Hell
In the English translation of the Bible's Old Testament, the word hell normally corresponds to the Hebrew sheol, which was simply the place of the dead. But in the Greek New Testament the word used is either Gehenna (the garbage dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where fires were kept eternally burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench) or Hades, the Greeks' dark, gloomy underworld. The modern English word appears to derive most directly from "Holle" or "Hela" or "Hel", goddess of the dead in Germanic/Norse mythology. When the Anglo-Saxons later embraced Christianity, the existing word in the language was reused in the new Christian concepts.
To Christians, hell is a place where the souls of the wicked are punished eternally for all the sins they perpetrated during their lifetime on Earth. Since all have sinned (Rom 3:23) hell can not be avoided on ones own merits, but through the love gift of Jesus one can know, love, and serve God and share eternity with Him in heaven.
The Christian and Muslim religious traditions often emphasize the Gehenna aspect: Hell is extremely hot and filled with fire and brimstone. Opinion varies on the question of whether, while hell itself is eternal, experience of it purges away the sins of sufferers to the point of eventual redemption. See purgatory. A minority of Christians do not believe in an eternal hell as punishment, believing instead that the souls of the wicked are annihilated. This view is referred to as Annihilationism. There is also a question of whether hell has a literal burning fire, or whether it is separation from God and therefore has the same torment as if there was a burning fire. This view has been supported by writers such as J.P. Moreland.
Although hell is a focus and a concern in Christian theology, the so-called "Holy Bible" gives an even greater focus. In the King James Version the word hell is mentioned 54 times, but heaven is mentioned 551 times.
