Would someone please look at http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/christianity/too-late-4me-saved-will-god-4give-me-374021-6.html, starting with post 53 - ?

It is my understanding that there is no eternal damnation/Hell in the Jewish religion so I am more confused than ever by this response.

My late husband was an Orthodox Jew (I am not Jewish) and we discussed an afterlife several times but perhaps I misunderstood him.

I am not really sure
according to Christianity sheol is hell
and Jews say gehenna refers to garbage dump or something like that.
The Bible does say that the place we call hell had two compartments one being paradise where souls were kept until Jesus' resurrection
So I wonder if the other compartment was hell and the spirits that were not released from paradise to heaven went to sheol.
Because from what I gather no spirits could go to heaven or hell prior to Jesus.

From the Jewish perspective I think we need ETW on here.

Hi Judy,

You are correct that Judaism doesn't believe in "eternal damnation".

However, we DO believe in punishment for sins.

There are mixed explanations for what "hell" means in Judaism.

The most commonly believed explanation in Judaism is that "hell" or "Gehinom" is where sinners go. After a person dies, he is judged by G-d, and if he is deemed to be a "good" person, he goes to "Gan Aiden" or the Garden of Eden, there to bask in the glory of G-d and to study His Torah at His feet. If he is judged to have been "bad" he is sent instead to "Gehinom", where he spends up to a year expiating his sins through suffering. After that one-year period, he then goes to Gan Aiden. That is why mourners say kaddish for a dead person for 1-year, and then only on the anniversary of the death.

(Note: This is true for most "garden variety sinners". The TRULY evil --- ei: Hitler--- stay in Gehinom forever. But such levels of evil are truly rare and are very much the exception to the rule.)

Nachmanides gives a slightly different explanation. He says that Gan Aiden and Gehinom are the same place. If we are good, we go to that place, and we find comfort in that place. If, however, we are judged "bad", the embarrasment and shame of being close to G-d while being in that "evil" condition is so painful that we suffer emmensly for it. It takes time--- up to a year for most people--- to get past that shame and humiliation and come to a level of feeling comfortable in G-d's presence. Our sins are, therefore, expiated by that shame and humiliation. The truly evil, of course, never get past that shame. The key point, though, is that "heaven" and "hell", according to this interpretation, are one and the same. It is OUR CONDITION that makes the difference in how we experience that place.

What is the truth? Who knows. It is said in the Talmud that only 4 people ever entered Pardes (G-d's Presence in Heaven) alive. One died, one went insane, one became a heretic, and the 4th, Rabbi Akiva, entered whole and left whole, but never spoke of what he saw there. So the answer is that we really don't know what the true nature of heaven and hell is. What I have described above are just concepts, and very basic ones.

Hope this helps.

Elliot

I believe there is a heaven and hell and I often wonder the same question of how can a person who lives a decent average family life and never heard of 'being saved' be sent to hell.
I don't know that I believe as ETW said about going through stages of places and expiating his sins through suffering when you die because the Bible New Testament says about it is appointed for man ONCE to die and then the Judgment.

BUT what I do see that many Christians seem ''so heaven if you are saved hell if you aren't''
seem to not take into consideration are the verses about whatever you do to the least of these you do unto me. Meaning that in a sense where ever people who do not make it to heaven go that their 'degree' of hell or expiating his sins through suffering or whatever may not be as severe as the Hitler types, etc.....
Like the Old Testament said that Rahab helping the soldiers it was counted as righteousness to her and there are other things in the Bible that seem to imply that even sinners good deeds can be counted as righteousness. If you are doomed to the same hell as Hitler why would God bother pointing those distinctions out?

SO I do believe ETW's point on
It is OUR CONDITION that makes the difference in how we experience that place.

So that is why my husband told me NOT to visit his grave for a year?

Thank you for your most comprehensive explanation - all I recall clearly is that my late husband did not believe in eternal damnation, did not believe in Hell. During his last weeks it was difficult for me to focus and so I wasn't sure I remember what he said.

Thanks you again - you've been most helpful.