“Few things point more towards the man-made origin of religion than the twisted sisters who first came up with the idea of Hell. Even the pagan Romans and Greeks believed Hades was just a depressing underworld of shadows.
The genuinely frightening `Old Testament God makes no mention of it; we dont get much detail until the Prince of Peace comes along in the new testament. (Work with me Israelites)”
AFAIK, the early Christians didn’t believe in Hell either. They seem to have subscribed to the Jewish concept of “Sheol”, which was a place where the dead would go and exist in a zombie-like state. They believed that Satan and his minions would eventually be cast into the lake of fire, but not man.
The idea of all these elaborate tortures that sinners would be subjected to in Hell seems to have originated with the medieval Church.
I believe certain sects of the Greek Orthodox Church interpret Hell as a total spiritual divorce from God.
Making perdition an eternal broken heart—the worst torment of all—a pain that drove Lucifer and his minions mad.