Recently I've been very interested in the history of the invention of hell. I've found it very mentally freeing to trace these concepts from one conception to another, one religion to the next. But in finding the root of the idea of being punished in an afterlife for deeds while living I've not been able to find anything earlier than the Greeks, who according to wikipedia had some concepts around Hades as a destination for everyone, and Tartarus as a place where the Gods sent those who deserved special punishment. Also it seems not all Christians believe in hell? Perhaps someone here has done similar research?
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I briefly dabbled with the JWs in my teens and they said that hell was actually a land fill outside of Jerusalem
273kelvin
Level 8
June 10, 2018
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Strangely there’s a little truth to that, there is a reference in the bible to Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, which is said to be cursed.
But the bible uses multiple terms for hell, the Hebrew Sheol which is an afterlife is translated just as “the grave”, Greek Gehenna as hell and sometimes Hades from the Greek as various terms.
So you see the translation of Gehenna as hell is highly suspect.
I believe the conception of hell that influenced Christianity and late Judaism comes from Zoroastrianism.
It is not found in the Old Testament and only in some of the New Testament writings. For instance Paul never mentions hell.
Later Christian writing such as the Revalation (written 60 years after Paul’s letters) contained the concept of hell. It seems that as Christianity became a state religion the threat of violence in the afterlife was emphasized more to promote social control. This is definitely the case within the political-religious system of Islam, whose sacred text is full of references to hell.
OrangeJuice
Level 6
June 10, 2018
1
This is interesting.
I've not done any research but I do know the Pluto/Hades myth. My thought was that heaven or the sky was reserved only for gods/goddesses but I could be wrong. I think the devil and hell are a Christian construct. I was please to hear Pope Francis say that he believes hell to be a myth. I also would love to hear more from anyone who has researched this
AmelieMatisse
Level 8
June 10, 2018
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