When people hear or read the word Hell, they usually think of a place that churches describe as a place of eternal fire meant as punishment for those who reject Messiah Jesus.
As it turns out, the word Hell is not the correct word for what churches associate Hell with.
First of all, the word Hell isn’t actually in the Hebrew and Greek biblical manuscripts. That is because the word Hell is Germanic in origin.
The biblical authors didn’t use Germanic terminology. Instead, they used Hebrew and Greek terminology.
“The Old English hel belongs to a family of Germanic words meaning ‘to cover’ or ‘to conceal.'” – Encyclopedia Britannica
Hell eventually became synonymous with the realm of the dead in Norse mythology.
In Norse mythology, Hell is depicted as a very cold place. So, from an ancient Norse perspective, the expression “Hell frozen over” is redundant.
At the time that the books of the New Testament were being written, Hell had its counterpart in Greek mythology. That counterpart is Hades.
Hades was originally the name for the god of the dead in Greek mythology.
Here is how he is depicted in the 1997 animated Disney film Hercules:
Hades eventually became the name for the place in Greek mythology where all dead people reside.
“It was not necessarily a place of torment and suffering but in most cases, simply the final resting place of the soul.” – Ancient History Encyclopedia
So, if the biblical authors never used the word Hell, then how did the word Hell end up in church lore, and why do people think of Hell as being a hot place?
This blogger can’t say for certain what the correct answers are, but here are some guesses.
1. A faulty English translation of the Bible became the standard English Translation.
The King James Version of the Bible uses Hell in place of the actual words used in the Hebrew and Greek biblical texts. For example, the KJV reads like this in Revelation 20:13-15:
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
2. People with faulty reading comprehension mistook the KJV’s Hell in Revelation 20:13-15 as being the actual lake of fire.
Once again, here is that passage as given in the KJV:
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Verses 13 and 14 clearly depict Hell as being a place separate from the lake of fire. Indeed, Hell is depicted as being the realm of all dead people who weren’t buried at sea.
Even though the KJV incorrectly uses Hell instead of Hades, it nevertheless expresses the concept of Hades, and it doesn’t identify Hell as a place eternal fire and eternal punishment.
3. Once a false idea becomes ingrained in the collective psyche of the masses, it is very difficult – if not impossible – to get the the masses to accept a correction.
It may be too difficult for modern-day preachers to get the masses to accept the fact that Hell is’t a biblical name. After all, it wasn’t easy to get the masses to accept the fact that the KJV isn’t flawless and the fact that the KJV’s translators weren’t prophets (although some preachers still functionally worship the KJV).
Featured Image by Didier Descouens. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”