Etymologically and/or conceptually.
Is it about being racist against Greek people? In other words, is "hell" connected to the Greeks' name for themselves--Hellenes? Like did the conquered, Hellenized Israelites have a beef? Or the Catholics, once they split from the Eastern Church, come up with this as part of their smear campaign? Or the Norse, in an early bout of demonizing Middle Easterners, identify "Hel" with the Byzantines?
All the above are probably totally off-base. Who knows?
― pope benedict, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)
Hell (according to many religious beliefs about the afterlife) is a place of torment and pain. The English word 'hell' comes from the Norse 'Hel', which originally referred to the goddess of the Norse underworld. The original meaning was likely "The Hidden": compare Anglo-Saxon helan and Latin celare = "to hide". (Also, the Greek words `Hades' and similar, came from Greek a-wid- = "not seen".)
In most religions' conception of Hell (with the notable exception of Judaism), evildoers will suffer eternally in Hell after their death or they will pay for their bad deeds in hell before reincarnations. In monotheistic religions, hell is ruled by demons, or simply defined by an utter absence of God or redemptive force. In polytheistic religions, the politics of hell could be as complicated as human politics.
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:57 (twenty years ago)
Words in the Bible, which are translated into the word "hell"
The Greek words "Hades" and "Geenna" are sometimes translated into the word "hell", though the concepts are dissimilar. Martin Luther translated for example the word "Hades" five times as the word "hell" (for example Matthew 16,18), and twice as "the dead", twice as the "world of the dead", and once as "his kingdom". "Geenna" was translated by Martin Luther eight times as "hell" (for example: Matthew 5,22,29,30; 18,9; Mark 9,43,45; and so on) and four times as "hellish".
The German Martin Luther was the first to use the word "hell" in a German translation of the Bible. In Norse mythology the underworld was a cold, monotonous place, which was commanded by the goddess Hel. Later the place was called Hel, too.
Newer translations of the Bible translate "Hades" or "Sheol" into the words "world of dead", "underworld", "grave", "crypt" or similar, but still translate the word "Geenna" into the word "hell".
The word "Hades" of the New Testament is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Sheol" of the Old Testament (Ap. 2,27, Psalm 16,10). What happens in Hades, or rather Sheol, Ecclesiastes tells us: "for in the Sheol, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." (Ecclesiastes 9,10) and "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. " (Ecclesiastes 9,5; see also Psalm 89,49; 139,8; 4. Mose 16,30). "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the Sheol and raises up. " (1. Samuel 2,6). Into the Hades are going the souls of all human beings, if they believe or not (Joh. 5,28-29; Job 3,11-19, 14,13; Ez 32,18-32; Ps. 31,17; Dan. 12,2).
Geenna (or Gehenna) is the name of a real place. It comes from Hebrew and means "gorge of Hinnom (Ge-Hinnom)". This gorge can still be visited today near Jerusalem. In the time of the Old Testament it was a place, where children were sacrificed to the Ammonite god Molech (2 Kings 23,10). That cultic practice was imitated by King Solomon in the 10th century before Christ and under the leadership of king Manasseh in the 7th century before Christ and in times of crisis until the time of exile of Babylon (6. century before Christ). The prophet Jeremiah, which condemned that cult strictly, called that valley "gorge of killing" (Jeremiah 7,31-32; 19,5-9). Gehenna became later a central garbage dump, to stop the practice of child sacrifice. At the time of Jesus that place was - like some researchers believe - used also to burn the dead bodies of criminals after their execution. The imagination of burning dead bodies probably inspired Jewish, and later Christian theologists to translate that place into the word "hell".
The sea of fire after the last tribunal in Revelation 20,14 isn't translated into the word "hell", but sometimes gets the connotations of "hell". In that sea of fire are thrown the beast, the devil and the false prophetand Hell (Hades) itself: "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for eaons of eaons." (Revelation 20,10)
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)