Many people around the world today believe in a literal hell. There are varying versions of hell according to each religion. Perhaps the most familiar version of hell, at least to Westerners, is that from the New Testament in the Christian Bible. Hell is often described as a physical realm of eternal torment–a place of fire and gnashing of teeth. It is where bad individuals go when they die because they do not believe in God or Jesus.
However, as Rob Bell has written in his book, Love Wins, hell in the New Testament is most often translated incorrectly, for the Greek word used is Gehenna. This refers to a specific place outside of Jerusalem, which was known as the Valley of Hinnom. Gehenna was basically the city dump and there was a massive fire that burned constantly to consume all of the trash. Undoubtedly, there were rotting corpses of…
View original post 472 more words
