[modo_mario]

I'm an agnostic leaning towards atheist and might be wrong but I believe that definition of hell isn't originally accepted, agreed upon, etc and even got some initial backlash at least up until people started iterating a bit much on dante's inferno. But organized religion is a bit of a memetic social phenomenon in many ways.

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.

[krapp]

Yes like every other concept in the religion, including the nature and morality of God, the nature of the afterlife and divine punishment and reward has evolved over time. Because it isn't real. It's folklore and mythology.

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...

[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEOj-ceCy58&app=desktop

[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42eoA2-kzO0