La Bible L'enfer

Sur La Bible L'enfer Dans l'ouvrage de John Wesley Hanson, publié en 1888, l'auteur étudie les quatre mots traduits par "enfer" dans les différentes versions anglaises de la Bible. L'auteur compare la manière dont ces mots, tant dans l'Ancien que dans le Nouveau Testament, sont utilisés et compris par les auteurs qui ont utilisé les mots en question, par opposition aux interprètes ultérieurs qui ont attaché à ces mots des significations issues de l'idolâtrie païenne, des significations étrangères aux véritables enseignements de la Bible.

La préface de l'auteur résume son objectif et ses conclusions comme suit : "Le bref excursus sur le mot 'Enfer' contenu dans ce volume a pour but de traiter le sujet dans un style populaire, et en même temps de présenter tous les faits importants, de manière si complète et exhaustive que n'importe quel lecteur peut obtenir en quelques pages une vue d'ensemble de 'l'Enfer de la Bible'.

“The author ventures to hope that any one who will read candidly, not permitting the bias of an erroneous education to warp his judgment, will not fail to agree with the conclusions of this book,—-that the doctrine of unending sin and woe finds no support in the Bible teachings concerning Hell.”

Following the preface in Chapter 1 he further comments: “Does the Bible teach the idea commonly held among Christians concerning Hell? Does the Hell of the Bible denote a place of torment, or a condition of suffering without end, to begin at death? What is the Hell of the Bible? Manifestly the only way to arrive at the correct answer is to trace the words translated Hell from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and by their connections ascertain exactly what the divine Word teaches on this important subject. It seems incredible that a wise and benevolent God should have created or permitted any kind of an endless hell in his universe. Has he done so? Do the Scripture teachings concerning Hell stain the character of God and clothe human destiny with an impenetrable pall of darkness, by revealing a state or place of endless torment? Or do they explain its existence, and relieve God’s character, and dispel all the darkness of misbelief, by teaching that it exists as a means to a good end? It is our belief that the Bible Hell is not the heathen, nor the “orthodox” hell, but is one that is doomed to pass away when its purpose shall have been accomplished, in the reformation of those for whose welfare a good God ordained it.”

While Hanson’s book does not answer all the questions regarding what the Bible says about “hell” or Divine punishment, it serves as a useful reference and basis for further study. John Wesley Hanson D.D. (1823–1901), was a Universalist minister, and we do not share several of the doctrines advocated by Universalist adherents, nor do we endorse all of the statements and conclusions found in the book.

The PDF version of Hanson’s book La Bible L'enfer was downloaded by us from academia.edu. It may be downloaded also by clicking on this lien. The book is in the public domain under copyright law in the United States of America. If you are in another country, it may be advisable to consult its copyright law.

Readers may also want to consult also the following articles relating to the subject of “hell”: “La vérité sur l'enfer,” “Les "perdus" sont-ils prédestinés à l'enfer ?“, “Qu'arrive-t-il à ceux qui meurent en bas âge ?” and “Qu'est-ce que la mort ?”

Sauf indication contraire, les citations de la Bible sont tirées de la Sainte Bible, traduction Louis Segond.

Cette œuvre est soumise à une licence Licence internationale Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0.