The Gospel News

does rather look as if Gehenna refers to the classic idea of hell, as a place of fiery torture.

However, when we take a closer look at the twelve "Gehenna" verses, a very different picture emerges. In only one of them (Matthew 10:28) is there any mention of

souls going to Gehenna. And even there it

does not suggest that the soul is tormented in Gehenna; on the contrary, it says that the souls are destroyed there. Moreover, in seven of the twelve passages it refers to the

body – or parts of it such as feet, eyes and

hands – going into hell. What are we to make of that ?

Reference to any good dictionary soon solves the riddle. Chambers Twentieth Century

Dictionary says:

"GEHENNA, the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, in which the Israelites sacrificed their children to Moloch, and to which, at a later time, the refuse of the city was conveyed to be slowly burned: hence hell ...".

So when Jesus spoke of Gehenna, he was talking about a place that everybody who had ever been to Jerusalem would know. He was making a sort of parable out of it. In effect, he was saying something like this:

"You know that horrible place, Gehenna, where the people of Jerusalem get rid of their rubbish by burning it ? Well, let that be a lesson to you. On the day of Judgement, God will rid the world of what He regards as ?human rubbish? – people not fit to be given everlasting life. Instead, they will be sentenced to an everlasting death. Body, soul, feet, hands, eyes – everything belonging to an evil person will be destroyed on that Day, as surely as the fires of Gehenna destroy Jerusalem?s rubbish nowadays."

4. To recapitulate, in all the Old Testament references to hell, and some of the New

Jan-April 2014

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Testament references, the word simply means "the grave". In the other twelve New Testament references to Hell, the word means "The place where the wicked will be wiped out of existence on the day of Judgement."

These facts fit in with the Bible teaching that "God is love". (1John 4:16). It is hard to see how a loving God could possibly torture wicked people for ever and ever ! But it is altogether reasonable that, on the day of Judgement, our Maker should "unmake" (destroy) those rebellious people who refuse to accept His way of salvation.

Bro. Ayubu Sazi Kilumbi

(Dodoma, Tanzania)

It was a pleasure to spend two days in Dodoma with my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, students and friends. More than sixty attended at the venue in the local hall built of mud with a grass roof, Bro Yona Mlula, recorded sixty names, of those who attended the talks and there were many young people listening outside the hall.

Some interested people, adults, old and young and little ones, interested friends and contacts, as they were escorting us.

We were expected to be in Hombolo, earlier, but the bus we were travelling in broke down. However, many were interested and heard what the Christadelphians believe, teach and preach, together with the distri- bution of booklets, leaflets and displays on the walls of some buildings. Many people