Is Mr 9:48 speaking of hellfire, and does it mean that Maggots are Immortal?

Question

Clear & Concise answers will do...Thx.

Answer 1

Gehenna was a TRASH DUMP outside the city then.

DEAD bodies were thrown there; the Bible does not speak of living/ coherent spirits living there.

In mentioning the “maggot” in connection with Gehenna, Jesus evidently was alluding to the dump outside the city of Jerusalem where fires consumed the refuse and where worms or maggots subsisted on decaying matter near, but not in, the fire.—Mr 9:48; compare Isa 66:24;  

Answer 2

Jesus is quoting Is. 66:24...

“ And they shall go forth and look

      Upon the corpses of the men

      Who have transgressed against Me.

      For their worm does not die,

      And their fire is not quenched.

      They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into h**l fire—  where ‘ Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’  Mk. 9:47-48

Maggots are not immortal, but in h**l, there are supernatural worms that eat through your spiritual body and you are alive when this takes place.  Read Lk. 16:19-31.

Answer 3

To the first half of your question: "Is Mr 9:48 speaking of hellfire?"

Yes.

And your second question: "and does it mean that Maggots are Immortal?"

I agree with Outdoorsman's speculation. However, just as we can't fully understand heavenly things, I'm not sure we can fully grasp what future awaits for the unrepentant.  It is not something I ever want to fully understand from first-hand experience!!!

http://www.needgod.com/

The Bible Describes h**l

There are three words translated “Hell” in Scripture:

Gehenna (Greek): The place of punishment (Matthew 5:22,29; 10:28; and James 3:6)

Hades (Greek): The abode of the dead (Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27)

Sheol (Hebrew): The grave (Psalm 9:17; 16:10)

There are those who accept that h**l is a place of punishment, but believe that the punishment is to be annihilated—to cease conscious existence. They can’t conceive that the punishment of the wicked will be conscious and eternal. If they are correct, then a man like Adolph Hitler, who was responsible for the deaths of millions, is being “punished” merely with eternal sleep. His fate is simply to return to the non-existent state he was in before he was born, where he doesn’t even know that he is being punished.

However, Scripture paints a different story. The rich man who found himself in h**l (Luke 16:19-31) was conscious. He was able to feel pain, to thirst, and to experience remorse. He wasn’t asleep in the grave; he was in a place of “torment.” If h**l is a place of knowing nothing or a reference to the grave into which we go at death, Jesus’ statements about h**l make no sense. He said that if your hand, foot, or eye causes you to sin, it would be better to remove it than to “go into h**l, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48).

The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such fearful words as the following:

“Shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2)

“Everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46)

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51)

“Fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:17)

“Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” (Romans 2:8,9)

“Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

“Eternal fire...the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 7,13)

Revelation 14:10,11 tells us the final, eternal destiny of the sinner: “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone...the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night."

We do not enjoy speaking in detail about the torments of h**l. It is, however, a real place and God in his love and mercy does not want you to go there.