Early Christianity
seems to have had no concept of Hell, since Christianity in its infancy
was probably not much more than a few agreeable rules about how to treat
other people. So where did Hell enter the picture? It probably happened
something like this:
The Scene: The atrium of a town house in a small Roman town on the coast
of what today would be Turkey: perhaps Ephesus or Myra, maybe even Pergamum.
The time is about 50 AD, but the congregation, some ten women and old
men, would call it the "Reign of Claudius." A man from Syria
preaches (in Greek) about Kristos' teachings, and for the moment he
is doing quite well. He has been working this town for weeks and finally
the right people are starting to pay attention. Some of the women are
married to influential men and the old guy sitting in the shadows is
an old Questor living out his retirement in the East.
But then it all goes haywire.
"But Master," Cornelia asks. "There is this tiny thing
I have a problem with."
"Ah," the master says and eyes Cornelia a bit wearily. The
First Lady of the town's Roman Clique is an overbearing, but also a
very bright and influential woman. Winning Cornelia to the Faith is
both an important and tiresome task.
"Consider this," she says without further prompting. "I
find your words most interesting and uplifting, and the Gods all know
I could use a bit of enlightenment. But my husband, that useless drunken
lout, just laughs in my face when I tell him about the Wise Kristos.
'What is the payoff?' he asks."
"He will go to paradise with Kristos when he dies," Lucilla
the Grain Merchant's wife pipes in. "Like the Elysian Fields, only
better."
"That would be enough, don't you think?" Helena the Naval
Tribune's Greek wife adds.
"But what about the Stick?" Cornelia asks Lucilla, ignoring
Helena and the Master. "There must always be a Stick as well as
a Carrot. Ever tried to run a household without both of them?"
"Well, if he has led a wicked life I suppose he'll go to Hades."
"Hades?"
"Yes, why not? Bad people go there when they die."
"Master, what does Kristos have to say about Hades?"
The Master ponders this for a moment. As far as he knows Kristos said
nothing about the netherworld of the Greeks, but the allegory might
just as well do for now. If Kristos' Paradise compares to the Elysian
Fields (only better), what about Hades?
"Well," the Master says. "Hades is quite likely where
sinners will wind up."
"Did Kristos say that?" the retired Questor asks sternly.
"Yes," the Master says without blinking.
"Good," Cornelia says with a satisfied smirk. "That is
one thing my husband will understand. Eternal pain, just like that guy
who keeps getting his liver eaten all the time."
"Only worse," someone says.
"That will suit him just fine."
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