Posted July 11, 2005

Hi Mike,

I enjoy reading your messages on the website….. I am studying things concerning sheol/ hell and aion/ eternal, and was wondering if you could offer any insight as to where and when the translators really began using hell more along with eternal (rather than age)? I couldn’t find anywhere where Paul preaches about hell, which you would think if it was so important, he would? I also read somewhere about Augustine changing the church’s viewpoint on hell. In what ways has he modified the original church doctrine when speaking of hell? Wasn’t there also men’s lives threatened during the middle ages when translating, where they HAD to make it read a certain way for the king?? I keep falling back to Mat 25 – the sheep and the goats. There are powerful words used there by Christ when He says “depart from me into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Seems very strong language that is pretty straightforward. If you could shed some light on these few areas, it would GREATLY help my studies and lack of understanding. I was referred to your website by my friend J____, who is a part of my bible study.

Thank you, Mike!

M____

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question.

I am sure you are aware that Augustine was simply repeating what he had been taught as the Pagan that he originally was. The blasphemous doctrine of eternal torment had crept into many church congregations long before Augustine. The Truth had not yet been extinguished in the churches as it is today, but it was greatly helped along in that direction by the efforts of Augustine.

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah [ the people of God] the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

I challenge you to point out to me one doctrine of orthodoxy that is true. It is all perverted! If you are studying with J____, then you know that the word translated ‘forever’ and ‘everlasting’ and ‘eternity’ and about fifteen other English variations and distortions, is the single Greek word ‘aion‘ and its adjective ‘aionios.’

There is not one orthodox scholar who can make an adjective exceed its noun in force of meaning without displaying himself for the hypocrite that he is. The adjective of hour is hourly. And the adjective for aion, which all scholars admit is age, is aionian. It is not eternity. The ‘goats’ do indeed “depart into aionian fire.” But what does that mean in scriptural phraseology? Do people “enter into life without their hands and feet?” Let us be consistent. If the fire is physical, then why are the very people saying it is still walking around with hands and feet. Have they never sinned?

The entire Bible is a parable. There is a spiritual lesson behind every historical event recorded and behind every type and shadow. Between those two categories you have all of God’s Word. It is all a parable. That is why “the natural man receives not the things of the spirit, for they are foolishness unto him.” If all we needed was a dictionary and a concordance, and we were careful to always consider the context; if that were all that was involved in “the things of the spirit,” then the natural man could indeed understand the things of the spirit. But parables are for the purpose of concealing, not revealing. It requires the “mind of Christ” to understand the things of the spirit. “Not one of the princes of this world have known Him…”

I will try to remember to get back to you on the history of the word ‘aion.’ If you don’t hear from me soon, please remind me.

In the mean time, I hope this is of some help.

Mike