User: wwjd4u3

Hey Artem, it is most likely you may not see this. I was just on google and typed in my email, wwjd4u3@yahoo.com and at the top of the list it said,

User: Artem: Messages - Mister Poll www.misterpoll.com/users/artem/messages‎ Dear wwjd4u3 (sorry you didn't state your name) I liked your post very much. ... me at kmc........@yahoo.com I would like to ask you a gozillion questions :-).

I am sure this was a long time ago, and I just wanted to apologize for not getting back to you. I haven't been back in a very long time.

I wasn't saying she was quilty or innocent, I just said IF she was, it was predetermined.

That there are absoutely no mandatory external religious practices/ceremonies within Christianity. The Bible either condemns some of these, or says that they are kept out of ignorance, or that the people who keep these are weak in faith, etc.....

Below is a number religious practices, with their references and in perenthesis what scripture says about that topic.

1) Trying to Attain Eternal Life By Human Effort: Romans 9:16; Galatians 3:2-4; Ephesians 2:8; Colossians 2:8-23 (Self-imposed Worship, Foolish, Hollow, Deceptive, False Humilty, Lack Any Real value)

2) Religious buildings/temples: John 4:19-24; Acts 17:22-31; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19 (False Worship, Ignorance, Worthy Of Fire)

3) Religious altars (you get the idea) Acts 17:22-31 (Ignorance)

4) Religious days (Saturdays, Sundays etc...) Romans 14:5-6; Galatians 4:8-10 (Weak in Faith, Enslaved, Weak And Miserable, Waste Of Effort)

5) Sacred holidays (Easter, Christmas, Lent, Epiphany etc...) Romans 14:5-6; Galatians 4:8-10 (Enslaved, Weak And Miserable, Waste Of Effort)

6) Religious stone idols (statues) Acts 17:22-31 (Ignorance)

7) Mandatory giving of money to Sacred temple/building's, religious leaders, etc... (tithing - 10% of income) Hebrews 7:1-28; Galatians 3:1-25, 5:1-26 (Set Aside, Removed, Weak And Unprofitable, Not Able To Save Anyone)

8) Religious Dietary restrictions (food/drink, taught as unclean or wrong, etc...) Romans 14:1-4, 13-23; 1 Timothy 4:1-6; Hebrews 13:9 (These Are Weak In Faith, Led By Deceiving Spirits, Taught By Demons, Are Kept By Hypocritical Liars, Having No Value At All)

9) Forbidding believers from getting married: (Overseers, Clergy, Leaders, etc....) 1 Timothy 4:1-6 (Led By Deceiving Spirits, Taught By Demons, Are Kept By Hypocritical Liars)

10) Myths & old wives tales: 1 Timothy 4:1-7 (Led By Deceiving Spirits, Taught By Demons, Are Kept By Hypocritical Liars)

11) The IDEA that you receive eternal life, because you read sacred scriptures: John 5:39-47 (they themselves DO NOT give eternal life: we receive Eternal Life by trusting in Jesus Himself)

I would like to make this clear:

I DO NOT believe that I am required to keep ANY of these practices as a Christian, and as much as I possible, I try to avoid any of these.

HOWEVER:

I do acknowledge that observing a holiday IS NOT wrong, and it DOES NOT make a person religious. Examples would be Memorial Day, New Years Day, Earth Day, Independence Day, Etc..... This would also include Christmas, Easter, Epiphany, etc.... and so on, I am in it only for the family get-togethers and of course the food.

Meeting once a week in a building, IS NOT wrong, and it DOES NOT make a person religious. Christians used to meet in homes, we were NEVER commanded to build a physical building or temple for God, please DO NOT be fooled into thinking that any building where your church meets, is anything more than it is, or any better than any other building your church could meet in, whether is a persons home, or the local Pizza Hut. Of course pizza Hut wold get tired of Christians after a while because they would probably lose business.

I also recognize that the purpose of money used within the church is to take care of peoples needs, and DOES NOT make a person religious. Money is not given to the church to spread the Gospel, because the "gospel" itself is free of charge, however the money is given to take care of the needs of certain people, such as the poor, the missionaries, and even the pastors. Yes, it is used to take care of people who spread the "gospel" but the message of the "gospel" is free. I know people write books concerning the "gospel" or different topical issues, so if they want to make money like that, then that is between them and the Lord.

PLEASE: Ask me questions if there is something that you do not understand.

Where is hell? What is the location of hell? Does Hell exist?

Various theories on the location of hell have been put forward: A traditional view is that hell is in the center of the earth. Others propose that hell is located in outer space in a black hole.

SHEOL & HADES

In the Old Testament, the word translated “hell” is Sheol. The Hebrew definition of sheol is "unseen; the underworld (place to which people descend at death)" and comes from sha'al which means "to ask or require" which basically means that death is required because of sin. In the New Covenant the Greek word is Hades (meaning “unseen”). The word hádēs, comes from two Greek words, alpha the first letter of the Greek alphabet) and is used as a prefix (called its "privative use") and typically means "no" or "not" (= "un-," "without") and idein/eidō, "see") – properly, the "unseen place," referring to the (invisible) realm in which all the dead reside, i.e. the present dwelling place of all the departed (deceased). Both Sheol and Hades refer to a temporary abode (or grave) of the dead before judgment (Psalm 9:17; Revelation 1:18). Hell is a very bad translation of these two words.

