Heaven And Hell - Where Are They?

[A. Ben-Shema]

Heaven and hell are not even well supported biblically, both are inventions of man, to use the carrot and stick method to gain followers.

Not true. They are well supported Biblically, and they are no inventions of man.

I would say that religions may use the terms ignorantly, indeed as a carrot and stick method to gain followers, but the ignorance of religion does not negate the fact of Heaven and Hell.

Peace & Love

 

[logician]

Not true. They are well supported Biblically, and they are no inventions of man.

Really, prove it.

 

[A. Ben-Shema]

Really, prove it.

BIBLICALLY:
I quote from:
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE.
J. D. Douglas, Revising Editor Merrill C. Tenney, General Editor, First Edition Steven Barabas, Associate Editor, First Edition Consulting Editors for the Revision: F. F. Bruce, Walter A. Elwell, Thomas E. McComiskey, J. A. Motyer, Peter Toon.
Zondervan Publishing House.

HEAVEN (Heb. shamayim, Gr. ouranos).
1. Cosmologically, one of the two great divisions of the universe, the earth and the heavens (Gen 1:1; 14:19); or one of the three—heaven, earth, and the waters under the earth (Exod 20:4). In the visible heavens are the stars and planets (Gen 1:14-17; Ezek 32:7-8). Later Jews divided the heavens into seven strata, but there is no evidence for this in the Bible, though Paul spoke of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2). The term “heaven of heavens” (Deut 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Ps 148:4) is “highest heavens” in NIV.

2. The abode of God (Gen 28:17; Ps 80:14; Isa 66:1; Matt 5:12) and of the good angels (Matt 24:36). It is the place where the redeemed will someday be (Matt 5:12; 6:20; Eph 3:15), where the Redeemer has gone and intercedes for the saints, and from where he will someday come for his own (1 Thess 4:16).

3. The inhabitants of heaven (Luke 15:18; Rev 18:20).

HELL:
The real existence of hell is irrefutably taught in Scripture as both a place of the wicked dead and a condition of retribution for unredeemed man. It is plain that “to die in sin” is a dreadful thing (e.g., Ezek 3:18; NIV footnote). Sheol, which is in one sense the undifferentiated place of all the dead (cf. Job 3:13-22), is in another sense the special doom of the wicked (Ps 49:14). It is necessary to follow the NIV footnotes in such references, for if KJV was inaccurate in translating Sheol as “hell” (e.g., Ps 9:17), NIV is equally inaccurate in formalizing it as “the grave.” Daniel 12:2 takes the matter as far as the OT will go, with its reference to “shame and everlasting contempt.”

In the intertestamental period, both apocryphal literature and rabbinical teaching continued the development of the association of immortality and retribution until, during NT times, two words were used: Hades and Gehenna (see separate entry on each).
The nature of hell is indicated by the repeated reference to eternal punishment (Matt 25:46), eternal fire (Matt 18:8, Jude 7), everlasting chains (Jude 6), the pit of the Abyss (Rev 9:2, 11), outer darkness (Matt 8:12), the wrath of God (Rom 2:5), second death (Rev 21:8), eternal destruction from the face of God (2 Thess 1:9), and eternal sin (Mark 3:29). While many of these terms are symbolic and descriptive, they connote real entities, about whose existence there can be no doubt.

The duration is explicitly indicated in the NT. The word “eternal” (aionios) is derived from the verb aion, signifying an “age” or “duration.” Scripture speaks of two aeons, or ages: the present age and the age to come (Matt 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; Eph 1:21). The present age—this world—is always contrasted with the age to come as temporal, while the future age will be endless. As the everlasting life of the believer is to be endless, just so the retributive aspect of hell refers to the future infinite age. In every reference in which aionios applies to the future punishment of the wicked, it indisputably denotes endless duration (Matt 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mark 3:29; 2 Thess 1:9; Heb 6:2; Jude 7).

Hell is, therefore, both a condition of retribution and a place in which the retribution occurs. In both of these aspects the three basic ideas associated with the concept of hell are reflected: absence of righteousness, separation from God, and judgment.

The absence of personal righteousness, with its correlative of the presence of personal unrighteousness, renders the individual unable to enter a right relationship with the holy God (Mark 3:29). The eternal state of the wicked, therefore, will involve a separation from the presence of God (John 3:36). The concept of judgment is heightened by the note of finality in the warnings against sin (Matt 8:12). It is a judgment, however, against man’s sinful nature—still unredeemed though Christ died—(25:31-46) and is decisive and irreversible.

When all else has been said about hell, however, there is still the inescapable fact taught by Scripture that it will be a retributive judgment on the spirit of man, the inner essence of his being. The severity of the judgment will be on the fixed character of a person’s essential nature—his soul, which will involve eternal loss in exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and fellowship with God.
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As to your second statement, that they are the inventions of man, the proof against this must come from oneself. I have personally experienced both, thus I know them to exist. Until you experience for yourself, no amount of explanation or argument will prove anything.

Peace & Love