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Did Jesus speak of hell more than heaven?

Ascetic X

Ascetic X

New Member
Nearly every Bible teacher announces grimly that Jesus spoke of hell more than He spoke of Heaven, but based on what?

In my Strong’s Concordance, I found 104 instances of Jesus referring to Heaven / kingdom of heaven, but only 28 references by Jesus to Hell or implications of hell fire.

To claim that Jesus spoke of hell more than heaven implies that He was possibly using fear to draw people to God. But it seems more in keeping with the character of Christ to draw souls by emphasizing God’s love. Jesus delighted in proclaiming the grace and kindness of His heavenly Father, while also warning us about hell’s dangers.

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
 
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V

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I found about 12 places where Gehenna is used in the NT, and about 11 places where Hades is used in the NT. Additionally, I found about 10 places where "abyss" is used in the NT. Also note that "fire" is often used to refer to an aspect of the end of the life of the lost. I would guess, "fire" is used to describe an aspect of the afterlife more than 30 times, some in conjunction with the Lake of Fire and Gehenna.

Rather than "more than heaven" I have heard that Jesus supposedly talked of Hades, Gehenna and the Lake of Fire more than any of the other Apostles, quoted in the NT. I have no idea if the claim is true.

One think is for sure, our witness of the Gospel should not short-change the end result of rejecting the Gospel!
 
Ascetic X

Ascetic X

New Member
Van said:
I found about 12 places where Gehenna is used in the NT, and about 11 places where Hades is used in the NT. Additionally, I found about 10 places where "abyss" is used in the NT. Also note that "fire" is often used to refer to an aspect of the end of the life of the lost. I would guess, "fire" is used to describe an aspect of the afterlife more than 30 times, some in conjunction with the Lake of Fire and Gehenna.

Rather than "more than heaven" I have heard that Jesus supposedly talked of Hades, Gehenna and the Lake of Fire more than any of the other Apostles, quoted in the NT. I have no idea if the claim is true.

One think is for sure, our witness of the Gospel should not short-change the end result of rejecting the Gospel!
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Thank you for the prompt reply.

Your tabulation of references to Hell and associated terms still totals only 63, but they are probably including verses not attributed to Jesus. Were these references you found on hades, abyss, and fire all spoken by Jesus? What Jesus Himself stated is the context. I agree that we must tell the good news about eternal joy and not neglect warning about the place of torment and flames.
 
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JonC

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
I think it depends on what we are talking about and who we are talking to.

Jesus, for example speaks of Hell when telling people to fear God rather than man. He does when contrasting the fate of the wicked with the fate of those saved. But He does not speak of Hell (or Heaven) in a careless way.
 
Tea

Tea

New Member
I have not kept track of every instance in which Jesus mentions Heaven or Hell. Nevertheless, He instructs us to spread the good news rather than the bad news.
 
C

Charlie24

Well-Known Member
Ascetic X said:
Nearly every Bible teacher announces grimly that Jesus spoke of hell more than He spoke of Heaven, but based on what?

In my Strong’s Concordance, I found 104 instances of Jesus referring to Heaven / kingdom of heaven, but only 28 references by Jesus to Hell or implications of hell fire.

To claim that Jesus spoke of hell more than heaven implies that He was possibly using fear to draw people to God. But it seems more in keeping with the character of Christ to draw souls by emphasizing God’s love. Jesus delighted in proclaiming the grace and kindness of His heavenly Father, while also warning us about hell’s dangers.

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
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Yes, I've heard countless preachers say that.

I've always taken it as the detail Christ gives to the horrors of Hell far outweigh the details He gave of heaven.

I see Him actually mentioning heaven more often, but not in the detail He gives of Hell.
 
V

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Ascetic X said:
Thank you for the prompt reply.

Your tabulation of references to Hell and associated terms still totals only 63, but they are probably including verses not attributed to Jesus. Were these references you found on hades, abyss, and fire all spoken by Jesus? What Jesus Himself stated is the context. I agree that we must tell the good news about eternal joy and not neglect warning about the place of torment and flames.
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Were all the references spoken by Jesus? No,

I disagree that only what Jesus is recorded as saying is the context. All of the NT was inspired, thus for us to use in our ministry for Christ. But we agree, our witness must include our warning to the lost concerning the "Second Death."

This witness is complicated by the translations that translate both Hades and Gehenna as "Hell" thus suggesting it is one and the same place, when they are two very different places.

Gehenna appears in the NT about 12 times, 11 of which are the words of Jesus. The other one is found in James.

Only about 5 of the references to Hades are the direct words of Jesus, out of the 11 times the word is found in the NT.

Here is what one source on the internet said:
"some well-known preachers and figures have stated that Jesus spoke of hell more than heaven, including
R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur. They often base this claim on the idea that Jesus used hell as a strong warning against judgment and sin, even if modern analysis of the texts disputes the claim and finds he spoke more of heaven."
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V

Van

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Bottom line I did not find an explicit quote for either R. C. Sproul or John MacArthur, but I did from Leslie Schmucker. I think the issue should be did Jesus talk about Hades and Gehenna, the Lake of Fire and Eternal Punishment more than the others whose words are presented in the New Testament.
 
kyredneck

kyredneck

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Ascetic X said:
28 references by Jesus to Hell or implications of hell fire.
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If scrutinized individually, how many of those would actually be solely in the eternal sense? Jesus was prophet to Israel (only) in her last days, warning that generation, as OT prophets did, of 'wrath to come'.
 
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