Hell, Gilgul Neshamot and Ibbur:
What Happens When We Die?

Among the Nicene Christian doctrines few are so deeply held as the belief in the place of torment known as Hell. Millions of pastors have hammered this doctrine home so thoroughly into the consciousness of the Believers that even questioning the dogma often meets with accusations of heresy! As Bible Believing followers of Y'shua of Nazareth however we are called to be like the Believers at Berea and search the Scriptures to determine what is biblical truth and what is not. So here we go...

HaShem is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Pet 3:9)

First, God is not our enemy! He is our eternal well-wisher, our loving Father. The required "fear of HaShem" we are to hold needs to be properly understood.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of HaShem is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

What is the fear of HaShem? Are we called to cower in fear that HaShem might do us some harm, that He might condemn us to eternal torment if we step out of line? God forbid! God is Love (I John 4:16) and Mercy (Numbers 14:18) and remembers that we are fallible and formed of clay (Job 33:6)!

The Hebrew word translated as fear in the Authorized King James Version is yir'ah (the feminine infinitive form of ya're) and means "moral reverence." In other words we are to stand in awe of the glory of HaShem. Maintaining such adoration for Him we should never even consider disobeying His righteous commandments. Rather, both literally and figurative we are to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5;17), to glory in HaShem always (Philippians 4:4) and trust in His goodness.

One who lives in a state of terror and dread of a vengeful tormenting god could never do this! One might obey outwardly but one could never love, honor and adore such a deity! The doctrine of Hell drives people away from God, it does not draw them to Him!

So... what about Hell?

There are scriptures that appear, on the surface, to teach the existence of this dreadful place of after-life torment. This is true, however are told to "rightly divide the Word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15) and prayerfully reason (Isaiah 1:18). When we do this we discover that the God of Love and Mercy does not torture people!

So where did the teaching come from? As the Catholic Church was establishing its official doctrines it is a well known and easily established fact that they incorporated their teachings from many different sources attempting to establish universal ("catholic") authority over the bodies and souls of the world. This doctrine is a case in point.

The Catholic Bishops included the Roman Pagan teaching of a subterranean place of eternal fiery torment even though it has no biblical basis. The threat of eternal damnation made their subjects docile and the collection plates ring with "tithes and offerings."

The imagery of the Nicene Hell is largely taken from the Pagan underworld abode ruled by the god Hades and his part time lover Persephone.

Humans go to Hell, it is taught, because they fail to make the decision necessary to achieve salvation, that being they refuse to accept the death, burial and resurrection of Y'shua as taught by the Church. Catholicism would add to this they go to Hell due to failure to accept Catholic Communion and authority. This is the standard answer. Hell is not something God "does to us," they maintain, it is something we do to ourselves.

Nicene Christian proponents of this Greek myth typically maintain that God does not torture people in Hell (the demons do) and He does not want anyone to go that dreadful place. Hell, they say, was created for the fallen angels only (Genesis 6:1-6). As the unsaved can not "go to Heaven" Hell is the only other option for them. "So don't blame God, His hands are tied!"

The fact:

That there is no biblical basis for this teaching

That God could, should He desire, make another option for those who do not accept his gift of salvation

That no one from the Abrahamic traditions living in the First Century conceived of such a post-life torture -- while many Pagans did

That not a single person in the Gospel accounts ever challenged Y'shua as to the origins of this unorthodox teaching which, it is claimed, he regularly used to scare people into repentance
Apparently does not bother the advocates of the doctrine.

The truth is that even many "Bible believing Christians" believe many unbiblical things.

So, what does the Bible actually teach about this?

Hades

The Greek word hades is in our New Testament text eleven times. In ten of those cases it is translated as "hell" and once as "grave" in the King James Version. So, what is hades?

Here's what Strong's Concordance tells us about this word:

Name: Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead later use of this word: the grave, death, hell

That doesn't sound very biblical does it? And yet Y'shua was a Jew who came to call his fellow Jews back to the Written Torah and faith in HaShem. Are we supposed to believe he taught them to believe in the Greek myths? God forbid.

Tartaroo

A related Greek term is Tartaroo, used only at II Peter 2:4. Here's what Strong's says about it:

Word Origin: Greek, Verb from Tartaros (the deepest abyss of Hell) the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus."

Gehenna

By far the most common word translated as "hell" in the Bible is Gehenna.

What is Gehenna? Verses like Joshua 18:16 tell us:

And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom [i.e. before Gehenna], and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel...

The valley of Hinnom was frequently used by Pagan people for their religious rites:

II Chronicles 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of HaShem, like David his father:
2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom HaShem had cast out before the children of Israel.
4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree [which suggests goddess worship to Ashtaroth etc.].

