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 don’t get much detail until the Prince of Peace comes along in the ‘new’ testament. (Work with me Israelites)
There’s a lot of throat-clearing when you bring up Heaven: `What’s it like?’ “Well, um, it’s very nice. It’s comfortable. Think Hooters, but the waitresses are fully clothed. Eat all you want, solid gold bar & pearl urinals, um, lions laying down with lamb, probably all the ice cream you can eat ... “ etc. etc.
But bring up hell and you get specific details, a comprehensive, descriptive & hair-raising tour of all seven levels with the gnashing of teeth, wailing, 3rd degree burns, hopping devils forking souls into the lake of fire, and on-and-on.
I think it was Tertullian who first described one of the comforts of Heaven as constant relish in the torture of others.
Well anyway, merry Christmas.
Hm...I don't recall any mention of urinals in Dante's Divine Comedy. Interestingly, your description of heaven is somewhat closer to that of Robert Heinlein's book, "Job: A Comedy of Justice"
Highly recommended, but I'll say that about almost anything by Heinlein.
“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 don’t 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.