The document discusses the origins and history of the concept of "hell" from its biblical roots to its development in Christian theology. It describes how the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, where child sacrifices were performed to pagan gods, came to represent the place "down there" where the wicked would be cast into flames. Over time, the concept of hell developed further to represent the place of eternal torment or punishment for those who do not accept Jesus. The document explores various biblical terms and passages related to hell and the afterlife.

2. The worshipers of the pagan deities, Baal and Molech, practiced child
sacrifice in the valley of Hinnom (2 Kings 23:10). The first specific mention
of human sacrifice in Israel is in 2 Kings 16:3 and in Judah is in 2 Kings
17:17. The parallel passage in 2 Chron. 28:3 indicates that the scene of the
abomination was the valley of Hinnom. This event in the Old Testament
played a major role in forming the doctrine of hell in Christian theology
by giving birth to the teaching about burning.
Hugh Tobias, Hinnom, Valley Of, ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers,
2003), 765.

3. The conversion of Saul, of Tarsus, while he was on another
quest to prosecute Christians in Damascus, was a critical turning point in
Christian theology. Paul was instrumental in the spreading of the gospel
to Jews and gentile, having more credibility with the Romans and Jews
due to his history of protecting the faith against Christianity, pleasing
both. This one conversion gave us most of our Bible and Christian
theology.

4. The doctrine of “hell” does not actually contain itself to hell, but describes
what we are taught from birth, that happens to those that do not accept
Jesus as their personal savior. More often than not, it is taught, accepted, and
believed that when a person dies they either go heaven or hell. If they are in
hell they are being tormented, or that the torment is the eternal separation
from Jehovah. It is also taught, and believed, that those in hell will burn
forever. What is and what happens to “hell” is the focus of this presentation;
although, we will explore what goes into the different meanings of hell.
2 Corinthians 5:8 is often used as proof that when a Christian dies they are
immediately in heaven with our Lord Yeshua, Jesus; however, it actually says:
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord.” That does not say that it is one or the
other, it means that Paul would rather be present with the Lord Jesus than in
his body.
I believe that we should consider the fact that there will be one judgment,
and one opening of the Lamb’s book of life, when we all stand before Jesus
to accept the reward of heaven, or the punishment of the lake of fire and the
second death.

5. Jehovah is fair and Just. In the perfect plan of Jehovah, he has
given all judgment to Jesus. John 5:21-23 “21 For the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth (makes alive) them; even so the Son
quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the
Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son
honoureth not the Father which has sent him.”
There is no Judgment until Jesus opens the book of life; therefore,
there has been no reward, nor punishment.

6. Deuteronomy 32:17—22 contains the first use of “hell”
in the New King James Bible. Because the people sacrificed to
devils, Jehovah said “a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn
unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her
increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” The
word translated to “hell” is a Hebrew word, sheol, defined in
Strong’s Concordance as “Hades or the world of the dead (as if a
subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmates:-
grave, hell, pit.”

7. 2 Samuel 22:1-6 presents the second use of the
word “hell”. King David was praising Jehovah for “delivering
him out of the hands of al his enemies, and out of the hands
of Saul.” In verse 6 King David said “ The sorrows of hell
compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;”
The Hebrew word ‘sheol’ is used here but there is no fire or
torture. This same word is used in the books of Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Jonah, and Habakkuk. All
present “hell” as the grave of the soul, the spirit world.
Genesis 3:19 is specific about the destiny of the body: “In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto
the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return”.

8. New Testament uses the Greek words hades, Ge-hinnom, and
tartaroo. Hades is the same as the Hebrew sheol, the spirit world,
grave of the soul. Ge-hinnom refers to the physical valley on earth,
outside of Jerusalem, in Matthew 10:28. Tartaroo refers to the place
of incarceration of the angels that sinned, 2 Peter 2:4. Of all of these
only ge-hinnom refers to a physical place, and the only one that
mentions burning.

9. The word Gehenna represents the nearest biblical approach to the
developed doctrine of hell as the place of the damned. Thus the
RSV employs the English word “hell” almost exclusively for
Gehenna (Gk. géenna).
The name comes from the Hebrew expressions gê hinnōm, gê ben-
hinnōm, and gê benê-hinnōm, which mean respectively “valley of
Hinnom,” “valley of the son of Hinnom,” and “valley of the sons of
Hinnom.”All refer to a valley south of Jerusalem which became
infamous for its sacrificial site called Topheth where children were
offered to the god Molech during the reigns of such wicked kings
of Judah as Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6). King Josiah
defiled the site during his reforms so that children no longer would
be sacrificed there (2 Kgs. 23:10), but the valley may have been
used again for such practices after his time (Jer. 7:31–32; 19:2–6;
32:35).
Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 478479.

10. The Valley of Hinnom had a very horrendous history in ancient times.
It was used as a place where the pagan worshipers did all sorts of vile
and wicked things - including burning children alive as sacrifices to
the idols Moloch and Baal. One section of the valley was called
Tophet, or the "fire-stove," where the children were slaughtered (2
Kings 23:10). It was a place of tremendous evil for many years.
After their return from the Babylonian exile, the Jews turned the
Hinnom Valley into the city dump where garbage and anything
deemed unclean (including the bodies of executed criminals) was
incinerated. For that purpose, a fire was kept constantly burning
there. Even though it was no longer used for evil worship, with all the
filth and thick smoke it remained a very dark and dreary place.
The Hebrew name Hinnom when translated into Greek is gehenna,
from which the word and concept of hell originated. By the time of
Jesus, the deep, constantly-burning Valley of Hinnom was also known
as the Valley of Gehenna, or Hell, and had taken on a popular image
as the place "down there" where the wicked would eventually be
cast into the flames for destruction.
Daily Bible Study. By Wayne Blank.
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/hinnom.htm

11. A typical drawing of the image of hell

12. Typical drawing of the belief that “hell” is the lake of fire
Described in Revelation 20:12-15

13. Some Bible scholars held on the basis of the Luke passage (16:19–31) that
Hades consists of two compartments where the dead are kept, “the
bosom of Abraham,” or Paradise, where Lazarus resided, and the place of
torment where the rich man suffered. This teaching seems derived more
from a pagan Greek origin than from the Gospel of Luke.
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 953954.
We should notice that there is no text that describes Lazarus as
anything other than poor, and the rich man other than rich; although,
It is widely accepted that hell is referring to a real place, whether
physical, or spiritual, where people that die in sin go to be tormented,
or to paradise, to be rewarded in the bosom of Abraham. Man can
only be safe in the bosom of Jesus, not a man born of the seed of
Adam. I believe the story of Luke 16:19-31 is a metaphor, a parable.

17. Bibliography
Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1987), 478479.
Brand, Chad, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, E. Ray
Clendenen, Trent C. Butler, and Bill Latta, eds. Holman Illustrated
Bible Dicionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003
Daily Bible Study. By Wayne Blank.
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/hinnom.htm
Hugh Tobias, Hinnom, Valley Of, ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers,
2003), 765.
The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate (Bellingham, WA:
Logos Bible Software, 2009), Re 20:1215.