Such abominable acts were so common that they entered the language as figures of speech. For instance:

Matthew 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into [Gehenna].

And again:

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into [Gehenna]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Some will argue that this doesn't prove Y'shua wasn't speaking literally. Perhaps, but contrast this pointed counsel:

Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Who believes Hell is watery? No, Y'shua was the celebrated Master of Parables, as we read:

Matthew 13:34 All these things spake Y'shua unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

Other than the religious leaders, these were mainly simple people and the Master wanted to make his teachings clearly understood and relevant to their daily lives. The city people often carried their trash to the dump, a huge pit kept burning with fire and brimstone. The flames and the stench were at times almost overwhelming. The city people understood that were a person thrown into those flames there would be no hope of survival! The very thought of it produced a visceral response. They could well understand the serious consequences of that and hence they understood his analogy perfectly. Those who continue unrepentant in their sins were, in a sense, casting themselves into Gehenna!

Likewise those who spent their time in little boats on the unpredictable and often violent seas understood well that if a heavy millstone stone were tied about ones neck and one was cast into the sea, there would be absolutely no hope. Hence the Master of Parables used that example with them.

In modern parlance one may say that those who reject God's free gift of salvation might as well be thrown into a garbage compacter and crushed! This is what he was conveying with these analogies.

Did/does the God of Israel torture people in the afterlife? The Sadducees were not even convinced the Torah taught an afterlife (Matthew 22:23)! Let alone one like the Nicene Hell! The idea was completely foreign to Jewish (biblical) religion and belief. However such things were believed by the Pagans and that's where the Vatican counsels got it!

The God of Israel is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5), a God who was known to punish His people in various ways (Deuteronomy 10:18), but the idea of eternal damnation and torture in the afterlife by the God of Israel was unheard of! HaShem, the God of Israel, is always Just and Merciful in His rulings. An eternity of torment for even 80 years of uninterrupted sin is neither. Thousands of years of torment, millions of years... for failing to properly place ones trust in God? Such a notion opposes everything we know about the God of the Bible.

So where did this teaching come from? Like so much of Nicean dogma, this doctrine comes directly from Roman Paganism, not from the pages of the Bible.

So what did Master Y'shua teach?

Matthew 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die...[and his wife remarries even seven times...]
28 ...Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
29 Y'shua answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Knowledge of the Scriptures is our safeguard from false doctrine always! (II Timothy 3:16)

Our Master clearly believed in the resurrection, as taught by the Pharisees and rejected the Sadducee contention that we only symbolically live on through our children.

So in order to understand what the Master taught let's consider what the Rabbis (Pharisees) teach:

Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion. It is possible for an Orthodox Jew to believe that the souls of the righteous dead go to a place similar to the Christian heaven, or that they are reincarnated through many lifetimes, or that they simply wait until the coming of the messiah, when they will be resurrected. (SOURCE)

Sheol

The other word translated as Hell in the King James Version is found in the Tanakh (or "Old Testament"). This word is sheol.

In the KJV sheol is translated as grave 31 times, as hell 31 times and as pit 3 times. While some modern Jews do believe in a place similar to the Catholic notion of Purgatory -- for a time that never exceeds one year -- the word sheol literally means grave. When a person dies he/she goes to sheol, to the grave. The Sadducees believed life ended there (Mark 12;18). Master Y'shua, the giver of all life (John 1:3) knew that souls are never destroyed.

The Resurrection and/or Reincarnation of the Dead

Like the Pharisees, the Master didn't speak much about the specifics of the afterlife. He was far more focused on encouraging his hearers to make wise decisions in preparation for their entry into the Coming Olam Haba Kingdom during this life. He did shed light on this subject however and, like the Pharisees, taught the resurrection of the dead. And like the Pharisees he believed in reincarnation (not transmigration -- which is to say, he taught that humans always return as humans) in at least some cases. For instance:

John 9:1 And as Y'shua passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
9:3 Y'shua answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

The Master accepted the possibility presented by the disciples that the man's blindness could have been the result of sins in his past life even though he said that, in that case, there was another reason.

Again:

Matthew 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
17:11 And Y'shua answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
17:13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Here the Master states that John the baptizer was the reincarnation of Prophet Elijah. I discuss the mechanics of rebirth elsewhere.

