The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-11-05

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q hand to judgment
and some they fol
low after" q Tim
u othy v, pa He said
l(PASTOR- RljSSEIDl Gradually, as tbs
>---------------------- eyes of our under
standing open to the true beauties O.
Gods Word, we find that the gross
errors of the past have, indeed, some
foundation in the truth. Yet the tive
are so different that they might pass
each other without recognition
AS Bible students are allowing thG
Word Of God to interpret itself they
are being blessed; their faith is being
strengthened as they find that the rea
teachings of the Bible are beautiful
and harmonious and God-honoring anC
acceptable to sanctified common sense
As so much of our confusion has beer
connected with the subject Of future
punishment, it is only reasonable thai
much of our blessing and enlighten
ment should come from a better un
Outstanding of the Scriptures bearing
upon this subject. Our first lesson t.
learn was the difference between ths
Bible He'll and the hobgoblin torture
chambers of our bewildered fore
fathers, who had not the Bible in theil
possession and who, if they had pos
sessed it, lacked generally the educa
ton necessary to read it.
When we found that the Hebrew
word Sheol is the only word translated
hell during the Old Testament period
of four thousand years, we were moi
surprised But when we found thai
that word signifies the tomb, the deatI
state, and that it is translated grave In
our Common Version Bible more times
than it is translated hell, we were sur
prised And when further close in
vestigation showed that the good, as
well as the bad, go to Sheol, and that
the Bible declares that all who go tc
Sheol icere redeemed by Christ's death
and that eventually He will destroy
Sheol and deliver all the prisoners Of
death firm Sheol-then we began to
see what serious blunder had been
made in the translation.
But when about to blame the trans
lators for deceiying us, we found that
the trouble lay rather with a change
In the use of language All know that
all living languages are gradually
changing. And investigation shows
that In old English the word hell was
used as a synonym for hole or pit, OF
something covered over, as the grave
Thus an English farmer in olden times
might say, I'VE helled FIVE hundred
bushels of potatoes this fall" or, 1--WE
helled (thatched) our cottage"
The fault was not so much with the
translators as with the wrong idea al
ready firmly imbedded in the human
mind-not the teaching of the Bible
that God intends to punish In purga-
tory or eternal torture all except the
sanity few From the first Satan
seems to have endeayored to deceive
humanity respecting the true charac-
ter of the Creator; and his success is
shown by the warped and twisted in
terpretations that we all gave to our
Heavenly Fathers Word
sheol Sometimes Used FigurativeIy.
In probably three or four texts out
Of seventy the Hebrew word Sheol
and its Greek equivalent Hades are
used figuratively. as, for instance, st.
Paul refers to Hades, the tomb, under
the figure of a monster which has
been engorging itself with humanity
He represents it figuratively as yield
ing to the glorified Messiah at His
Second Advent and disgorging its prey
In the resurrection. Looking forward
to the completion of the resurrection
at the close of the Millennium. he ex-
claims, 20 Death. where is thy sting
o Hades, where is thy victory p
Similarly the Prophet David likened
the tomb to great monster about to
devour him, and likened the pains OF
his sickness to the teeth Of the mons
ter, saying. 'aThe sorrows of death
compassed me. and the pains Of Sheol
gat hold upon me- Then called
l upon the name of the Lord +" and
He helped me- psalm cxvi. 3-6)-the
king was raised up from illness.
Again, the Lord through the
Prophet, speaking of the great giant
systems of this present time. declares
that they will go down into Sheol. into
death. and figuratively represents their
meeting in death with the great op-
pressive systems of the past. isaiah
xiv. 9-11.) But there is no suggestion
Of eternal torment connected with the
word Sheol anywhere. And the fact
that the Lord redeems our souls from
Sheol, and will destroy Sheol eventual
ly by raising mankind from the state
Of death. proves positively the gross
error under which we labored In re
spect to the meaning of this word and
Its equivalent in the New Testament
True, there is a reference to the
Second Death, where we read of those
who shall be brought to a knowledge
Of God during Messiah's Kingdom and
who then shall deliberately and in
diligently refuse the way of righteous
ness. We read: 1.-The wicked shall
be returned to Sheol, and all the ma
lions that forget God" psalm TX. I'D
These are not the ignorant and weak,
but the intelligently wicked. They
are not those who have never known
God, but those who, after knowing
Him, forget Him and willfully choose
the way of sin For such God has no
Of life everlasting. They
shall be destroyed from amongst the
people" Acts iii, g.
In the New Testament, the word
Gehenna represents the Second Death
the utter destruction Of the class
consigned to it. As every scholar
knows, Gehenna is the Greek form of
the Hebrew word Geh-hinnon. 1t was
the name Of valley outside the wall
Of Jerusalem, long used as a garbage
furnace for the destruction of the
offal But it was never recognized by
God as place for torture or suffer
ings, or for any living creature.
Although the capital punishment OF
the Divine Law is death, humiliation,
God has subordinate punishments, all
OF which are for reformation, or we
might properly say, all Of which are
designed TO be purgatorial, purifying
Amongst the Scriptures referring to
these we might include st. Peters
words. ssrhink 1t not strange concern