THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507280091
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
WHEN I THINK of hell, I think of the Far Side.
You know. Those wacky cartoons penned by Gary Larson. One of my favorite Larson depictions is two doors representing the gates of hell. On the left is the ``Damned If You Do'' door. Naturally, on the right is the portal marked, ``Damned If You Don't.''
To many people, however, hell is no laughing matter. A 1990 Gallup Poll showed that 60 percent of Americans believe in hell, 2 percent more than in the church-booming, Bible-believing 1950s and 7 percent more than in a 1981 poll. This resurgence of belief has many theologians stumped. For much of the 20th century, hell was shrugged off as nothing more than the vivid imagination of Medieval writers and artists. Now resurrected, hell is getting a second look. Books are being written it. Movies like ``Ghost'' allude to it.
With all this attention, you'd think this generation had invented hell, but the idea has been around for quite a while. Almost every culture in every time and nearly every religion - with the exception of North American native religions - has some concept of an eternal place of punishment for evildoers.
If we can't get the bad guys in this life, we humans have faith that God will get them in the hereafter.
Muslims believe that after death, every soul must follow the Path to Paradise. On the way, the soul must cross a narrow bridge. If judged unworthy, it falls into a pool of fire. Islamic theologians disagree as to whether the flames are literal and nowhere does the Koran say that hell is eternal.
Hindus and Buddhists believe that the individual life force of a person passes into one of many hells: 21 in Hinduism and up to 15 (eight cold, seven hot) in Buddhism. These hells are temporary abodes where wicked karma is purged. The life force then moves on to its next life.
Taoism, which began in China about 650 B.C., teaches that the god of walls and moats judges all humans. The dead who still cling to their evil ways spend a set time in one of several hells.
In Jainism, a 2,500-year-old spin-off of Hinduism, humans are punished in one of 8.4 million hells. Those who commit unpardonable sins are kept eternally in a bottomless pit.
When modern Americans think of hell, however, most likely it's the Judeo-Christian hell of the Bible. It might surprise many to know that the biblical hell changed radically from Genesis to The Revelation.
Early Jews believed in Sheol, a shadowy underworld that held all the dead. The idea of an eternal place of punishment didn't evolve until about 200 B.C. Though not mentioned in Hebrew Scripture, the concept of Gehenna was born out of a frustration that folks were getting away with sin in this lifetime. Named after a foul Jerusalem dump where garbage and dead animals were burned, Gehenna became what historian Alan Bernstein calls ``a cosmic disposal site for the wicked.''
By the time Jesus Christ came on the scene, the idea of a burning hell for evildoers was ripe. MEMO: Columnist's note: The concept of hell is such a big one, I've decided to
take two columns to discuss it. This week's column deals with the
history of hell and how other religions view it. Next week, I'll give
some personal thoughts on the topic, followed by reader response the
next week.
by CNB