Gilgul Neshamot and Ibbur Neshamot

Standard reincarnation is known as gilgul neshamot (the cyclical rolling of souls). The understanding being that the soul "rolls" from one body to the next. To my knowledge the earliest extra-biblical direct reference to this belief is by the famed Jewish rabbi and philosopher Saʻadiah ben Yosef (882-942 C.E.) in Emunoth ve-Deoth (or Beliefs and Opinions). While defending the traditional teaching of the resurrection of the dead he adds the fact that some Jews believe in reincarnation as well:

"Yet I must say that I have found certain people, who call themselves Jews, professing the doctrine of metempsychosis, which is designated by them as the theory of the 'transmigration' of souls. What they mean thereby is that the spirit of Reuben is transferred to Simeon and afterwards to Levi and after that to Judah...."

Ibbur Neshamot (the impregnation or incubation of souls) is a more specialized form of reincarnation in which a soul is sent from the spirit realms and impregnates a woman in order to achieve some goal or task. Master Y'shua would be considered by some (including Noahide Nazarenes) to be the supreme example of this sort of incarnation. Master Y'shua was the "firstborn" of all of HaShem's creation according to Colossians 1:15. Only he among all beings was created directly by HaShem. All other beings were created by HaShem through Master Y'shua as I discuss elsewhere. Ibbur neshamot are always from a positive source.

This term is also used to refer to temporary spirit possession or incubation (again always in a positive light) in which a righteous non-incarnate soul temporarily enters the body of a material being in order to perform some task or accomplish a mitzvah (good deed). Sometimes the host is aware of this, sometimes not.

The opposite of this second use is the dybbuk which is an evil and/or demonic possession of a person.

The resurrection of the dead in the Olam Haba and reincarnation (preparing the neshamot or souls for the resurrection) were the common beliefs of most first century Jews (other than the Sadducees who were considered odd for not believing in them). From all evidence this is what the Master believed and taught as well.

These are fundamental views of traditional Rabbinic Judaism and in my opinion of the pre-Nicene (pre-Constantine) Way Movement established by Master Y'shua. These beliefs distinguished the Pharisees (or P'rusin -- the intellectual ancestors of Rabbinic Judaism) from the Sadducees (the Tz'dukim -- the intellectual ancestors of the Karaite Jews, although less directly), this and that the Rabbis embraced the Oral Torah which both the Sadducees and Master Y'shua rejected. The Sadducees rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah (although it is in my opinion strongly implied -- Ezekiel 37 for instance). The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain verses and taught directly in the Oral Torah. What neither sect believed in was the Nicene Hell.

Belief in the resurrection of the dead is one of Moses Maimonides' (i.e. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or Rambam) 13 Principles of the Jewish Faith. The second blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, which is recited three times daily by faithful Jews, contains several references to resurrection.

The Resurrection of the dead

The resurrection of the dead will occur during the Thousand Year Theocratic Kingdom, a time referred to in Hebrew as the Olam HaBa or World to Come (The term is also sometimes used to refer to the spiritual afterlife apart from the Messianic Kingdom). Once Moshiach initiates his Kingdom of Peace the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world of New Eden.

As for the wicked dead, there is divided opinion. Some say they will not be resurrected while others believe that through the process of gilgul neshamot all will be purified eventually. In my opinion this is most likely what the Master taught.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The Will of HaShem is that all will be saved. For this cause Y'shua was given a human body (Colossians 1:15) and offered himself as the final sacrifice for sin. I discuss this elsewhere but note the following:

Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Y'shua the Anointed.
5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one [i.e. Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [i.e. Y'shua] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
5:19 For as by one man's [i.e. Adam's] disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one [i.e. Y'shua] shall many be made righteous.

If we understand that all humanity fell with Adam then all humanity must have risen with the sacrifice of Y'shua. Otherwise his sacrifice did not completely undo Adam's as taught.

Gilgul Neshamot and Ibbur Neshamot explain how this process works:

• The souls cyclically reincarnate until achieving salvation and then await the resurrection.
• The firstborn of God's creation (Colossians 1:15), knowing that humanity would choose to join Lucifer's rebellion, accepted his role as Redeemer even before laying the foundations of the worlds (Revelation 13:8).

I believe my recurring dream of my previous life as a Jew living in Bulgaria is an example of this process as I share here.

As a literal place of torment Hell therefore does not exist in my opinion. The Master of Parables merely used the well known at the time imagery of Gehenna to illustrate the importance of submitting oneself fully to HaShem. As this metaphor developed among the Believers references to the Lake of Fire, the Bottomless Pit and so on came into common usage. All such references are figures of speech. Nothing more.

In simple terms, Hell is the absence of God's Holy Presence.
What could be more hellish than that!

May HaShem and His dear Son, our Savior Y'shua of Nazareth bless you as you continue to seek the Kingdom of HaShem!

Shalom and Maranatha
~John of AllFaith
~ Yochanan ben Avraham

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