Immortality or Resurrection by William West (philippa perry book txt) 📕

working of the maggots. Back in the fifties and before, cities did not have landfills; but had garbage dumps where they would put the garbage in piles and burn them. Big city garbage dumps were always burning night and day, and the smoke could sometimes be seen for miles. They were the same as Gehenna was in the time of Jesus, and were literally used for the destruction of the unwanted city garbage. Brimstone (sulfur) was added to keep the garbage burning in Gehenna, and it was always burning night and day, and those near by could see the smoke always rising. On some of the four occasions Christ used Gehenna as a metaphor those He was speaking to might have been able to see the smoke of Gehenna in the background while He was speaking. The people of Jerusalem did not have a trash pickup as we do, and had to take their own trash to Gehenna, most of those Christ was speaking to would be very familiar with the never-ending fires and worms for many would have taken their trash to it.
Albert Barnes in his commentary on Matthew 5:22 says, "The extreme loathsomeness of the place, and filth and putrefaction, the corruption of the atmosphere, and the lurid fires blazing by day and by night, made it one of the most appalling and terrific objects with which a Jew was ever acquainted."
Alexander Campbell says, "In the time of our Savior, it [Gehenna] was the place to which all the filth, and the dead bodies of animals and criminals from the city of Jerusalem, were conveyed. Here worms were ever reveling on the carcasses of the dead, and fires were ever kept burning to consume the noxious matter and to purge the air from its pestilential stench" "Five Discourses On Hell" 1848.
In the time of Jesus Gehenna was used as a place of destruction, but there was no torment in it. Those who heard Jesus would understand the use of Gehenna as a symbol of destruction, but would not have been able to look at Gehenna, their city dump, and understand how it could be used as a symbol of a place of torment for there was no torment in their city dump. When most who use the King James Version, read Hell they never understand that Christ was speaking of the city dump, for they cannot from the King James Version for the translators have completely hid this from their readers. It was mistranslated to make the readers understand Christ to be speaking of a place that is not on this earth where God will be forever tormenting immortal souls and will be even after the earth is destroyed.
A PROPER NOUN IS THE NAME OF "A PARTICULAR PERSON, PLACE, OR THING." GEHENNA IS A PROPER NOUN, THE NAME OF A WELL-KNOWN PARTICULAR PLACE NEAR JERUSALEM. TO TRANSLATE IT INTO HELL, ANOTHER PROPER NOUN, THE NAME OF A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PARTICULAR PLACE, IS MORE THAN A BAD TRANSLATION. IT IS A DELIBERATE CHANGING. Bethlehem, Dead Sea, Gehenna, Rome, and Jericho are all proper nouns and should not be translated. Why is this the only name that is changed to another name? Proper nouns (names) are the same in most languages, and therefore, they are not translated; but Gehenna was changed, not translated, into Hell, another proper noun, the name of another particular place just because the King James translators needed to. Hell is not a translation of Gehenna in the same way that New York is not a translation of Jerusalem. Gehenna and Hell are two different proper names of two different places. From where did the King James translators get this name, and why did they want to deliberately mislead all who read their translation? This valley is used in the New Testament only when speaking to the Jews for it was not a locality that would be known to most Gentiles that did not live near Jerusalem. It was a local particular place and Gehenna would be a name known and used only to those who lived in or near Jerusalem. The names of the city dumps of most cities are not well known to any but those who live in or near that city, and those not from that city would not know or use it. Paul did not use it in any of his letters to those not at Jerusalem.
• Mistranslating Gehenna into Hell
o Is same as mistranslating New York into Jerusalem
o And the same as mistranslating Jericho into Florida
The name of this valley was not translated into Hell in the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek that was used in the time of Christ. "Hell" is not a translation but a deliberate changing of one place for another completely different place. I believe it was deliberately changed to put "Hell" in the Bible. A place has been made up that is not in the Bible; and a name given to it that is not in the Bible; if this is not adding to then what would it take to add to the Bible? That Christ used the name of a valley, which was the city dump, is completely hid from the reader of the King James Version, whether intentional or not; and they are led to believe He spoke of a different place, which has been named "Hell." The teachings of Christ have been deliberately changed. It was a geographical location on this Earth. Not somewhere under the earth or out in space. IT IS A REAL GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION AND IN THE TIME OF CHRIST IT WAS A REAL PLACE WHERE REAL FIRES WERE CONSTANTLY KEPT BURNING SINCE IT SERVED AS AN INCINERATOR FOR THE USELESS REFUSE OF THE CITY. CHRIST USED IT AS A SYMBOL [An illustration] OF DESTRUCTION [Like the burning of the useless chaff of Luke 3:17]. GEHENNA CANNOT BE TRANSLATED OR CHANAGED INTO HELL. To say Gehenna, as used by Christ, is Hell; is to say it has no reference to the Gehenna [the city dump] near Jerusalem.
