuries before the time of Christ, Hellenization of the Jews gradually occurred during inter-testament times and continued even after the Romans succeeded the Greeks. To show that common Jewish people had become acquainted with some Greek terms by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, check out several New Testament references regarding a few Greek words. "Ghosts" are noted in Mark 6:49 (NIV). "Tartarus," simply translated as "Hades," is found in 2 Peter 2:4 (NIV) and "Hades" is mentioned in Revelation 20:14 (NIV).

To understand better the Greek thinking and influence in their attempt at Hellenization of the Jews during their occupation of Palestine and beyond, we need to become acquainted with Greek mythology and religious beliefs. Students of Greek history, by studying Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey," written around 800 BC, have been able to piece together what the Greeks believed regarding their souls' after-death existence. This will give us a nearly complete outline of the religious beliefs of Greeks during Old Testament, inter-testament, and New Testament times.

A Summary of Greek Mythological Concepts of the Soul

1. The ancient Greeks were polytheistic, worshiping many gods.

2. One of these Greek gods, Hades, was ruler of the dead. His kingdom went by the name Hades as well. It was thought to exist deep underground in the netherworld of the dead and was divided into three sections, Elysian Fields, a very pleasant place, followed by Asphodel Fields (Meadows), a less desirable location, and finally Tartarus, the lowest and worst level of the three, where existed a river of fire called Pyriphlegethon.

3. After a person's death, the soul separated from the body. Then Hermes, another Greek god, led the dead person's soul to the river Styx in the netherworld.

4. After being paid a coin, Charon, an aged boatman, ferried the soul across the river Styx to the gates of Hades. (Relatives of the dead person were supposed to place a coin in the mouth of the corpse to pay Charon for the crossing. If he was not payed, that soul was doomed to wander over the face of the earth, as a ghost.)

5. Arriving at the gates of Hades, Kerberos, a three-headed guard dog, allowed a soul to enter Hades but never to leave.

6. Once inside the gates of Hades, three judges of souls, namely, Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aiakos, decided the soul's eternal destination. Their decision was based on the good or bad activities of the soul's owner during his or her life. The souls of good people were sent to Elysian Fields, the pleasant place, whereas souls of ordinary folks were sent to Asphodel Fields, a rather boring location; but souls of bad people were confined to Tartarus, a very hot location, the heat coming from Pyriphlegethon, the river of fire.

Once judged and assigned a place in Hades, it became the permanent afterlife location of the soul. There was no evidence of a mythological...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Trafford
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1490775706
• ISBN 13: 9781490775708
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 84
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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