e a
great many clear proofs of the certainty and awfulness of Hell, the
proofs of this theory of Everlasting Torment are not much to be
depended on. Practically they can all be gathered into three groups.

In the first the chief word is DAMN or DAMNATION.

In the second the chief word is HELL.

In the third the chief word is EVERLASTING.

It is not too much to say that if these three sets of passages were
removed from the Bible nobody would think of believing in everlasting
torment. Now let me make the assertion straight out--There is no word
in the original language of the Bible that at all justifies the use of
either of these words in the meaning that we have attached to it--and
therefore the Revised Version of the Bible has practically swept them
all away.

Section 1

Take first the words Damn, Damnation which convey to us the idea of
doom to a Hell of never-ending torment and never-ending sin. The
original word conveyed no such idea to our Lord or the Apostles. It
conveyed no such idea to the translators of the Authorized Version.
When they translated it Damn and Damnation they did not at all mean
what we now mean.

There are two Greek words, _krino_ which means simply _to judge_, and
_kata-krino_ which means to _judge adversely_, to _condemn_, and it is
sometimes the first and sometimes the second of these words which is
translated "Damn." Why is it so translated? Surely the translators
did not think so evil of God as to believe that He could never judge a
man without condemning him and that He could never condemn him except
to everlasting torment. Not at all. They had no thought of this. The
English word "damn" at that time had no such awful meaning as has grown
into it in our day through the wide-spread influence of the theory
which I am criticizing. It simply meant what the Greek word meant. I
find an interesting illustration of this in the Wycliffe Bible in the
passage about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus saith, "Woman, hath
no man damned thee?" "No man, Lord." "Neither do I damn thee." That
is to say the English word Damn at that time only meant "_condemn_."
But words are dangerous things if not carefully watched, owing to their
tendency to change their meaning as a language grows. A new, darker
meaning has grown on to the English word since. Once an innocent word,
it has now become dangerous and misleading. Therefore, the Revisers
have swept it away, and _the words damn and da