Core Message Of Christianity Isn't One Of Love

[dyresand]

I'm fairly sure the Old Testament speaks of Sheol, or Hades, which to the ancients was the Underworld (because it was under the earth, or so they thought) and it basically served the purpose of heaven and hell - people are judged for their actions in life, the good rest in peace, and the bad are tortured and enslaved. Jesus taught this as well, in his story about the rich man and Lazarus, citing a river that divides the half containing the pious from those that are wicked. The early Christians even devoted an entire myth to Jesus going down to Hades to preach the Gospel so that all of the righteous Hebrews of old could be saved to partake in the future Resurrection. Even as "late" as the turn of the third century, Christian theologians taught that when you die, you go to Hades, or Abraham's bosom as they now called it, and you wait there until the Day of Judgment. When that occurs, the world supposedly goes to shit, the unbelievers are cast into hell, or the the lake of fire, and the Christians get to dwell in the new Jerusalem where Jesus reigns as monarch.

Think about that. David said if (not when)he descended to hell god would be there. That means the place he was talking about was not the place of eternal separation from god the Christians today tell us about. Sheol or hades was not in the prophets. In classic Judaism the dead were dead. See Ecclesiastic 9:5.  When you talk about a river that sounds like Styx. Apocalyptic Judaism was introduced when the people saw god was not going to save them from the Babylonians and really began to supplant the teachings of the prophets in the second century BCE. You can’t understand all the contradictions and discrepancies in the Old Testament unless you know about all the waring theologies that went into its writing.  There was no general resurrection or mention of Abraham’s Bosom in the Old Testament. These concepts are strictly apocalyptic. If I’m wrong please show me the chapter and verse and I will stand corrected. (unless it’s scripture that has to be interpreted to make it say that.)

^Yep hell isn't a separation from god