Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
From my readings into ancient religion and theology, I believe one of the places usually translated to interpreted as hades/hell in modern Christianity is called Sheol in the Jewish Torah (basically the old testament). In the context of the time and language, this didn't even mean Hell as a supernatural place of damnation but a place where all dead go when they die no matter what your status or affiliation or what you did in your life. There was no afterlife. You just died - ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Eternal punishment does not exist in the Hebrew Bible. It's probably a Christian construction to counterpoint the fact that for eternal life to mean something there must be an opposite, eternal death which people need to fear and therefore conform.
I'd like to see what Textcritic knows about that point.
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Since this for sure is not the place for an in depth religious discussion I will only indicate that the Bible covers this very clearly - whether people believe it or not is up to them - also Heaven and Hell is mentioned in the Old Testament.
FYI the Old Testament is in some form or another ver batem in for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.