I'm an agnostic, but here is what I seem to recall about the ol' Book...
Jesus was talking with some people about why they needed to be saved. There was a large pit which was called "gehena"; a sort of lava flow with open access which the locals used to ditch their trash into. He then said "without me, your life will be like that", eluding to the them being garbage, tossed, burned and forgotten. But through Him, you'd be saved, remembered and cherished. I could be way off base, as it's been a long time since I read anything remotely religious, let alone Christian, but the idea of hell being some underground pit of fire and doom was twisted from that imagery, as well as a lot of catholic propaganda art from the middle ages. The idea just stuck. The point was "don't go off being a godless heathen... OR ELSE" essentially.
I'm an agnostic, but here is what I seem to recall about the ol' Book...
Jesus was talking with some people about why they needed to be saved. There was a large pit which was called "gehena"; a sort of lava flow with open access which the locals used to ditch their trash into. He then said "without me, your life will be like that", eluding to the them being garbage, tossed, burned and forgotten. But through Him, you'd be saved, remembered and cherished. I could be way off base, as it's been a long time since I read anything remotely religious, let alone Christian, but the idea of hell being some underground pit of fire and doom was twisted from that imagery, as well as a lot of catholic propaganda art from the middle ages. The idea just stuck. The point was "don't go off being a godless heathen... OR ELSE" essentially.
Actually big IQ
That's how I always read The Book of Revelation.