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Eschatology: fire, brimstone, and the end of the age

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Wayne:
Can I be a little bit creepy?    :-\

I think the notion of hell - fire and brimstone - emerged from the literal experience of seeing bodies decay.    :P  They seem to be burning with a fire from within, and they smell like brimstone -- sulfur, or actually hydrogen sulfide.

The ancient Hebrew word that we translate as Hell was Gehenna, which was just the name of the literal place outside of town where they dumped bodies.

So hell, fire, and brimstone is not a special condemnation. It's just what happens as bodies decay. People wanted to escape that by being granted eternal life. They sought lots of routes.

Wayne:
Here is a photo of the actual location of Gehenna, the word that gets translated as "hell."

So this is the location - Gehenna - that they were talking about in the Bible when they said hell.

This chasm is what the word hell refers to. To go to hell means to be tossed into this gully.

Doesn't look all that bad ...    :-\

Wayne:
Of course, the implication of being tossed in this gully is that nobody was taking care of your dead body.

If somebody cared about you, they would instead have put your body in an enclosed tomb for a year to decay. After a year they would come back and gather up your bones and put them in an ossuary. The tomb could then be used again later for another friend or family member.

So in that sense, "go to hell" means not "die and be punished," but "die and be forgotten."

injest:
isn't that the worst fear a lot of people have? that they would die and no one will care? I think about that a lot....whether anyone would really care if I were gone.

sure my husband would (who would cook dinner?) but really what difference do I make?

Shakesthecoffecan:
One of the more common epithaphs I have seen in old cemeteries: "Gone But Not Forgotton". I once saw that on a stone that the top half, and the name of the deceased, was missing.

This is very interesting Wayne, so a visitor to the Holy Land can literally go to hell.

Ye shall know the truth, its name is Metaphor.

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