Was the Doctrine of Hell Added to the Bible?

I have family members who are telling me that the doctrine of hell has been added to the Bible and that the original meaning of hell was about refinement.

Can you tell me how to respond to this? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also record your question on our website, which is corechristianity.com slash radio. And you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. You know, it's so encouraging here at CORE Christianity to hear from our listeners, especially those that have really been helped in some way by this program. Adrielle, here's a call we received from a woman in Wisconsin. Hi, this is Sharon from Wisconsin. I actually left a question yesterday and you answered it yesterday.

And it wasn't even, it was exactly what some gentleman asked. That was wonderful. I didn't catch this station till last week at CORE Christianity, but I love it. No matter what I'm doing at 530 in Wisconsin, I stop and listen. Well, thank you, Sharon, for giving us a call. What an encouragement it is for me to hear people who are blessed by the program.

And that's what it's all about. We're answering these questions to help you grow in your faith and your understanding of what the Scriptures teach. If you've been blessed by CORE Christianity, by the way, give us a call. I mean, that really is so encouraging for us to hear those stories. I'd love to hear about how the Lord is helping you to grow in your faith and in your understanding of the Scriptures. You can reach out to us at 833-843-2673. Bill, thanks for sharing that.

You bet. And by the way, if CORE Christianity has helped you to share your faith more effectively, we'd love to know that as well. You can email us at questions at corechristianity.com and share your story. By the way, CORE Christianity is listener supported. We count on people just like you to keep this program on the air.

So thanks so much for your support. Let's get to an email question that came in. This is from Luke, and Luke says, In 1 Samuel 21, David pretends to be insane in front of the king of Gath so he wouldn't be recognized. Was this sinful since he was concealing the truth and trying to deceive the king with his actions? I've always thought he was just using his wit to get out of a bad situation, especially since he later claims in Psalm 34 that he was trusting God to rescue him in that moment.

Is it possible for certain kinds of deception not to be rooted in sin, but instead simply to be shrewd and timely wisdom? Yeah, Luke, you know, my kids loved that story when we were reading through 1 and 2 Samuel. You get to 1 Samuel 21, where David is acting like he's crazy enough.

I got four little pretty crazy kids, so they thought, oh, that's cool. I just want to read the account in 1 Samuel 21, beginning in verse 10. David is on the run from King Saul, and we read, David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land?

Did they not sing to one another of him in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.

And so he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. So it's one of the ways that David portrays himself here in this passage so that the king of Gath doesn't kill him. I mean, David is afraid. Now, I don't think that David was sinning. We know what a psalm that David writes after he sinned sounds like. It's Psalm 51, and David is crying out to the Lord. It's the psalm that he penned in response to Nathan the prophet confronting him.

And he has no problem saying, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, I've sinned. But the psalm that he writes in response to this account, you bring it up, Psalm 34, doesn't seem to indicate that David had sinned in any way at all. In fact, Psalm 34 begins, Of David, when he changed his mind before Abimelech, so that he drove him out and he went away.

And so this is something that David did. And David begins that psalm, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. And in that psalm, David talks about how the Lord delivers the righteous out of tribulation.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles, verse 17. And so I don't think that we could say on the basis of what you have in 1 Samuel 21 that David was explicitly sinning. Yeah, it does seem like he's changing his behavior. He is being shrewd. He's being wise, making sure to not do something that would cause the king to kill him.

But there's nothing that indicates that he was sinning, not in 1 Samuel 21, and certainly not later as he explains some of these things in the Psalms that he wrote. So thank you for your question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And Adriel, here's a call that came in at 833-843-2673.

This is Elias in New York City. Thank you, Pastor Adriel and Brother Bill. My question is this. A Bible teacher said that the truth of the Holy Scriptures Old and New Testament is only 100% trustworthy and true in the original transcripts from the mouth of God in the original Greek and Hebrew. Subsequent translations are tainted with error, maybe only slight error, but error. What is your Godly judgment, Pastor? Is the King James Version and the New King James Version painted with error?

