Page 98 - Gods Plan of the Ages

Unquenchable Fire

here is a curious expression used by Christ that has led many Christians to conclude that
TYahshua taught that hell will be forever. In the Gospel of Mark we find Yahshua
repeating the words, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Mark 9:43-48
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than
having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 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: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of
God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched.
(KJV)

Examining the footnotes of a number of translations, you will find it mentioned that
verses 44, 46, and 48 of this passage, which all repeat the expression "Where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," are not found in the best ancient manuscripts. The
KJV Bible translators had only 8 Greek manuscripts to work with, and most of their labors
were performed using the Textus Receptus which is for very good reason considered one of
the most flawed and unreliable translations available today.
The Textus Receptus was hurriedly thrown together by the Dutch Catholic scholar
Desiderius Erasmus in 1516 A.D.. Erasmus was rushing to get his translation printed as he
was aware of other scholars working on what would be competing translations. His work
was so poorly done that it was not even proofread for spelling errors, and was an abysmal
piece of work.
Erasmus did not have available to him any Greek manuscripts that were older than
the 10th century, and was even missing six complete chapters from the book of Revelation.
He therefore took Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible (the Latin Vulgate) which was
produced toward the end of the 4th century, using it to translate the portions of the New
Testament he was lacking back into Greek. Erasmus' Textus Receptus was a Latin
translation in which he included the Greek alongside the Latin for comparative purposes.
There are now more than 70o manuscripts available to translators, many of which are
more ancient and reliable than that which Erasmus or the KJV translators had to work with.
Two of the most highly regarded manuscripts are Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, both of which
are in the original Greek and date back to the 4th century. These ancient manuscripts do
not contain the phrase "Where there worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
It does seem strange that Christ would repeat such a litany, for His speech to those
gathered to hear Him was normally quite common. Yahshua did not speak as if reciting
poetry, but conversed in the common tongue using ordinary expression. Seeing that some
of the best and most reliable ancient manuscripts of the New Testament omit these words,
it is very possible that they were added to the text at a later time. Nevertheless, it is
beneficial to understand what meaning these expressions were intended to convey. They in
no way contradict the Biblical testimony we have observed elsewhere of the limited duration
of hell and the lake of fire. Even if we remove these doubtful phrases from the text, we are
left with the following: