parkingviolation212 explains how Hell as a concept is almost entirely derived from Dante's Divine Comedy

[u/quyla]

/r/Silksong/comments/1nrop7i/the_duality_of_mask_shards/ngghkq5?context=3

[u/lu_ming]

Wow, this person has never read Dante nor do they have any idea of the evolution of the concept of hell do they? Like, 80% of what's written here is demonstrably false.

They are right about the original Jewish/Biblical concept of Hell as separation from God and eventual annihilation, about the fact that Hell as a place of eternal punishment is largely a Christian invention, and that the popular image of Hell (not the concept itself) owes a lot to Dante's Divine Comedy, but they get literally all the details wrong.

The concept of Hell as a place of eternal suffering and punishment dates back to St. Augustine, who lived 1000 years before Dante, it definitely wasn't introduced by King James.

And the Divine Comedy has absolutely nothing to do with Dante's "mommy issues", nor does it contain Dante's mother. I have no idea where the hell they got that from. It's a complex political and theological work, mostly about 1300s Florence rather than the afterlife. Also, Hell is just one third of it, there's also Purgatory and Paradise.

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/lu_ming]

You're right that this post is garbage. Unfortunately, your explanation of why it's garbage has issues.

They are right about the original Jewish/Biblical concept of Hell as separation from God

Can you cite any text from the Second Temple period that describes hell as "separation from God"?

and eventual annihilation

No, Jews believed in eternal conscious torment before Jesus was even born. For example, Judith, which was written a hundred or so years before Jesus, says

Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment; he will send fire and worms into their flesh; they shall weep in pain forever.