Or in God's plan, is it totally trustworthy and true without error? I don't understand Greek or Hebrew, and I'd like to know that I'm not being deceived by the enemy, Satan, or being misled. May God give you wisdom, truth, love, mercy, grace, kindness, and goodness. Thank you, brother. Elias, thank you, and may the Lord give all of those things to you as well.

I really appreciate your question, and it's a very, very important question. We're talking about how to understand the nature and extent of inspiration, the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Now, I want to go into this a little bit because it's a topic that we don't often talk about here on the Core, but it is, as I said, one that's really important for our understanding of the Bible and how the Scripture is authoritative and is meant to teach us, to guide us in all things. Inspiration has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit in securing what we call infallibility. The infallibility of a particular set of teaching here, we're talking about the Bible. And because Scripture is infallible, it can be trusted.

We know this is God's word. Now, Scripture makes this claim that it's inspired by God, that it's God speaking to us. Again, the text that I often go to is 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, where Paul told Timothy, Now, how is it that God inspired the Scripture? Some people, they have what's called a mechanical view of inspiration. You think of God treating the apostles and prophets as puppets, downloading the inspired words into them or dictating word for word the inspired text to them so that they're sort of writing it as God gives them word for word what He intended for them to write.

It probably wasn't like that, though. I like to think of inspiration, many theologians have thought of it like this as well, as more organic. Peter said in 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 21, The prophets, the apostles, the men who wrote Scripture retained their own consciousness. They had their own thoughts, moved their own personalities, and yet the Spirit worked in and through them to produce the Scriptures. Now, that's the sort of nature of inspiration.

It was the Holy Spirit working in these people, using them, their particular faculties, with their mind, with their thoughts, to inspire the truth for us to write the inspired Scriptures. Now, in terms of inspiration, and at least the extent of inspiration, there are also a few different views, but only one of them is really worth us clinging to. Some people think that the Scriptures are only partially inspired, meaning yes, inspiration happened, but you really can't believe all of it.

Elias, I probably don't have to tell you what the problem is with that view. It makes you the ultimate judge of Scripture. Now, who's to say which section of the Bible is inspired and which isn't, you know?

And if I want to do away with the part of the Bible that addresses my sin, it's a really dangerous view to believe that the Scriptures are only partially inspired, because if they're only partially inspired, we really can't trust any of it because we don't know which part is inspired. Other people have thought that the way inspiration works, at least in terms of the extent of inspiration, has to do with what's called thought inspiration. In other words, God inspired the thoughts, but not the words. So the idea of inspiration is there, but it doesn't extend to the particular words of Scripture.

But if you study the Bible or theology, you know that words are very important, that thoughts are communicated by words. So I think we ought to embrace the view that recognizes that the very words of Scripture are inspired, and that this inspiration extends to the whole Bible, all of Scripture. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't misinterpret those words, and that's why we have to be so careful in how we approach the Scriptures.

But all Scripture is God-breathed. Again, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. Now, to your question more directly, translations of the Bible are not perfect. In the 17th century, there was a Bible that was printed that accidentally took the not out of the seventh commandment. So it said, instead of saying, you shall not commit adultery, it said, you shall commit adultery.

Well, that wasn't inspired. But I want you to know that while translations may not be flawless, you know, they each have their own maybe strength and maybe some even weaknesses, they're really good at getting us to the original if we have a good translation. So you can study God's Word in the English Bible. The New King James is perfectly fine.

I happen to use the ESV. Other translations that tend to be really close to the original are translations like the New American Standard Bible. And as you're studying the English Bible, you really are getting a good sense of what the original said. And oftentimes, when there is a question of interpretation, there will be a footnote in your Bible that will say, you know, some manuscripts, you know, have this word or that word.

And I think that that's really helpful as well. But what I want you to take away from all of this is is one, the Word of God, but the entire Word of God is inspired for us for our growth and grace to reprove us to challenge us to strengthen us. And you can be confident that the English translations that we have that are true translations of the Greek and Hebrew texts are really good.

I think you can read it and receive what it says and be encouraged by it because it's God's Word for you. So God bless you and thank you for that question. Elias, thanks so much for getting in contact with us here at Core Christianity.

