How Hell Got Hijacked: The Surprising Origins of the Modern View of Eternal Torment truthsum.org

The hell most people picture—fiery pits, screaming souls, and pitchfork-wielding demons—is more fiction than Scripture.

While many assume this vision comes from the Bible, the modern concept of hell is deeply rooted in Greek philosophy, medieval literature, and church tradition, not the teachings of Jesus.

Ancient Greek thinkers like Plato promoted the idea of the soul’s inherent immortality—an idea foreign to the Bible, which teaches that “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Eternal life, according to Scripture, is a gift (Romans 6:23), not a default.

Jesus did speak of “hell,” but He used the word Gehenna—a real valley outside Jerusalem known for fire and destruction, not endless torture. In Matthew 10:28, He says God can destroy both body and soul—not torment them forever.

The image of a fiery underworld was popularized by Dante’s Inferno, a brilliant work of fiction that shaped Christian imagination for centuries. The medieval church further used fear of hell and purgatory to control the faithful.

Misleading translations compounded the issue, rendering distinct biblical words—Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus—all as “hell.”

To understand God’s justice and mercy, we must return to the Bible itself. There, we find a God who offers life—not eternal torment—and who destroys evil completely rather than sustaining it forever.

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