Atheists Go To Hell
By Zarathustra
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Periodically Christians suggest to that I will go to Hell because I am an atheist. Today I did just that! And, it was a cold day in Hell, Michigan when the Monroe Area Atheists, Agnostics and Secular Humanists Meetup group arrived for a luncheon.
In 1838 George Reeves and his family settled a few miles southwest of Pinckney where they built a mill and general store. George ground flour and operated a whiskey still. In 1841 officials of the State of Michigan asked George what he wanted to name the town that grew up around his mill and store, he replied, “Call it Hell for all I care, everyone else does.” The name stuck even when efforts were later made to change the name to Reevesville or Reeves Mill.
The Hebrew words that translate most often to Hell are Sheol and Gehenna. Originally, Sheol referred to the pit in which a corpse was buried. Gehenna was the place where residents of Jerusalem burned their rubbish and the corpses of both animals and dead criminals. To keep the fire burning, brimstone (sulfur) was added.
The Greek word that translates most often to Hell is Hades. In early Greek mythology, Hades and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans and claimed rulership over the universe ruling the underworld, sky, and sea, respectively. The corpses of all the dead were buried in the earth or sea and their souls became subjects of Hades or Poseidon. The souls of heroes were rescued by their patron deity and lived on in the sky.
The Goth translation of the Bible involves the use of the words halja for the grave or pit and gaiainnan (Gehenna) for the burning pit. Eventually both words are most often translated to Hell. Hell comes from Old Norse hel literally meaning the “concealed place” and is the place in the earth or sea where the corpse is concealed with dirt or water.
Early Norse mythology contrasts the hall (hel) of slain heroes, with a cold, dark, foreboding place simply called the hall of the dead or hel. The souls of oath breakers, evil persons, and those unlucky enough not to have died in battle remained in hel. The souls of heroes joined Oden in Valhalla.
Early Christians believed that all of the dead first went under the earth to the place called Hell were the souls of the unrighteous were cast into a burning pit; the souls of the righteous were rescued and went to the place in the sky called Heaven.
The Hell of Pagan mythology adopted by Christians is a pretend place like Heaven. I don’t expect that my corpse will go to the grave; I plan on being cremated. I would like to have my ashes worked into a vegetable garden or spread in the woods. But, maybe they’ll keep me on a shelf for a few years and then toss me in the trash after all; maybe I will go to Hell.
© Zarathustra, January 20, 2008. All right reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce electronically or otherwise for personal use and/or to share with others so long as article is published in its entirety and properly attributed. May not otherwise be reproduced for profit without the author’s permission.
Word Count: 500
Sheol is translated in the Old Testament 31 times to hell, 31 times to grave, and 3 times to pit
Gehenna, or the Hinnom Valley, is a deep and narrow ravine with steep, rocky sides located southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the hill of evil counsel' and the sloping rocky plateau of the 'plain of Rephaim' to the south. The Hinnom Valley is mentioned 13 times in the Old Testament and includes an account of child sacrifices in the rubbish fires. The word Gehenna appears in the New Testament where it is translated to hell 9 times.
Hades is translated in the New Testament 10 times to hell, and 1 time to grave.
The Greek pantheon of deities where called theo or thea. The word atheos literally means without deity and refers to all whose souls were left in hell because they lacked the patronage of a deity.
Old Norse hel, Old high German hell, Old English hel or helan all from the Germanic root *kel- meaning to cover, conceal or hide. From the same root we get the words hall, hole, hollow and helmet.
