When we read the Bible with the aim of following Jesus, we can finally do away with the medieval myths surrounding heaven and hell that, for centuries, have terrified people into joining the church. Let’s read now what Jesus actually said about this.
What we have come to refer to as ‘hell’, Jesus called ‘Gehenna’. This was an actual place located to the south of Jerusalem, where, in former times, sacrifices used to take place and oppressors would leave (and sometimes burn) the bodies of their enemies. Gehenna eventually became a dumping ground for waste, an enormous rubbish heap.
When Jesus spoke about a person ending up in Gehenna, he was using stark imagery to say that this person’s life had gone to waste, they had been wasting their life. He was warning people about their current life-choices – urging them to live their best life.
These were no hollow words. He supported this claim by helping people to turn their lives around, so that when the values of non-violence, inclusion and compassion were lived and shared, in that moment heaven (i.e. the best life) arrived.
Following Jesus is living our best llfe instead of wasting it.