It's a cult. If God were real, he'd be a sociopath.
It's a cult. If God were real, he'd be a sociopath.
Rather than eternal torment (and heaven) it was originally a bit more vague and esotheric. Not a place of fire and demons and a place in the clouds with golden gates and all things nice which the catholic church declines to support regardless of what some church frescos depict.
Supposedly hell is/was more more like eternal absence of god. Eternal nothingness which supposedly is horrifying to some rather than eternally being with god or becoming one with him.
The ancient Israelites originally believed in Sheol[0,1], an afterlife where everyone went, regardless of their morality. The modern concept of Hell is a political construct meant to answer the problem of evil and the absence of God's justice in times of persecution[2..4].
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUCW-PMBvKE
[2]https://old.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/1fsatrp/o...