Jesus once said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Is Jesus talking about eternal conscious torment? Did He talk more about hell than any other subject? And what do we do about the part of tearing are eye  out? Is this hyperbole? Is this literal? Let's get into it.

The English word “hell” is used roughly twelve times in the New Testament. Almost all those occasions are exclusively by Jesus himself. In one place Jesus says, “If you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire” (Mark 9:47). What does Jesus mean by this? To get at it, we must know something about the valley of Hinnom. Never heard of it? Come find out all about it. Today, we talk about Hell + New Testament. 

Is Hell in the Old Testament? Why do some translations have hell in the O.T. but others do not? What did the ancient Israelites believe about the afterlife? Were they concerned about life after death? Is there any evidence they believe in life after death? How did their Egyptians neighbors influence their understanding? This week we talk about Sheol, ancient Egyptian texts, King James, Jerome, and what ancient Israel believed about the afterlife.

Can a loving God send some to eternal torment? One response I’ve heard, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell, we send ourselves there.” Can you feel the strain in this response to absolve God of all responsibility. Why? Perhaps, it's because deep down in all of us, we intuitively know someone burning forever and ever in conscious torment is immoral no matter how evil they might be. Today we talk about the morality and ethics of everlasting torment. What does Hell say about character of God?