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A Brief History of Hell

ROOTS IN PAGAN BELIEFS:

The ancient Egyptians believed in a fiery hell. The Book Am-Tuat, dated 1375 B.C.E., speaks of those who "shall be cast down headlong into the pits of fire; and . . . shall not escape there from, and . . . shall not be able to flee from the flames." Greek philosopher Plutarch (c.46-120 C.E) wrote of those in the world below: "[They] raised a cry of wailing as they underwent fearful torments and ignominious and excruciating chastisements."

 

SECTS OF JUDAISM ARE INFECTED:

The historian Josephus (37-c.100 C.E) reported that the Essenes, a Jewish sect, believed that "the souls are immortal, and continue forever." He added: "This is like the opinion of the Greeks . . . They allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of never-ceasing punishments."

 

INTRODUCED INTO "CHRISTIANITY":

In the second century C.E., the apocryphal book Apocalypse of Peter said of the wicked: "There is spread out for them unquenchable fire." It also stated: "Ezrael, the angel of wrath, brings men and women with the half of their bodies burning and casts them into a place of darkness, the hell of men; and a spirit of wrath chastises them." During the same time period, writer Theophilus of Antioch quotes the Greek prophetess Sibyl as foretelling the punishments of the wicked: "Upon you burning fire shall come, and ever ye shall daily burn in flames." These are among the words that Theophilus says are "true, and useful, and just, and profitable to all men."

 

HELLFIRE USED TO JUSTIFY VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES:

Mary I, queen of England (1553-1558), known as "Bloody Mary" for burning nearly 300 Protestants at the stake, reportedly said: "As the souls of heretics are hereafter to be eternally burning in hell, there can be nothing more proper than for me to imitate the Divine vengeance by burning them on earth."

 

A RECENT DEFINITION:

In recent years, some denominations have revised their teaching about hell. For example, the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England said in 1995: "Hell is not eternal torment, but it is the final and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God so completely and so absolutely that the only end is total non-being."