Teachings of Jesus on Heaven and Hell

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charispistis

Puritan Board Freshman
I have searched the forum for this question and have found one unanswered post. But it was already closed.

I have often heard people claiming that Jesus taught more about hell then he did on heaven. I was wondering if this is actually true. Has anyone looked into this further?

This is something I just came across:

Mathew: Heaven - 33 times; Hell - 9 times
Mark: Heaven - 16 times; Hell - 3 times
Luke: Heaven - 36 times; Hell - 3 times
John: Heaven - 17 times; Hell - 0 times
Total: Heaven - 102 times; Hell - 15

Any thoughts??
 
Hi Alex,

Not every mention by Jesus of the word "heaven" is Him teaching on it. Just taking the Gospel of Matthew, most of the times He says the word "heaven" is in reference to "the kingdom of heaven", which is not the same thing, strictly, as heaven. Only a few times He actually teaches about heaven itself. In the same Gospel He may teach about hell itself only a few times more. But I think your point in well taken – I also have heard the claim you referred to – it is not so. Thanks for bringing it up.
 
I agree with Steve, but it goes even beyond that. For example, if you look at the references in Mark there you don't see "kingdom of heaven" but the references to Heaven include mostly texts like this:

And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. (Mark 6:41 ESV)

Most of the references are to the fact that God is in heaven (11:25) or using heaven as another way to refer to the sky perhaps (1:11, 14:62).

The only real teaching on heaven per se in Mark that uses the term heaven is:

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Mark 12:25)

And I would also point out that not every text about heaven and hell uses those terms. Matt 25:31-46 is a very emphatic illustration of this. So to do this analysis would actually be much more complicated than comparing simple word counts.
 
"Even in Jesus’ own teaching, thirteen percent of what He taught surrounded death, hell, judgment, and eternal reprobation. "

Ch 5, The Two Wills of God, by our own Rev. McMahon
 
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