Who Invented Hell?

Note: The scripture links may use the word "hell" but my references are going by the original words discussed in this post and not later translations.

1. The creation story does not depict our modern idea of hell.
According to the early OT (Genesis 2:7), we are made of two things: dirt and the breath of life. Death was what happened when the mysterious forces that made you alive were gone. It was not about judgment, it was not about heaven/hell; it was simply a fact for all creatures. However, the scripture wasn't written all at once, so this understanding of life and death and life after death evolved.

2. Hades
Hades was the ancient Greek notion of the underworld, where people (good and bad) went when they died. . Later, the mythology of the Greek Underworld of Hades began to evolve different regions: Elysian fields was a "good" place (later Dante used it for the Catholic conception of limbo), and Tartarus was a "bad" place, among others.

3. Sheol
Sheol was the OT biblical parallel for Hades. Even though originally death was death and that was it, soon the notion of an actual place came into play. Dead people in Sheol were thought to be separated from God (Proverbs 9:18).

4. Gehenna
There was an actual place recorded in the OT called Gehenna. The name means "Valley of Hinnom" (sometimes Ben Hinnom) southwest of Jerusalem. Some of the kings of Judah engaged in some rather hideous practices in that valley. They built altars and practiced the sacrifice by fire of their children (2 Chronicles 28:3 and 33:6, Jeremiah 7:31)

This valley of Gehenna later became a landfill. Trash was heaped there, and periodically the trash would be burned down. In extracanonical Jewish literature (First Enoch, for example), Gehenna began to be used to describe a final place and state of firey torment of the wicked.

Then the NT starts to use Gehenna as the final place of firey torment, although sometimes in scripture it is a "final" place, and sometimes not, which shows that the idea is still being formed. Nothing is set in stone yet.

Mark 9 (NIV)
47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, [Gehenna] 48where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

5. Scripture isn't the only influence of our modern understanding of hell.
1300's: Dante Alighieri – epic poetry, The Divine Comedy
1500's: Hieronymus Bosch – paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights
1600's: John Milton – epic poetry, Paradise Lost

Our Old and New Testaments were written in several different languages. When the much-loved, much-debated KJV came out, it translated all the different words into one: hell.

Take aways:

1. It's messy: Live in the tension
Before you throw out the idea of hell as something that tradition just invented, remember that we have invented a lot of things. The church's job is to interpret things that are not expressly clear in scripture, and to reinterpret things that are. Consider slavery, which is clearly supported in scripture, and was supported and practiced in the church until recently, when we reinterpreted that.

2. It's true: Alienation from God is a terrible thing
Here's a good working definition of hell, and it's the same as the definition of sin:
That which is separated from God.

3. It's heartbreaking: Let the world's pain injure your heart the way it injures God's
It's just like Matt said last week: to take any sort of satisfaction or pleasure in the hellish alienation of any of God's creatures is a grave and horrible thing.


A benediction for you:

People of God,

You are traveling a complicated spiritual landscape every day.
Stay in good spiritual shape.
Keep your tools and maps handy, and share them with others who have need.
Listen to your guides, the ones who are strong in God and experienced on the journey.
Don't be discouraged by the complexity of the trail.
Return regularly to base camp (this is one of many), to rest, replenish, and reconnect.
Stay close with your traveling companions, and in touch with your God.
Look for and rescue those who have been separated from the rest.
May your hearts be soft, and broken on behalf of those who stray away.

Your God goes with you.