The WBC writes:
Christ Episcopal Church (Lepor Colony) 118 N. Washington St. Tony Snow (Press Secretary for 6 “B” George W. Bush) is dead, YES! He had a platform, he was given some small talent by his creator. He was an unfaithful steward, and is now residing in hell.
By Robert R Barney
The Bible talks about those that come in the name of God doing harm to God's name and His work here on earth, and the above is a perfect example of a right winged extremist church trying to "shock" everyone with an ungodly message.
The funny thing is that this moron at the Baptist church doesn't know is that according to the Bible, nobody is in an ever burning hellfire right now, not even Adolph Hitler! You see, judgement of the world has not started, and in fact it will not start until after the one thousand year reign of Christ on this good ole earth! The other amusing thing that this pastor doesn't know is that everyone, except Jesus, that has died is in hell, but most just don't know what the word hell means. The word "Hell" comes mainly from two similar words in the original Bible texts. In the Old Testament the word in hebrew is sheol. In the New Testament the word hell is almost always Hades. They mean the same thing.
The definition of "hell" from the Strong's concordance is:
hell
In Old Testament
Definition: sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
New Testament Greek Definition:
86 hades {hah'-dace}
from 1 (as negative particle) and 1492; TDNT - 1:146,22; n pr loc
AV - hell 10, grave 1; 11
1) name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions
2) Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead
3) in the Bible and later use of this word: the grave or death. Simply put a hole in the ground where one is buried!The Catholic encyclopedia makes this very clear:
Name and place of hellThe term hell is cognate to "hole" (cavern) and "hollow". It is a substantive formed from the Anglo-Saxon helan or behelian, "to hide".
http://home.newadvent.org/cathen/07207a.htm
In Old English people would say, "the potatos are in hell for the winter." The modern translation would be "The potatos are in the cellar."
Hell simply means the grave! According to a loving God, those that died that didn't know Christ are not suffering in an eternal state of suffering. A loving God does not do this to his children. Knowing the truth is truly a comfort!
The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal. The same holds true for the expression translated as "the breath of life" (see Gen. 1:24; 7:21-22). It is physical, "animal life." For all practical purposes, death was the end. As Psalm 115:17 says, the dead go down into "silence"; they do not participate, as do the living, in praising God (seen then as the most vital human activity). Psalm 146:4 is like an exact reverse replay of Genesis 2:7: "When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his thoughts [plans] perish." Death is a one-way street; there is no return. As Job laments:
But man dies, and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
so man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake,
or be aroused out of his sleep. (Job 14:10-12) [4]All the dead go down to Sheol, and there they lie in sleep together–whether good or evil, rich or poor, slave or free (Job 3:11-19). It is described as a region "dark and deep," "the Pit," and "the land of forgetfulness," cut off from both God and human life above (Pss. 6:5; 88:3-12). Though in some texts Yahweh's power can reach down to Sheol (Ps. 139:8), the dominant idea is that the dead are abandoned forever. This idea of Sheol is negative in contrast to the world of life and light above, but there is no idea of judgment or of reward and punishment. If one faces extreme circumstances of suffering in the realm of the living above, as did Job, it can even be seen as a welcome relief from pain–see the third chapter of Job. But basically it is a kind of "nothingness," an existence that is barely existence at all, in which a "shadow" or "shade" of the former self survives (Ps. 88:10).
For a great read on the state of the dead:
The Biblical Truth About the State of the Dead
