IS THERE A HELL? In the New International Version of the Bible, the first appearance of the infamous word hell is found in Matthew 5:22:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fires of hell.
In the King James Version, the first appearance of this dread word is in Deuteronomy 32:22:
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
It is my belief that the English word hell should not appear in either verse - in any translation. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe the word should appear in the Bible at all, not anywhere. I consider its presence an egregious error in translation. There are four different words that are translated as the English word hell:
Sheol (Hebrew) Hades (Greek) Gehenna (Greek) Tartarus (Greek)
A proper translation of these words would give consideration to cultural distinctions, distinctions (we should keep in mind) separated by thousands of years. The Greeks, for example, did not infer from Hades what we do from hell. To the Greeks, Hades was a term derived from their acknowledged mythology. To the average citizen of the modern era (at least in the West and Middle East), hell is most definitely not mythological (or metaphorical). To translate Hades, therefore, as hell is to virtually tell a white lie, as if the translators are trying to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes. The best way to handle the cultural distinctions inherent these words is to not translate them at all, but to transliterate them. If we would do that, the first verse above would appear as follows:
But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fires of Gehenna.
The second would read much as the NIV offers it:
For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to Sheol below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.
In the NIV, the word Sheol in this verse is properly translated as realm of death. This is also the correct translation for Hades. In fact, Hades is the New Testament equivalent of Sheol. If you're going to translate the words, do it properly. Don't just substitute an English word that you think captures the correct translation. To do so is to step outside the bounds of the translating task and venture into the realm of interpretation, or paraphrase. Translators should not interpret; they should translate. If you don't want to make such an effort (to translate honestly), then transliterate. If you're not going to translate Hades as realm of the dead, then simply put in the literal word itself - Hades. How many people have been led astray (not to mention scared out of their wits) just because of sheer laziness on the part of a translator? If the translation were handled the way it is supposed to be, we would never read the word "hell" in the Bible, not anywhere. I feel that it is very important to make every effort to completely dispel the myth of hell that is so neurotically embraced by our culture. Why? If such myth were sufficiently discredited, the silliness of Christianity (and Islam) would disappear from the face of the earth. And nothing could more improve the general condition of mankind than to completely discredit these patently absurd (and, truth be told, sister) ideologies. I have little doubt that Hell (with a capital H) is the only reason that anyone is a Christian or a Muslim in the first place. It is without question the strongest link in the chain that virtually enslaves them to their much-touted religions. The Bible: Why God Had Nothing To Do With It
|
