Hell is Just a Garbage Dump

To understand "hell" properly, not from the perspective of faith, but from the perspective of reason, one should take into consideration two main points

1. The Etymology of the word "hell"
2. The English translation of the Bible (the 1611 edition of the KJV)

Etymology of the word "Hell"

Some etymologists say that the English word "Hell" has an Indo-European root, "kel," meaning "cover" or "hide." Owing to the relationship between "k" and "h" sounds (both are aspirated sounds), "kel" is the root for "hall," which means "a covered or sheltered place" and "hell," which means "a hidden place aka Sheol and Hades. Even in Anglo-Saxon, "hel" has the same meaning.

The English "hell" is also strongly associated with the Germanic and Greek "hel." The root here is loaded with positive meanings. The Greek "hel" is the root for Helios, the sun god. The word "Hellenistic" refers to Greece, the land of light. The Greek "hel" is strongly related to the Egyptian "her" because the Egyptians freely interchanged the "r" and "l" sounds. The name of the Egyptian sun god is Heru, also pronounced "helu"

Among the Teutons, Hel is the goddess of the Dead, and her adobe is more like that of the Greek Hades, nothing to beat the Christian fire-and-brimstone hell.


English Translation of the Bible

Four separate words from Hebrew and Greek were translated into the one English word “hell.” It should also be noted that the idea of the traditional fire-and-brimstone hell does not appear anywhere in the entire Old Testament.

1. The Greek word Hades: It means a concealed place for dead people, i.e., a grave. Literally, it means "unseen" referring to the nether world of the dead, presided by the God Hades.

2. The Hebrew word Sheol: This means the same as Hades, a grave. In the Old Testament, Sheol means the underworld or the place of departed spirits. The only difference between the Greek Hades and the Hebrew Sheol is that Hades is associated with rich mythology, while Sheol means what it is: an unseen place inhabited by departed souls.

3. Tartaroo: This means "a deep dark abyss, a place of restraint, or incarceration."

4. Gehenna: It refers to the "Valley of Hinnon" and means a "steep sided gorge or valley." The Israelites, who did not follow the commandments of Yahweh, used to sacrifice their children to the pagan gods Moloch and Baal here. While fire is not associated with any of the above three words (Tartaroo, Hades, Sheol), it is associated with Gehenna—for a sensible reason. In the late Biblical era, during the time of Jesus, Gehenna was used as Jerusalem's garbage dump where refuse, dead animals, executed criminals, and so on were thrown and burned. Being a trash dump, Gehenna smoldered and burned continuously. The continuous glow from Gehenaa would certainly have looked like a "lake of fire" at Jerusalem.

Another interesting thing is that the Christian fire-and-brimstone hell is supposed to have plenty of worms crawling into the flesh of the hapless sinners. So, how do we explain these disgusting creatures? Both Isaiah 66: 24 and Mark 9:48 describe the type of these worms--maggots, the larvae of the common fly. A fly lays hundreds of eggs. The eggs hatch and maggots crawl out, which later turn into pupae and metamorphosis into flies. This is a cycle that repeats itself.

Now toss a dead body into Gehenna and imagine what would happen. The water content in the body wouldn't allow it to burn immediately. It would decay and be covered with maggots. When the tissues dried up it would be covered with fire. A casual observer would therefore see both—worms as well as fire. No wonder the Jews were terrified of Gehenna and did not want to end up there. And no wonder the ancient Jewish garbage dump sounds so familiar since we have been taught about hell right from childhood. It is a great pity they did not tell us that “hell” is only an “ancient Jewish garbage dump” blown out of proportions by church fathers who wanted to terrify people into Christianity.

Interesting Links: http://www.religionfacts....
http://www.equipministry.com/studies/mythhell.htm