In this video, I explain how and why the church invented hell. By “hell,” I mean the version of hell as this literal place of eternal conscious torment in the afterlife for unbelievers. In the beginning of the video, I discuss how the version of hell developed by the early church is not something found at all in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or in any of the original Greek writings of the New Testament scriptures, such as the canonical gospel accounts and Paul’s epistles.

Due to intentional English mistranslations of the Bible, the centralized church has been believing and preaching the idea that “Jesus taught about hell more than anyone” which is utterly false. Contrary to mainstream belief, Jesus never mentioned anything about “hell,” and neither did Paul, who wrote nearly two-thirds of the New Testament and is supposed to be the leading evangelist of Christianity. Furthermore, I address the phrases we find in New Testament scriptures (in English translations) that mention “eternal punishment” and “everlasting fire” and why we must examine these phrases in the original Greek instead of just relying on modern English translations, which have become horrible mistranslations.

I also discuss the “Lake of Fire” in the book of Revelation, which was later used as imagery for the “hell” invented by the early church, and why doing this is highly problematic. Finally, I explain exactly how and why the concept of hell as eternal conscious torment was formulated and systemized by members of a particular Christian group (there were many Christian groups in the first three centuries) and used as a scare tactic for “heretics” and a business strategy to grow immensely in power, control, and wealth. The idea of “hell” invented by the church continues to be used today in the same fashion it was initially used in the 4th century: a scare tactic to control the populace, a warning to the “heretic” (Christians who disagree with Nicene Theology “orthodoxy”), and a powerful fear-based method for exponential growth in power.