Jesus Invented Hell

(According the Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain and leading Bible Scholars and translators.)

In 1909, Samuel Clemens, pen name Mark Twain, father of American Literature and author of such classics as "The Adverntures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn," wrote a piece of satire that stated in no uncertain terms that Jesus invented Hell. What most Christians and Church leaders do not comprehend is that Mark Twain used his English Bible as proof, or evidence that the American Standard (an American version of the English Revison of the "Authorized" 1611 King James Version supported his claim. The revisions of the Authorized 1611 King James removed the word Hell from the entire Old Testament. The first appearance of the word Hell in the American Revised Version and the English Revised Version is in Jesus' mouth in Matthew chapter 5.

In the ASV and RSV, the word Hell appears only 13 times, only in the New Testament and mostly in Jesus' mouth (11 times). In the revisions, the Hebrew word Sheol was no longer Hell; the Greek word Hades was no longer Hell. The 54 times the word Hell was used in the "Authorized" KJV was reduced to 13 times only in the New Testament -- 11 of those times in Jesus' mouth.

The very first reference to Hell is in Jesus' mouth where He states that calling a brother (or sister) a fool or something similar put one in danger of "hell fire," (Greek: Gehenna tou puros). If you have a greedy hand or roaming eyes, cut them off; it is better cut them off than to go to Gehenna with two hands and two eyes.

I have much material on the subject of how Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus and the Lake of fire should have been translated. Visit tentmaker.org to find out. I just wanted to give this background information so the reader of Mark Twain's "Jesus Invented Hell" has an understanding of Samuel Clemens' reasoning.

By the way, the position the 1881 and 1901revisers of the 1611 King James Version took regarding the translation or transliteration of the words behind the English Hell have stood the test of time. The leading selling English Bible translations like the New International Version, The New American Standard Version, the English Version, the New English Version, New English Translation, etc. all only have the word Hell in the New Testament, mostly in Jesus' mouth OR they don't have the word Hell in their translation at all like the New American Bible, Young's Literal Translation, Weymouth's New Testament, Concordant Literal, Rotherham's Emphasized, Tree of Life Version and many others. Why? The word Hell is a pagan Norse/Teutonic/Germanic word that should NEVER HAVE BEEN PLACED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE FIRS PLACE. This horrible mistranslation has tripped up more people from coming to Christ than any pagan tradition or doctrine the Church has picked up over the centuries. Find out more at Scholars Corner.

Now then, let's hear from the master of satire, father of American literature, Mark Twain -- Did Jesus Invent Hell?

Letter X Jesus Invented Hell

Mark Twain, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Father of American Literature

The two Testaments are interesting, each in its own way. The Old one gives us a picture of these people's Deity as he was before he got religion, the other one gives us a picture of him as he appeared afterward. The Old Testament is interested mainly in blood and sensuality. The New one in Salvation. Salvation by fire.

The first time the Deity came down to earth, he brought life and death; when he came the second time, he brought hell.

Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows, pleasure poisoned by pain, a dream that was a nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights, ecstasies, exultations, happinesses, interspersed with long-drawn miseries, griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats, humiliations, and despairs -- the heaviest curse devisable by divine ingenuity; but death was sweet, death was gentle, death was kind; death healed the bruised spirit and the broken heart, and gave them rest and forgetfulness; death was man's best friend; when man could endure life no longer, death came and set him free.

In time, the Deity perceived that death was a mistake; a mistake, in that it was insufficient; insufficient, for the reason that while it was an admirable agent for the inflicting of misery upon the survivor, it allowed the dead person himself to escape from all further persecution in the blessed refuge of the grave. This was not satisfactory. A way must be conceived to pursue the dead beyond the tomb.

The Deity pondered this matter during four thousand years unsuccessfully, but as soon as he came down to earth and became a Christian his mind cleared and he knew what to do. He invented hell, and proclaimed it.

Now here is a curious thing. It is believed by everybody that while he was in heaven he was stern, hard, resentful, jealous, and cruel; but that when he came down to earth and assumed the name Jesus Christ, he became the opposite of what he was before: that is to say, he became sweet, and gentle, merciful, forgiving, and all harshness disappeared from his nature and a deep and yearning love for his poor human children took its place. Whereas it was as Jesus Christ that he devised hell and proclaimed it!

Which is to say, that as the meek and gentle Savior he was a thousand billion times crueler than ever he was in the Old Testament -- oh, incomparably more atrocious than ever he was when he was at the very worst in those old days!

Meek and gentle? By and by we will examine this popular sarcasm by the light of the hell which he invented.

While it is true that the palm for malignity must be granted to Jesus, the inventor of hell, he was hard and ungentle enough for all godlike purposes even before he became a Christian. It does not appear that he ever stopped to reflect that he was to blame when a man went wrong, inasmuch as the man was merely acting in accordance with the disposition he had afflicted him with. No, he punished the man, instead of punishing himself. Moreover, the punishment usually oversized the offense. Often, too, it fell, not upon the doer of a misdeed, but upon somebody else -- a chief man, the head of a community, for instance." End Quote.

Dear reader, have you ever seriously from the heart ask your creator "If there is a Hell of everlasting punishment --when was it created -- who created it --what "good" purpose would it serve? Ask the One who created you why there is such great inconsistency among English Bible translations regarding this one pagan word Hell that comes right out of northern European mythology, not from the original languages of the Bible, Hebrew and Greek. Ask Him like a child. Leave your church traditions outside the door and ask the mind of Christ, the Spirit of Truth for a Truth-FULL answer. The Truth is far more glorious than the "Traditions of Men" found in the institution called the Church.