There Is No Hell According to the Bible

By John D. Frey

Many Christians are deeply disturbed by the idea that there is a real hell in which people suffer forever and ever according to the Bible. This is especially true with respect to Christians who believe that they have loved ones who might end up in this horrendous place. What a relief it would be for them to see that such a hell is not claimed by the Bible. To that end, author John D. Frey leads readers on a well-researched journey that investigates what the Bible really says about hell. The author provides overwhelming evidence that there is no hell in which anyone suffers in any way and this evidence is based on what is claimed by the Bible.

The book contains 12 chapters. Chapter 1 presents the events that occurred in a place near the walls of Jerusalem called the valley of Hinnom, later translated to “hell”. Chapters 2-3 primarily deal with events surrounding Jesus and Isaiah. Chapters 4-5 discuss the events in the parables of Jesus and visions of John in the book of Revelation. Chapter 6 explores Bible passages that explain what finally happens to the unrighteous. Chapters 7-8 explore why both Gentile Christians of the second century and some modern Christian denominations believe in a hell in which unrighteous people will suffer forever. Chapters 9-10 explore the concepts of Sheol and Hades in the Bible and what Jewish Rabbis say about hell. Chapter 11 confirms the existence of heaven. Finally, in chapter 12, concluding thoughts are presented.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: May 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665705172

John D. Frey

John D. Frey is a retired Lutheran minister who dedicated a career to understanding and witnessing about the Bible. He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife Judy.

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Copyright © 2021 John D. Frey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture marked KJV taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0516-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0517-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021906904

Archway Publishing rev. date: 05/11/2021

Contents

Introductory Comments by the Author

Chapter 1 The Valley of Hinnom

Chapter 2 Imaginary Claims by the Prophet Isaiah

Chapter 3 Imaginary Claims by Jesus

Chapter 4 The Imaginary Punishment of the Unrighteous In the Parables of Jesus

Chapter 5 The Imaginary Punishment of the Unrighteous In the Book of Revelation

Chapter 6 What Happens to the Unrighteous

Chapter 7 Unending Punishment of the Unrighteous in Hell According to Many Christians

Chapter 8 Why Christians Believe in a Hell In which the Unrighteous Suffer Forever

Chapter 9 Sheol and Hades in the Bible

Chapter 10 What Jewish Rabbis Say About the Valley of Hinnom Events

Chapter 11 There Is a Heaven according to the Bible

Chapter 12 Concluding Thoughts by the Author

Introductory Comments by the Author

How This Book Got Written

Up to the time I wrote this book, I surely did believe that unrighteous people will suffer forever in hell according to the Bible. On the other hand, I surely did wonder if such a belief could really be true. So over many, many years, I wrestled with these conflicting thoughts by reading all manner of literature and by heaping prayers upon prayers for answers to these conflicting thoughts. But, year after year after year, nothing changed. However, nothing changed until a day came when everything changed for me by one little insight about one little Bible passage - the last passage in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 66:24. And I really do believe with heart, mind, body, and soul that this one little insight about one little Bible passage was an answer to my prayers. I also believe that it was this one little insight that caused this book to claim that there is no hell according to the Bible. And, by saying that there is no hell according to the Bible, this is what I mean:

There is no hell in which anyone burns forever

or suffers in any way according to the Bible.

Concerning the Isaiah 66:24 passage mentioned above, I fully realize that, if a person reads Isaiah 66:24 immediately after reading the above paragraph, that person would probably see no way in which this passage could change everything for me. However, this passage did change everything for me and that will be shown in the coming chapters of this book.

Practical Matters

The Bible in the English language that I used in writing this book was the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I used the NRSV because it was translated from the Hebrew language of the Old Testament and the Greek language of the New Testament by Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox scholars. Jewish scholars were involved in the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. These scholars worked together to make these translations as correct and valid as possible. There are very good English Bible translations by various individuals but individuals might not have the help of others in keeping them on an unbiased pathway. Moreover, the Hebrew and Greek texts that were used in the creation of the 1611 A.D. English King James Version of the Bible were also used, to a great extent, in the creation of the modern English NRSV.

