(6 minute read)

The Creeping Crawling Christian Myths of Hell

(From previous post): The Christian myth of the afterlife permeates our culture even today. According to recent surveys, those myths are very much alive and well. Sixty-nine percent of Americans who were surveyed believe in angels.

To be Christian means accepting certain questionable core myths. They are not disappearing anytime soon. But then again, the entirety of Christian beliefs, stems from an intentional misinterpretation of ancient scriptures that were willfully censored.

Can I be any clearer than that? If not, the next article will do so.

Invisible World By Majority?

Despite these facts, Americans in 2023 continue to believe in an invisible world.

A recent Pew Research survey shows that over the decades every mainstream religion has continued to decline in membership. Yet, the innate wish to believe in an unseen world is still prevalent among U.S. residents.

• 71% believe in heaven
• 61% believe in hell
• 60% believe in both
• 83% believe people have a soul
• 81% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world
• 45% believe they have a connection to an unseen world
• 30% believe they have personally encountered a spirit

For some, it is comforting to know that their personal beliefs align with many others. This is true even if that majority is non-religious.

There are many reasons why these numbers are so high. Old habits are hard to break. Unquestioned cultural traits persist. The evolutionary “god part of the brain” is still active in each of us.

The Hebrew Myth of Hell

…is virtually non-existent in the first century.

The Christian faith finds its roots in the Jewish faith. The first century Hebrews believed in only one place for the afterlife. All souls went to Sheol after death.

It is hard to fathom for some, but Sheol was a great big nothing. No experiences. No pain. No pleasure. Just an existence without any meaning

Initially, the Hebrew culture had no fascination with an afterlife despite being surrounded by neighboring cultures that did. For the ancient Hebrew there was no hell, no fire, no Satan, no eternal darkness.

Yet, it is worth noting that in the second century BCE a Jewish sect emerged called the Essenes. Eventually they would have a profound impact on the first century Christians.

The Essenes were a monastic, mystical group, an outlier to the Jewish faith. They developed a belief in a very active invisible world. The sect lasted about three hundred years.

Many believe the Essenes originated the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the late 1940s. They sequestered themselves in the Qumran region on the northern banks of the Dead Sea. They were apocalyptic in their beliefs. Over time, they created an elaborate myth of an invisible world. They “aligned themselves with [invisible] angels”. They believed in an invisible arch enemy they called “Satan, Beelzebub, or Belial.”

They were a communal (everything belonged to the group). They grew to an estimated 4,000 men (sorry ladies, men’s only club).

The sects ideals never became “mainstream” in the Jewish faith. The group fizzled out in the latter part of the first or early second century. But their ideals and beliefs in the unseen world seem very familiar to Western cultures today.

The Christian Myth of Hell

Something very significant happens to the Christian sect before they separate from their Jewish roots. Still working within the framework of the Jewish faith, the sect continued to expand their worldview. They included, enhanced, and promoted the Jesus as Messiah myth. Among other things, they also expanded the afterlife myths with the help of adopting some of the Essenes beliefs.

Those changes were enough reasons for the group to be rejected by their Jewish brothers and sisters. The destruction of the second temple by the Romans in 70 CE didn’t help either. When it became obvious that the differences were too great, the two communities recognized they were no longer compatible. They resolved to separate.

Records to date are sparse on how the schism was settled. It may or may not have been one single event. Scholars have attempted to fill in the gaps. Most of them are equally convincing and worthy of your exploration.

One such explanation for the severance is a result of the Roman’s destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE. Jew and Christian alike believed that each other were to blame for the calamity.

Inspired by the story of Achan’s disobedience in Joshua 7, they came to their conclusions independently. Each side reasoned that God allowed the destruction because of disobedience from the other side. The Christian sect blamed the Jews for the destruction of the temple because they rejected the Jesus myth. In turn the Jews blamed the Christians were blamed because of their blasphemy in believing in the Jesus myth.

Whatever the reason, it is safe to say that followers of The Way began to dramatically veer from traditional Judaism.

“The Path to Paradise Begins in Hell” –Dante, The Divine Comedy

Ask any American what the definition of hell is. Their answer often includes “a place set aside for the future punishment of the wicked after death.”

Or …words to that effect.

Where exactly did that belief about eternal damnation come from?

Ancient people actively assumed that the myths they handed down were very “real.” They believed the universe was inhabited and influenced by “an invisible world.”

Many ancient myths included a world inhabited by ethereal beings …angels, demons, spirit guides, gods, goddesses, heavenly messengers, etc. Cultures gave common traits to these unseen beings. They were seen as impish entities. These beings seemed to relish interacting more with humans than with the natural world.

The Christian sect began to separate from its Jewish roots. As they began to recognize the differences from their Jewish brothers they formed a new identity. Creating a more colorful definition of the afterlife did not happen overnight.

Over the centuries …yes centuries! …the Christians created and elevated the elements of an afterlife that compared with no one. Especially their construct of hell, which would eventually produce some of the most torturous, sadistic imagery imaginable.

Ironically, at various times throughout history, the Christian church unleashed hell on earth. They did this through their various inquisitions, persecution of heretics, and forced conversions to the faith.

Read The Emerging Christian Myths, Pt. 8

Sources

• R. Allen Killen, Hell, Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, Moody Press, 1982
• Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, Vintage Books, 1995
• Charles Panati, Sacred Origins of Profound Things, Penguin/Arkana Books, 1996
• Russel Shorto, Gospel Truth, Riverhead Books, 1998