We love your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Have you ever felt like God has let you down? Well, if so, we have a great resource to tell you about today.

Yeah, Bill, and I think probably each and every one of us have felt like that at one point in our lives or another. And in those moments, I think a lot of people are tempted to turn their backs on the Lord. It's really important for us to understand who God is and what he has actually promised to us.

We can take him at his word. And that's why we've created this resource. It's a four week Bible study called What Did God Promise? And it will guide you through the biblical foundation for understanding what God has promised to his people and how he continues to keep his promises to his people throughout the ages. You can find it on our website, corechristianity.com, and it's free when you sign up for our weekly newsletter. So head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to download What Did God Promise? And you can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's get to another question, Adriel. This one came through our Instagram account, and it says, My cousin is 16 and her parents are going through a divorce. I believe now would be a good time to reach out and start sharing with her about Jesus, but I don't know how to start.

Any advice? Let's pray for your cousin right now. And I want to pray for you also as you seek God's wisdom and in being able to speak to her and to comfort her. Father, we pray for this young woman who no doubt is suffering right now and struggling with what's going on in her family. I pray, Jesus, that you would be with her. I pray, Lord, that you would comfort her. I pray even, Lord, not knowing the situation, but for peace, for reconciliation, for healing in her family, even with her parents. I ask, Lord, that through these difficult circumstances, you might open their eyes, their hearts to you, and that you would be at work in them. And Father, this individual who wrote us on Instagram, would you please be with them as well? Would you give them wisdom, grace, a continued heart of compassion and love for this cousin? And Father, that you would guide them so that they would be able to encourage this person and also, Lord, speak your truth to them, the truth of your word.

We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. A difficult situation, of course. Divorce is so devastating for families and on children as well. And I think just extending love would be so appropriate. I'm grateful that you want to reach out to your cousin and encourage her. This really has to be a difficult time for her, so making yourself available to talk, letting her know that you're praying for her, seeing if there's anything that you can do to be helpful.

I think just reaching out and saying, hey, I'm here. I know you're going through something hard. If you want to talk, I want to listen. I want to be there for you.

I think that could go a long way. You don't want to come off like, well, she's vulnerable, so now is my chance to sort of swoop in and talk to her about God. You don't want to make her feel that way either. But at the same time, we do know that sometimes God uses hard circumstances, devastating circumstances, even to draw us near to Him.

And so you don't know. I don't know how the Lord is working in this situation, but you're going to want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You're going to want to be prayerful and saying, God, you give me the guidance. It's really difficult in situations like this to say, oh, here's the three things you can say, because sometimes there's really nothing that we can say except I'm here for you and I'm praying for you. And Jesus loves you, and I would love to talk to you.

And so you're going to want to pray. You're going to want to be sensitive to your cousin and try to get into situations where you can have those conversations with her. Another real simple thing that you can do, and maybe she would be open to this, is inviting her to church and say, hey, I'd love to bring you to church with me on a Sunday. And maybe it's just an opportunity to get away for a little bit and spend some time together.

That could be also something that the Lord really uses. And so pray for her, reach out to her, encourage her, invite her to church, and pray that God gives you wisdom as you speak to her and look for ways to share the love of Christ with her in the midst of this difficult situation. Bill, you're a counselor. I know you've worked with couples who are going through divorces, and I'm sure even with children and young adults whose parents have gotten divorced. What do we need to know? I mean, what's the important thing for this person to know in the midst of this situation? Well, you know, one of the dangers is that this young woman could start to feel like the divorce is her fault, that she could be responsible for her parents' divorce. A lot of kids end up feeling that way when in reality, it's just two adults who are unable to work out their differences and they can't resolve conflict. And so somehow I think this girl's cousin could assure her, look, this is not your problem. This is your parents' issue.

You can't take responsibility for this. And also, as you mentioned, just to be there, to be a shoulder to cry on, to be someone she can turn to for comfort and encouragement right now, and just to know that, you know, you're not alone. A lot of kids are going through this sort of thing. It's tough. It's hard. And the other thing she can say is it's not God's will for your parents or for your family.

