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Jerusalem's
sizzling summer sun in '73 fiercely scorched my exposed skin and slow-cooked
my brain. I found archaeology at the Temple Mount to be good, hard, hot,
dusty, thirsty work. It was so hot and three of us so thirsty that we
stood at the edge of the precipice that noonday summoning the nerve to
launch an expedition into the very depths of hell itself to find something
to cool our dry tongues and parched lips.
Down we went, down, down into the Valley of Hinnom, down into Gehenna,
down into the very hell that Jesus spoke of, down, down . . . until
we found the small grocery store that sold the most delicious pineapple
Popsicles you can imagine. We bought four, including one that I got
for a beautiful coworker (now my lovely wife), and marched back up
the steep street happily licking our treats. After that, we regularly
went to hell and back for Popsicles.
Hell must not be so bad then? No, hell is bad enough, but more importantly hell is badly misunderstood by every religion of the world—especially traditional Christianity. There is no need for you to misunderstand hell, however. Come, let me take you on a quick tour of the Bible. We'll go to hell and back with true understanding.
Hell to the world
At the turn of the 21st century various surveys show that in America about half of the population believes in a hell of some sort.
Some believe in the basic, popular hell of Catholic and Protestant Christianity—an ever-burning place of torment and punishment for the immortal souls of wicked people. They're firmly convinced that the Bible teaches that kind of hell—even though it was not part of Christian doctrine until nearly two centuries after Christ!
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