Concerning the Old Testament being used in this book, it is the Old Testament with 39 books. Hence, the contents of this Old Testament are the same as the contents in the Jewish Tanakh (the Jewish Bible). Although the Tanakh contain 24 books and the 39 book Old Testament contains 39 books, the books are the same in that there is no difference in their contents but that they are different in the way that these contents are numbered. The reason for pointing out that the Old Testament being used in this book is the Old Testament with 39 books is that there are Old Testaments in the Christian world that have more than these 39 books. For instance, there are 46 books in the Catholic Old Testament and 51 books in the Orthodox Old Testament. The books in the Catholic and Orthodox churches that exceed the 39 books in the Protestant Old Testament are often called Deuterocanonical books - books that are considered canonical by some denominations but not by other denominations. However, the New Testament used in the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches has the same 27 books.

Chapter 1

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The Valley of Hinnom

In this opening chapter, we will be dealing with the valley of Hinnom (also called the valley of Hinnom’s son or something very similar), a valley that appears 16 times in several Old Testament passages. And we will be dealing with the valley of Hinnom because of its important role in this book. Thus, in what follows, we will have two sections concerning this valley - the valley of Hinnom as a geographical place and as a place of horror.

Section 1

The Valley of Hinnom as a Geographical Place

In chapters 13-19 of the Old Testament book of Joshua, we read how the land conquered by the Israelites was divided into territories for the twelve tribes. The entire 15th chapter concerns the territory that went to the tribe of Judah. And, in Joshua 15:8, part of the boundary for the territory of Judah is described with the following words:

The boundary goes up by the valley of the son of Hinnom at the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem): and the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the valley of Hinnom.

Thus, according to Joshua 15:8, the valley of Hinnom is a valley that is on the south side of where the Jebusites had been and, hence, on the south side of where Jerusalem and its wall will be in the future. It is also mentioned in Joshua 15:8 that this valley is by a mountain and, according to maps of Jerusalem, this mountain is Mt. Zion. Later, when Jerusalem and its wall were built, the valley of Hinnom and Mt. Zion were next to the south side of Jerusalem’s wall. However, Mt. Zion was inside the circular wall of Jerusalem and the valley of Hinnom was outside the wall.

As to the size of the valley of Hinnom in today’s world, internet maps and pictures indicate that it has an approximate length of one mile, an average width of about 400 feet, and a maximum depth of about 20 feet. Of course, the physical layout of this valley has surely changed over the centuries. However the fact that this valley, for the most part, is by the walls of Jerusalem, these walls probably restricted changes of the valley.

Section 2

The Valley of Hinnom as a Place of Horror

Valley of Horror in 2 Chronicles 28

The following words from 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 reveal what took place in the valley of Hinnom during the reign of Ahaz, the king of Judah from around 732 B.C. to 716 B.C.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestor David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made cast images for the Baals; and he made offerings in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his sons pass through the fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

Thus, during the reign of Ahaz, the horrific sacrifices of children were real events in a real valley according to the book of 2 Chronicles. Concerning these sacrifices, a description of them is attributed to Rabbi David Kimchi, a biblical scholar who lived in France from around 1160 A.D. to 1235 A.D. According to the Rabbi, the children were placed on a copper plate and fried.

Valley of horror in 2 Chronicles 33

About 40 years after the reign of Ahaz, Manasseh (697 B.C. - 643 B.C.) began his reign over Judah. The following words from 2 Chronicles 33:1-6 reveal what took place in the valley of Hinnom during the reign of Manasseh:

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he…erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles, worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them… He made his sons pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom…He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Thus, even as king Ahaz made the valley of Hinnom a detestable place where children were