That's probably one of the places that she can start. Really helpful. Thanks, Bill. Let's get to another question here on core Christianity.

This came in from Marlon in Kansas. I was calling to ask Pastor Adrian Sanchez about hell. Some family members that I've talked to that are saying that newer translations of the Bible, they added in about an eternal hell, that the older writings mention hell in a way that's like a purging or a cleansing for everyone that's alive on earth. He was saying that everybody else searching for God, but they're all in different ways, whether you're Buddhist or Muslim, all the different religions, they're all searching for God. And thank you guys so much for your ministry.

Thank you for that call. If you know what these family members mean is that the doctrine of hell is something that isn't in the Bible, but that later generations try to sort of foist it onto the Bible, I think that that's just completely wrong. I mean, Jesus spoke about hell quite a bit during his earthly ministry. I've just opened up to Matthew 5 in verse 21. This is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus saying, You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Now, that word that Jesus says there when he talks about hell, it's referring to this place called Gehenna. In the Hebrew, it was referring to the Valley of Hinnom, this place that's described in 2 Chronicles chapter 33 verse 6. It's also described in other places like in the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 7, and it was this infamous place where the people of God had practiced pagan idolatry.

They had even sacrificed their own children. It came to be that this just terrifying place associated with sin, idolatry, death, and fire. And that's what Jesus is sort of referring to.

He's echoing that. He's saying that's the place of torment. That's the place of torture. And he talks about this place throughout the New Testament. I think it's not true to say this idea that hell isn't a real place or didn't exist or that it was something that later generations had sort of invented.

This is not true. Jesus talked about it, and he talked about hell is this place of conscious torment and conscious everlasting torment. So I'm not sure where your family members are getting this idea. Now, it is the case that later, throughout the history of the church, we've kind of made these popular depictions of what hell is supposed to be like, and I think that we have to be careful with that as well. You know, a lot of that is just sort of speculation. It's hard for us to say this is exactly what hell is going to be like, but we can say it's a place of conscious torment where God's judgment exists on those who turned away from Christ, on those who rejected the gospel and did not embrace the truth. Now, regarding this idea that all religion is just an attempt to try to get to God, I think we need to unpack that a little bit.

I would say the answer to that is, well, yes and no. There are a lot of religions that will tell you what you need to do to get to God, to sort of climb the ladder up into heaven. I think of even that scene in the book of Genesis, the Tower of Babel, how the nations of the world, the people of the world were coming together to try to build a tower that reached up to heaven. And I think that is human religion. It's our attempt to ascend to God, whether it's to reach God in some way or to make ourselves gods.

And I think that's part of the ancient lie that Adam and Eve were given by the serpent in the garden. But what makes Christianity distinct, and I think this is what you can tell your family members, and what a neat way to be able to share the gospel with them, is that the Christian faith isn't about what we do. Here's a list of the works that you need to accomplish in order to get to heaven. Some people will point to the Ten Commandments or to the summary of the law that Jesus gave. Love God and love your neighbor, that kind of a thing. And all religions sort of teach that, and so all religions are basically ways for us to get to God.

That's what some people think. But the reality is, the Christian faith is unique among all the religions of the world. Because it's not first and foremost about how we can reach God through our efforts. It's about what God has done to stoop down to us. You see, the reality is, Marlin, none of us can reach God. Certainly not on the basis of our works. Our works are tainted. We're sinful. We don't obey the Lord like we should. If Christianity was offering us just another way to reach God, it would be like all the religions of the world, and at the end of the day, it would be bankrupt because none of us can do enough in order to reach heaven. The Christian faith is beautiful, and frankly, it's true. It's the revelation of how God has stooped down, reached down to us. How? By sending His Son so that He might, in that flesh, live the perfect life, reach God, if you will, by His perfect obedience, and then bear the curse that our sins deserve. Christianity is unlike all the religions of the world because instead of saying, here's how you can reach up to God, it's here's how God has reached down to you. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.