Is it true that heaven wasnt enough for ancient Christians, so to 1-up the Jews they added the concept of hell?

Well, no...

The concept of "hell" -- not present in "traditional" Judaism -- arose not long after the Romans conquered and took control of the Levant, including Jerusalem. Jewish myth and tradition always held that their tribal god Yahweh meted out punishment and reward immediately, right here and now, in the real world, in real time. If you were "good" you were rewarded with a pleasant life, wealth, and happiness. If you were "bad" you were punished by losing your possessions, being stricken with illnesses, or being killed by Yahweh. A very immediate system of punishment and reward.

When the Romans took over Jerusalem, the Jews all considered that to be evil on the part of the Romans, and they expected Yahweh to immediately punish the evil Romans and get them their land back. That's what their mythology said would happen. Trouble is, it didn't. The Romans got wealthier, they didn't get punished, and the Jews didn't get their land back. Oops. Yahweh wasn't living up to his promises.

At the same time, the Jews were being exposed to more sophisticated philosophies and mythologies from the Greeks and the Romans. They incorporated some of those ideas, along with the visible failure of Yahweh to punish evil-doers, into the idea of an *afterlife* "judgment day;" you might get away with being "bad" for now, but someday Yahweh was gonna get you and punish you. You might be a good person and still have a crappy life and get no reward now, but some day Yahweh would reward you. It didn't happen *now,* despite the Hebrew myth saying it would, because Yahweh was putting it off until the supposed "afterlife." That let them keep their idea of a god in spite of the evidence showing it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do, and let them desperately hang onto the idea of their got meting out "ultimate justice" even if they didn't see justice in the world around them.

Peace.

The Dead Sea Scrolls include an account of an obscure Jewish cult that believed everyone apart from them would end up being tortured for ever. It seems likely, then, that Christianity got its idea of Hell from this cult, rather than from any writings that ended up as part of the Bible.

The idea of places in the afterlife where bad people got punished and good people rewarded goes back centuries before Christianity. I have heard many claims about who exactly invented it first.

No, Jews didn't believe in the concept of heaven or hell or any afterlife, those were taken from the Hellenistic Pagans based on Hades and the Elysium Fields.

The concept of Hell was stolen from Greek, Roman and Egyptian knowledge. Egyptians called it the Underworld. Greeks called it Tarturus. Don't know what the Romans called it. People do experience 'Hell' in near-death experiences. However, they're NEAR-death experiences and not death.

If that were true, the word "hell" would not appear 54 times in the Old Testament. That word comes from the Hebrew "Sheol" which means ...

1) sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit

a) the underworld

b) Sheol - the OT designation for the abode of the dead

1) place of no return

2) without praise of God

3) wicked sent there for punishment

4) righteous not abandoned to it

5) of the place of exile (fig)

6) of extreme degradation in sin

Man has known since the beginning of time that a lack of faith in God would result in utter damnation. So it's hardly a new concept. Nor is Hell avoidable just by wishing it out of existence. If you'd prefer to spend eternity in a much more comfortable place you may wish to listen to this: http://gracethrufaith.com/gift-shop/mp3-the-incomp...

This too: http://gracethrufaith.com/gift-shop/mp3-from-rags-...

