The concept of Hell as a place of tortured souls came to Christianity a few hundred years after the Gospels were written. The teaching of Christianity is based on God's love to mankind, and the a place like Hell was rather contradictory to love.
There are some references in the New Testament on a place called Gehenna (Greek), which are translated to English as Hell. For example, in Matthew 5:22 and Mark 9:45. However, Gehenna was a valley outside of Jerusalem walls where the Israelites sacrificed their children into fire. King Josiah stopped the horrible practice (2 Kings 23:10) and turned Gehenna into a big garbage landfill.
During Jesus' lifetime, and the four Gospel writers after him, Gehenna was the landfill of the city. Other than domestic wastes, the people of Jerusalem also dumped dead bodies of criminals and animals to there. They added brimstone and kept the place burning. When Jesus said to the Jewish religious leaders at that time, "Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you going to flee from the judgment of Gehenna? (Mat 23:33)", the people understood the message as throwing the dead wicked ones to the landfill, and not torturing the living ones for eternity.
Hence, for the first hundred of years, the loving Christians believe that good people will be resurrected in spirit and go to Heaven, to live an everlasting life with Christ. While the wicked ones will not receive the blessing of everlasting life, and their souls would be faded away and be forgotten.
So, when did the idea of Hell came to Christianity? Some suggests the idea of Hell came after interactions with Moslem Arabs in the seventh century.
Dajjal and Jesus 2nd Coming
Islamic traditions believe that at the end of the world, a man by the name of Dajjal will be raised to fight the Believers. Dajjal will raise an army to fight the Moslems. Then God will send down Jesus to Earth, to fight Dajjal and will eventually kill it. The Moslems, led by Imam Mahdi, will defeat Dajjal's forces.
The event of Dajjal and Jesus' second coming were considered the most important event to occur in those last days. They were so important, hundreds of reported hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) focus on this subject alone. Surprisingly, however, the Holy Qur'an does not mention these two important events at all.
Aside of natural phenomenons to occur during those last days (earthquakes, the sun falling to Earth, etc), the Holy Qur'an mentions two notable events only, i.e. the emerging of a worm from the Earth and the descend of Gog and Magog from their iron-clad prison. Interestingly, these events are less elaborated and discussed compared to Dajjal and Jesus' second coming.
Now, if the Holy Qur'an does not mention about Dajjal and Jesus' second coming, where do the ideas came from?
The event of Dajjal and Jesus' second coming were considered the most important event to occur in those last days. They were so important, hundreds of reported hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) focus on this subject alone. Surprisingly, however, the Holy Qur'an does not mention these two important events at all.
Aside of natural phenomenons to occur during those last days (earthquakes, the sun falling to Earth, etc), the Holy Qur'an mentions two notable events only, i.e. the emerging of a worm from the Earth and the descend of Gog and Magog from their iron-clad prison. Interestingly, these events are less elaborated and discussed compared to Dajjal and Jesus' second coming.
Now, if the Holy Qur'an does not mention about Dajjal and Jesus' second coming, where do the ideas came from?
Neil Armstrong Anagram
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| Neil Armstrong |
Who was the first man to walk on the Moon? Almost instantly you would say, Neil Armstrong. Not many people knows that "Neil Armstrong" is not a real name. It was a made up name. The astronaut's real name has not been disclosed to the public.
The name Neil Armstrong is an anagram. Anagram means a word play. Google defines anagram as a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as cinema, which was formed from iceman.
If you read the name Neil Armstrong backwards, meaning reading it from the last letter to the first letter, you will find, "Gnorts! Mr. Alien." There have been speculation going on that "Gnorts!" is a universal interstellar greetings. The way it is pronounced, is by pulling-in the air through your nose to your upper throat. When pronounced, it sounds like a short snore.
"Gnorts" simply means "Greetings"
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