As I've pointed out elsewhere, what we know today as "christianity" IS NOT what JC & Co. taught but rather (as has been noted) what Saul edited and adapted to suit his own goal of becoming the leader of a new cult... Saul of Tarsus wasn't just the founder of Rome Friendly (Gentile available) Christianity he was the first "Christian" vs.
follower of Jesus or "the way" as it was known.
It wouldn't be too difficult for the average human being of today's world to recognize the fact that Saul was first and foremost, a bigot and woman hater. For the most part he viewed all females with contempt, equating them and small children to live stock; a possession of the male to do with as he pleased. But aside form that Saul adapted the Zoroastrian ideas of salvation vs. eternal damnation (hell) and then imposed a somewhat rigid outline as to what was supposed to be.
While much of the original oratory given to us by JC and the lads has been lost we do know that much of it tied directly to the Gnostic paths vs. dogmatism (a.k.a. Orthodoxy) and most importantly, it still held to ancient "shamanic" ideologies as well as inference; "Hell" being a physical place as well as mental. The idea of descending into hell being reference to the shamanic rites in which one would isolate himself in a cave... frequently a cave with a hot spring. There are two reasons for the hot spring; firstly, as we all know, a long soak can prove revitalizing. But there is a secondary influence in this case... the fumes of certain hot springs can be hallucinogenic, couple that with fasting and voila! Spirit Quest hits the fan and God answers your question as to how to resolve the things that are mentally afflicting you and placing you "in hell"... in this process you are able to identify the "sin' and become "free"
In latter eras this same rite would become the general idea to support the Catholic Purgatory idea. My point here however,
is trace the mythos back to the physical root of the issue and in the case of Heaven or Hell, this antiquated tradition is more than likely where the physical ideas and descriptions of Hell come from, you can even see it in the Greek myths.
While the Abarahamic Faiths (the big 3) are the most aggressive and hate-driven cults in human history, they certainly aren't the only religious element to manipulate the tenets of their founder's teachings as an excuse for bigotry. Humankind just has a knack at finding "outs" -- that is to say, we become lawyers who dissect the "documents" in order to find the loop-holes or permissions. If they aren't arguably apparent, they are invented or implied. Just look at how "King James" bastardized the older known translations of the bible, giving the world on of the least accurate translations of said tradition, that is the most quoted and embraced BECAUSE IT SUSTAINS THE LIES & BIAS OF THE "FAITH-FILLED"... so much so that they negate the fact that "King" James was actually a Queen
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
(amongst other things).
Any and all "belief systems" can be used in this way, just look at how the poor Constitution has been manipulated over the past 50 years or so and how, in particular, the ACLU uses it as a batten, exploiting it in ways our founding fathers would never have condoned... which is why the document was deliberately penned in very simple language vs. lawyerese... evidently the views weren't as self-apparent as they thought...
Getting Back to the Bible & Christians... the book tells us the truth if we simply look at it and listen to the various parables vs. what the preachers and red necks want us to "hear". If for instance, we were to understand the story of the Good Samaritan () it would seem that "god" acknowledges all good works regardless of who performs them and thus, no one group or race is superior or more "right" than another. It's just man being man...