GEHENNA

Gehenna which is the greek word géenna (a transliteration of the Hebrew term, Gêhinnōm, "the valley of Hinnom"). Gehenna is originally the name of a valley or cavity near Jerusalem, it's a place outside ancient Jerusalem known in the Hebrew Bible as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; one of the two principal valleys surrounding the Old City. In the Hebrew Bible, the site was initially where apostate Israelites and followers of various Ba'als and Caananite gods, including Moloch, sacrificed their children by fire (2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31, 19:2-6). In both Rabbinical Jewish and Early Christian writing, Gehenna was a destination of the wicked. This is different from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, though the King James version of the Bible traditionally (unfortunately) translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word Hell. In the King James Version of the Bible, the term "Gehenna" appears 13 times in 11 different verses as "valley of Hinnom," "valley of the son of Hinnom" or "valley of the children of Hinnom."

The ancient Aramaic paraphrase-translations of the Hebrew Bible supply the term Gehinnom frequently to verses touching upon resurrection, judgment, and the fate of the wicked. This may also include addition of the phrase "second death", as in the final chapter of Isaiah, where the Hebrew version does not mention either Gehinnom or the Second Death, whereas the Targums add both. In this the Hebrew Bible is parallel to the Gospel of Mark's addition of "Gehenna" to the quotation of the Isaiah verses describing the corpses "where their worm does not die"

Extra-Biblical documents for Gehenna: Aside from the Targums, there is a lack of direct references to Gehenna in the Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha and Philo. Josephus does not deal with this aspect of the history of the Hinnom Valley in his descriptions of Jerusalem for a Roman audience. Nor does Josephus make any mention of the tradition commonly reported in older Christian commentaries that in Roman times fires were kept burning and the valley became the garbage dump of the city, where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals were thrown. Source references for this tradition seem to be lacking. The southwestern gate of Jerusalem, overlooking the valley, came to be known as "The Gate of the Valley"

Gehenna is cited in the New Covenant. In early Christian writing it represents the final place where the wicked will be punished or destroyed after the Resurrection of the Dead. In the synoptic gospels Jesus uses the word Gehenna 11 times to describe the opposite to life in the Kingdom (Mark 9:43-48). It is a place where both soul and body could be completely destroyed (Matthew 10:28) in "unquenchable fire" (Mark 9:43). Gehenna is also mentioned in the Epistle of James 3:6, where it is said to set the tongue on fire, and the tongue in turn sets on fire the entire "course" or "wheel" of life.

The complete list of references is as follows: Matthew 5:22 whoever calls someone "you fool" will be liable to Gehenna. Matthew 5:29 better to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into Gehenna. Matthew 5:30 better to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into Gehenna. Matthew 10:28 rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Matthew 18:9 better to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna. Matthew 23:15 Pharisees make a convert twice as much a child of Gehenna as themselves. Matthew 23:33 to Pharisees: you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to Gehenna? Mark 9:43 better to enter life with one hand than with two hands to go to Gehenna. Mark 9:45 better to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. Mark 9:47 better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna Luke 12:5 Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into Gehenna James 3:6 the tongue is set on fire by Gehenna.

Many modern Christians understand Gehenna to be a place of eternal punishment called hell. On the other hand, annihilationists understand Gehenna to be a place where sinners are utterly destroyed, not tormented forever. Christian Universalists, who believe that God will eventually save all souls, interpret the New Testament references to Gehenna in the context of the Old Testament and conclude that it always refers to the imminent divine judgment of Israel and not to eternal torment for the unsaved. The Valley of Hinnom is also the traditional location of the Potter's Field bought by priests after Judas' suicide with the "blood money" with which Judas was paid for betraying Jesus.

What we know so far: Sheol and Hades refer to the same thing: the grave.

Gehenna symbolizes the future punishment of the wicked, which is referred to as "the lake of fire" (Revelation 19:20; 20:10,14,15). Not just those who worshipped the image of the final Anti-Christ during the Great Persecution, but also those on judgment day, whoever was not found written in the book of life was also cast into the lake of fire. Gehenna is still in the future.

There is also an order in which specific persons will be thrown into the lake of fire: (also corresponds with 1 Corinthians 24-25)

The Anti-Christ (Revelation 19:20) The False Prophet (Revelation 19:20) The Devil (Revelation 20:10) Death (Revelation 20:14) The Grave (Revelation 20:14) Anyone not written in the Book Of Life (Revelation 20:15)

LOCATION

The location is either simply not clear or not even mentioned. And is it really that important? However, we know that it is future, and is present when Jesus returns for the day of judgment. A lot of Christians (as do I) believe that it is when the earth is destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:1).

To sum up, this is a HOT topic, however, scripture does not tell us the geological (or cosmological) location of hell. Hell is a literal place of real torment, but we do not really know where it is. Hell may have a physical location in this universe, or it may be in an entirely different “dimension.” Whatever the case, the location of hell is far less important than the need to avoid going there. The length of "the lake of fire" is also a divided topic, but I talk about this in another article.