The Myths of Hell
by Mark Sanguinetti

Of the ten New Testament usages of the Greek word “hades”, the only usage which has this mystic Greek word associated to fire with torment after the death of a person is seen in Luke 16:19-31 with “hades” in verse 23. The whole of this story is the parable of a poor man named Lazarus and a rich man. As a confirmation that this is a parable and not literal truth, the Greek word for parable is “parabole” with Strong’s # 3850. There are 18 usages of this Greek word for parable in the gospel of Luke. With 50 usages of this word in the New Testament, using math this equals 36% of all usages of the Greek word for parable is in the gospel of Luke. Parables are stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson often told by Jesus Christ. They are figures of speech that use figurative language in a story to illustrate a spiritual lesson. And for even Jesus’ disciples who later became apostles sometimes they were confused as to the meaning and needed additional explanation (Mathew 13:36).

The gospel of Luke was written by Luke who was a physician by profession. Luke was a Gentile and the only non-Jewish author of a New Testament book. His two writings are believed to be Acts of the Apostles and the book of Luke. Luke was not an apostle of Jesus Christ, which would involve being an eye witness of Jesus Christ’s resurrected body. He was simply a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and worked with Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles and was considered a loving person and likely a friend (2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24, Colossians 4:14, Romans 11:13, 1 Corinthians 9:1,). Scholars have noted that Luke had an outstanding knowledge of the New Testament Koine Greek language, while also likely being familiar with the ancient Greek culture.

This parable of Jesus Christ written by Luke does not match any actual historical records from the Old Testament. It is symbolic to let people know that they should not be greedy, while instead being concerned about the poor and sick. And this is the main point of Luke chapter 16. As an example it says in verse 13, “…You cannot serve both God and money.” Then in verse 14 it says “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.” This shows us that the following verses were addressed to the greedy Pharisees who loved money and not Jesus Christ or God his Father.

In verse 22 it says both a beggar and a rich man died. Then in verse 22 and verse 23, it has the poor man carried to Abraham and the rich man in “hades” while being in agony in fire. In verse 24 the rich man calls to Abraham and says “Father Abraham, have pity on me”. This mystic parable even paints a picture of Abraham as Father God. This symbolic writing also has Abraham speaking to the rich man. In reality Abraham does not have the role of God the Father or Jesus Christ his Son. Otherwise, Abraham who lived years before Jesus Christ would need to be raised from the dead with the authority of God the Father or his Son Jesus Christ prior to Jesus Christ being raised from the dead. There are no verses with Abraham being raised from the dead. Instead we have verses showing his death.

Genesis 25:7-11
7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.
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From the words of an actual apostle named Paul. In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Jesus Christ is the firstfruit from the dead with the rest of mankind to be raised from the dead in the future. 1 Corinthians 15:22-23, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all well be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him.” With historical information Abraham and Sarah his wife were promised by God to have a son from which the people and descendants of Israel would begin as tribes. Then later under Moses build a nation from a race of oppressed and weary slaves that were formerly under the Egyptian empire. Their son’s name was Isaac. From this nation and the descendants of Abraham and Sarah would come the future savior of mankind. This is for both Jews from the nation of Israel and Gentiles from all other nations. His name is Jesus Christ. Then from John 3:13 we see that only Jesus Christ has currently ascended to heaven. Jesus Christ called himself the Son of man many times. He even referred to himself as the Son of man more times than as the Son of God. In the KJV New Testament there are 88 usages of the phrase “Son of man” compared to 47 usages of the phrase “Son of God”.

John 3:13
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
KJV

Clearer information that does not use symbols for information regarding death is scene with quotes from the Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 2 with his quotes beginning in verse 14. In verses 23 and 24 the death of Jesus Christ is scene followed by God raising him from the dead. Some people try to make a case for an in between state of consciousness. However, Peter in verse 29 educates people by plainly stating that even King David the writer of much of the book of Psalms died, was buried and is still dead. He too awaits the resurrection. Only Jesus Christ has so far been resurrected to an eternal conscious state.

Acts 2:29
29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
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Acts 2:34
For David did not ascend to heaven…
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