Mark 9:45,48 King James Version
“45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: (...) 48. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 9:45,48 Aramaic Bible
“45. If your foot subverts you, cut it off, for it is better for you to enter the Life crippled than when you have two feet that you should fall into Gehenna. (...) 48. Where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.””


It is often the case that people use the aforementioned Scripture as a basis for a ‘hellfire’ but there are a few things to note which do not give credence to that conclusion.

First, the New Testament was written in Koine Greek and in this language, there is no such thing as a ‘hellfire’.
In fact, in the Scripture mentioned above, what is normally translated as ‘hell’ or ‘hellfire’ in most Bibles is actually rendered ‘Gehenna’ (Greek: γέενναν).

This was a place familiar to those listening to Jesus because in ancient Jerusalem, Gehenna was situated outside the city and this was the place where rubbish heaps were burnt and DEAD criminals not worthy of burials were incinerated. So they understood that the import of this place in Jesus’ statement was to symbolize the total destruction of the wicked not a place of torment.

Second, Mark 9:45,48 is basically an excerpt from Isaiah 66:24 which reads:

“And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”” NIV

“They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent.” NET Bible

Note the words in highlight. Dead bodies, corpses, are thrown into this Gehenna, not people who are alive.
So this Gehenna is definitely not a place of torment because you need to be alive to experience torment. Those who have died are in a state of unconsciousness. They can neither hear nor feel nor do any other thing. Ecclesiastes 9:5-10

The points made here are clear enough for any honest hearted person seeking truth. Because once the false belief of a hellfire is removed from the heart, it becomes easier to obey God’s commandments which will show that one has love for God(1John 5:3) and have a healthy/reverential fear of him, not the morbid kind of fear but the fear that leads to everlasting life. Proverbs 19:23

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