Do you disagree with my interpretation of Jesus’ usage of the word “hell”? Using the Gospels, what interpretation of Jesus’ use of “hell” would you suggest? Let us compare what the scripture says.

Yes. It was your interpretation I disagreed with.

Jesus was a Jewish prophet and geena may well have had its origins in the Hebrew language. Yet the New International Version of the Holy Bible renders it the word “hell.” My concern is with how Jesus talked about “hell,” as the Gospels put it. Why? Because that is also how most believers talk about it today. They say “hell.” As in: “You are going to hell for believing X.” As best I can tell, Jesus wasn’t talking about beliefs or places, but about how we act toward ourselves, our neighbors and our God.

Just because most Bibles translate geenna “hell” doesn’t make it right. Hades, for example, was once translated “hell” by the KJV but is now carried over directly as “Hades” in most modern translations. Unfortunately, most translations continue to render geenna “hell.” With the logic of that translation, though, hierosoluma could be translated “heaven.”

As in: “You are going to hell for believing X.” As best I can tell, Jesus wasn’t talking about beliefs or places, but about how we act toward ourselves, our neighbors and our God.

Jesus was talking about a place because Gehenna is a place. Whether Jesus imagined the wicked being thrown into this valley forty years later, in our future, or both, is what is up for debate, in my opinion.