No, there is not any devil determine in Judaism. The devil being a serpent is Christian, not Jewish. The Greeks did not invent the strategies of heaven and hell, the Zoroastrians did. The Greeks observed it from there. So did the Christians, and after them, the Muslims. haSatan (the adversary) in Judaism is an angel who GOD makes use of whilst GOD desires to tempt mankind. there is not any such concern interior the Torah or in Judaism as this angel rebelling against God, attempting to take over God's kingdom, being disloyal to God, having loose will, or arising evil. All of that comes from Zoroastrianism, not Judaism. In Judaism there are 2 forces. The Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer HaRa. this implies the traditional rigidity of robust, and of Evil. purely God can create known Forces, not some angel. And those forces do not take the style of a devil or snake, they're quite physics energies - Judaism explains that it is what occurred whilst Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of know-how of robust and Evil. They have been to have eaten from the Tree of existence first, yet didnt. What occurred whilst they ate from the Tree of know-how of robust and Evil replace into that previous to this, Evil and robust were in acceptable stability interior the international, a team spirit even. After the ingesting, Adam and Eve observed each and each known rigidity as a separate entity, to that end removing the desirable stability and inflicting each and each rigidity to be a separate rigidity by employing itself. Judaism teaches that each and each guy or woman is born sparkling and organic, with a sparkling soul. there is not any such concern in Judaism or the Torah as "unique Sin", this modification into invented by employing Augustine of the Catholic Church and doesnt not exist in Judaism. Judaism teaches that the traditional Forces of robust and Evil (now out of stability with one yet another and now not a team spirit) are what we elect whilst we are the right age to comprehend outstanding from incorrect and the end results of each and every. And it fairly is in this way that we blemish our souls by employing our own decision whilst we are the right age to comprehend. notwithstanding, the Torah additionally supplies the possibility of our own selves to cleanse our souls, step by employing step training. And it doesnt contain a messiah who's born of a god and a virgin, or is a bloody human sacrifice for sin, this all comes from paganism not Judaism. P.S. Mariel is faulty. None of those issues exist in Judaism. We did not %. them up from Zoroastrianism, we refused them actually and have been persecuted for doing so.

Hell is mentioned all throughout the Jewish Old Testament. Whether or not many modern Jews like it, it's Jewish in origin.

Deuteronomy 32:22

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth

Job 11:8

It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

Psalm 9:17

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

Psalm 18:5

The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

Psalm 55:15

Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

And many, many more...

Some Deathbed Quotes and Last Words of Famous Men and Women

Here is a collection of last or dying words of some famous men and women. These quotes were taken from "Voices from the Edge of Eternity" compiled by John Myers. Some of these statements are believed to have been made on the deathbed, others when the speaker was contemplating his or her own demise.

Elizabeh B. Browning (famous English poetess on her deathbed): "It is beautiful!"

Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for 10 days in 1554 when facing her execution): "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit!"

Thomas A. Edison (famous inventor on his deathbed): "It is very beautiful over there."

Thomas Paine (of American Revolutionary fame): "Away with you, and your God too! Leave the room instantly! All that you have uttered are lies, filthy lies, and if I had a little more time I would prove it, as I did about your impostor, Jesus Christ." (Upon being visited by a Catholic priest on his deathbed.) Paine's last recorded words were "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Michelangelo Buonarotti (famous painter): "Throughout life remember the sufferings of Jesus."

Sir Walter Raleigh (famous English admiral when facing his execution): "It matters little how the head lies if the heart be right. Why dost thou not strike?" (The admiral was beheaded in 1618.)

Oliver Cromwell: "The devil is ready to seduce us, and I have been seduced."

Edward Augustus (father of Queen Victoria on his death bed): "Remember, if I am to be saved, it is not as a prince, but as a sinner."

Ommyade, Sultan of Spain (died A.D. 961): "Fifty years have passed since first I was Caliph. Riches, honors, pleasures -- I have enjoyed all. In this long time of seeming happiness I have numbered the days on which I have been happy. Fourteen."

Cardinal Wolsey (of Henry VIII fame): "Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs. But this is the just reward that I must received for my incessant pains and study, not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince."

Charles Talleyrand (French statesman, died 1838): "I am suffering, sire, the pangs of the damned!" (Spoken, it is believed, on his deathbed.)

Napoleon Bonaparte: "I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss lies between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!"

Queen Elizabeth (died 1603): "All my possessions for a moment of time!"

Peter the Great (Czar of Russia on his deathbed): "I believe, Lord, and confess -- help my unbelief!"

William Pitt (English Statesman, died 1778): "I have, like other men, neglected spiritual matters too much to have any ground of hope that can be efficacious on a death bed. I now throw myself on the mercy of God through the merits of Christ."

Blessings!

http://voices.yahoo.com/some-deathbed-quotes-last-...

http://articles.ochristian.com/article14869.shtml

Seeing as religion is made up I would say this question is irrelevant

The ancient Christians were ALL JEWS.

But don't get excited, you can (and will) repost.