[Athena]

I wonder if Hebrews held a concept of hell? The only old testament reference to Hell I see is, Hebrews, and that is about being judged, not about hell. The was a radical change in the Hebrew religion because the New Testament was strongly influenced by Prussian mysticism and the Greeks. I hope the Christian who argued Christians are well educated in our past, and therefore, informed enough to judge truth, well contribute his knowledge to this discussion.

The Greeks held an understanding of Hades as a place of the dead. If you wanted to speak with the dead, you could go to the opening in the ground that leads to Hades (also ruled by the god Hades). You must bring a lamb with you, because when you get to the opening of Hades, you dig a hole and slit the lambs throat, allowing the blood to flow into the hole. Now the dead can come drink of the blood, and then they can talk with you. This is directly tied to Jesus being the sacrifical lamb. The lambs blood having magical powers between the living and dead.

No one should enter Hades without the help of the gods, because it is so easy to be lost in Hades. All this is psychologically analogous to what is so. When someone we relied on dies, we tend to turn to our memory of this person when having to make a difficult decisions, wishing we could ask this person's advise. As we think of how this person would advise us, it is almost like speaking with the person.

Furthermore, to be lost in Hades is to suffer depression or more severe neurois or psychois. Yet we must all go to Hades from time to time to get a sinse of life's means. Those who never do, are frivilous. The gods are concepts that we can used to resolve our problems. Actually this is advanced psychology. These people studied human nature and were experts in expressing their thoughts in dramas and poems. By telling such stories they educated people.