smith_c@gatech.edu (Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter) (12/17/89)
An interesting historical perspective I heard once regarding Jesus's feelings
about Hell: In Jerusalem, as in other places, there were great big garbage
dumps where people would regularly toss their garbage and burn. These huge
garbage pits were horrendous sights. Jesus stood before these burning
garbage dumps, before blazing filth, rancid smells, and said, "It is better
to pluck out your right eye, if it causes you to sin, than let your whole
body ("soma", meaning "whole person," re earlier discussion) burn in the
fires of Gehenna." It's better to pluck out your right eye, if it causes
you to sin, than for your whole life to be burnt as worthless garbage.
Don't sin; don't let your life be worthless.
[Yes, the word Jesus used was Gehenna, and Gehenna was used as a
garbage dump. However Gehenna was used in 1st Cent. Jewish literature
as a place for escatalogical judgement. So the term might have
combined the meaning you indicate with something more like the English
term "hell". Certainly you are right that it is not simply synonmous
with "hell". --clh]