I checked heaven and hell in a concordance of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. "Heaven" appears hundreds of times, but hell is referred to by name only 13 times in the New Testament and only twice (in the Book of Esdras) in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). It appears seven times in the Gospel of Matthew, three times in Mark, once in Luke; and once in the letter of James and once in 2 Peter. "Hell" is not mentioned at all in the Gospel or letters of John or the Book of Revelation, or in any of the letters attributed to Paul.

I've taught classes at church with a friend who teaches Humanities at a two-year college in Sacramento. She's a pretty good amateur theologian, and a darn tough Humanities professor. She teaches Dante's Inferno as part of her class, and he makes her students memorize the geography of Hell, as Dante describes it. She contends that the concept of Hell is mostly a product of Dante's writing, not of religious doctrine. I think she's right. I wonder how many fire-and brimstone preachers are aware of Dante's contribution to their sermon topics.

Personally, I can't say I ever paid much attention to Hell until I saw Elizabeth Hurley starring as the Devil in the movie Bedazzled. THAT caught my attention...

-Joe Offer-

P.S. the Hell's Half Acre I know is a lava flow, south and west of Idaho Falls (click). It's supposed to be full of rattlesnakes, so I bypassed the chance to go hiking there. I did see lots of antelope in the area.

P.P.S. I was sleeping when this thread was started, so I didn't get a chance to move it to the non-music section until morning. Am I forgiven?