So many times I have heard Jews say that hell is a story made up by Christians. But when I study it I find this is not true.
This is how Jesus mentioned hell:
And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. (Mark 9)
But then when I read the scriptures of the Jewish prophet Isaiah I find he is talking about something very similar:
"From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66)
If Jesus and Christians made it up, did Isaiah make it up too? Or is that place real and they both said the truth?
BMCR2016-06-29T10:33:24Z
There is the concept of Gehinom (hell) but it is different that the Christian concept.
Jesus is nobody in the Jewish religion, it doesn't matter what he said. The New Testament is not part of the Jewish scriptures.
<<But then when I read the scriptures of the Jewish prophet Isaiah I find he is talking about something very similar:>>
<<If Jesus and Christians made it up, did Isaiah make it up too?>>
Or is that place real and they both said the truth?
You have to remember the Christian translations/interpretations came later and were based on their misunderstanding of Jewish texts... the Jewish scriptures often talked about the 'burning place,' which was a literal place on Earth where Pagans used to burn human offerings. In other words, the physical bodies will rot, burning and being eaten by worms... they'll be desecrated like that, which would have been considered tragic.
The idea of a fiery pit of torture where God sent people's souls eternally for being bad or not worshiping him is just completely foreign to Judaism and there is no evidence of any such place in the actual Jewish scriptures.
Early Christians were by and large not Jews, but Pagan converts. When they translated the Jewish scriptures and expanded upon them to create the Christian scriptures, they were writing it with limited understanding.
The Jews that you allude to may not be the deepest theologians. They are simply contemptuous, in a diffuse sort of way. Not all Jews are like that or in other situations the same might be good. So much for that. So pick up the marbles about Christians inventing Hell. I don't know the true history of Hell. I know it got a big boost from John Milton. But concerning you quotes the fact that Christ uses Hell descriptively might not mean he believed Hell exists as a place. He might be using it as anyone would, referring to the well known mythology.
I don't know why Jewish folks don't believe in Hell but then they don't even believe in their own Messiah JEsus Christ (many of them - some do now).
Hell is not made up. Jesus said, "Don't fear what man can do to you as they can only kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Matthew 10:28) Hell is a real place for sure and if anyone is sensible they will NOT go there. Our destiny can be heaven if we get born again and love and worship God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who died for us.
It's just one of those things. Even Gentiles don't believe in Hell many times either but as you say the Bible is clear that Hell exists and is mentioned many times as a deterrent as none of us wants to go there for eternity, so why would we not listen up to Jesus' warnings?
It doesn't make sense to me but then as my Grandpa used to say, "There's nought so queer as folk!"