What the Hell? Friday -- Where in the Hell is Hell, Anyway?

I'm going to make a bit of wild speculation, based on a) the common idea of hell as a place of eternal fire, b) the knowledge that the ancient Israelites made human sacrifices to Baal or Moloch, and c) with what follows, that hell was a place right here on earth.  The humans they sacrificed were small children, and they burned them in furnaces.   

Sorry - they were a clan of Canaanites, in the midst of other Canaanites, and that is what they did.

They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters ^[a] to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.

The place where they did this was "ga ben Hinnom" or "the valley of the son of Hinnom," which the Greeks called Gehenna.  It is "Gehenna" that is usually translated as hell.  You can easlly see why.


But, that was then, and this is now.

The Scriptures also foretell that this abominable valley would one day become a garden. Below are some pictures of this very valley in Israel which many Christians believe is Hell. It's rather ironic that the other valleys around it are barren and filled with graves, while the valley orthodox Christianity calls "Hell" has become a garden.

For photographic evidence, and the source of the quote, see here.

One things we humans have always been good at is making life - and death - hell for other humans.