The Jews might have made the valley of Gehenna a dump because of their hatred of its misuse in Old Testament times, but the figures or symbols used by Christ [fire and maggots] came from its use in New Testament times, not its use in Old Testament times. THEY ARE SYMBOLS OF DESTRUCTION, NOT OF TORMENT. IN THE TIME OF CHRIST THERE WAS NO TORMENT, AND NO IDOL WORSHIPPED IN GEHENNA [the city dump]. CHRIST WAS NOT ALLUDING TO IDOL WORSHIP OR TORMENT BUT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE WHO REJECTED HIM. Worms [maggots] do not eat living being, but dead ones, NOT TO TORMENT THEM, BUT TO CONSUME [eat up for food], NEITHER DO MAGGOTS EAT “SOULS.” As long as there was something to burn or eat, the maggots would never die out, and the fire would not go out; but be consuming, not tormenting what was being cast in. In the time of Christ it was a place used to dispose of useless things, not to torment them. Many misuse this to show that living being will be tormented forever, and make God be doing the tormenting. LIVING VICTIMS WAS NOT PRESERVED ALIVE AND TORMENTED IN GEHENNA, BUT FIRE OR WORMS DEVOURED DEAD VICTIMS. TO MAKE IT A PLACE OF ETERNAL TORMENT IS WITHOUT ANY BASE WHATSOEVER. How and when did a valley that exists to this day get turned into Hell?
Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are often thought to be the same metaphor by many. Gehenna is a place of destruction, and the lake of fire is a place where no life as we know it could exist; they are two different symbolic pictures [Revelation 20:14]. Neither one is a symbol of an eternal life of torment. Both picture the total destruction of whatever was thrown into them.
On 11/1/2010 I found this on the web by Steven Clark Goad, church of Christ Christian Ekklesia Podcast: “In summation, isn’t it strange indeed that false teachers have taken a “real place” (Gehenna) referred to by Jesus himself as a metaphor of destruction and have changed in [? it] into another made up/fabricated “real place” (hell) where souls (spirits, living beings, whatever) will be tortured unendingly by a loving heavenly Father? If Gehenna is a metaphor of “hell” as it is traditionally taught, isn’t it a poor one, for Gehenna (the Jerusalem city dump of Jesus’ era) was a real place of destruction and consummation with no torment and no torture involved, while “hell” is a made up place of torment and torture with no destruction at all? Is this twisted thinking the height of misguided thinking?” “Thoughts on Punishment of the Wicked,” http://www.godsmessageontheweb.net/2010/07/25/thoughts-on-punishment-of-the-wicked/
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE OF GEHENNA
IMMORTAL WORMS OF GEHENNA
"UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" AND "THEIR WORM DIES NOT" AS THEY ARE USED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS: UTTER DESTRUCTION.
John the Baptist used "Unquenchable fire" on one occasion. He says Christ "will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will BURN UP with unquenchable fire" [Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17]. Will this unquenchable fire forever torment the chaff, which has been burned up?
Adam Clarke, "He will burn up the chaff that is, the disobedient and rebellious Jews, with unquenchable fire that cannot be extinguished by man."
When firefighter cannot put out a burning building, they say it is an unquenchable fire, but it is not a fire that will burn forever; no one will be able to escape from it by putting it out, but it will go out when there is nothing more to burn. An unquenchable fire is one that no person can put out but it is not an eternal fire.
Unquenchable fire is used on one occasion by Christ of the burning of trash in the city dump in Mark 9:43 where He repeats it a second time in verses 48 in the American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version. "Unquenchable fire" is repeated five times in Mark 6:43, 44, 45, 46 and 48 in the King James Version. The three times it is repeated in verses 44, 46 and 46 in the King James Version the American Standard foot note says they, “Are omitted by the best ancient Authorities.” If on the only occasion Christ used "Unquenchable fire" was repeated two times or five times what He was telling them was the same, what ever was cast into Gehenna was consumed, not tormented.
BOTH the chaff and trash are utterly destroyed by burning to get rid of something unwanted. The chaff or the trash was not tormented. Gehenna was not used in the rest of the New Testament, and neither is unquenchable fire; Paul, Peter, John, etc never used it. He used both the maggots and the fire of Gehenna as a symbol of total destruction, not to show that God will forever torment most of mankind. If this is not figurative language, will there be immortal maggots in Hell? Can earthly maggots eat an immortal soul in Hell? Most that believes in Hell make the maggots they say will be in Hell figurative maggots, not real maggots in Hell, but make the fire they say will be in Hell be literal fire. It this was true, how could they know it? Are they saying literal worms cannot eat a soul that is “immaterial, invisible” and has no earthly substance that literal worms can eat but literal fire can burn this immaterial soul that has no earthly substance?
If Gehenna’s "unquenchable