>>17865862 (OP)Hell takes its name from Gehinnom, the Valley of Hinnom, a real place in ancient Judah infamous for child sacrifice. The Bible repeatedly condemns this valley as a site of horrific cruelty. Jeremiah 7:31 says, “They have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command.” In Jeremiah 19:4–5, the prophet calls it a place “filled… with the blood of the innocent.” 2Kings 23:10 records that Josiah “defiled Tophet… that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.”
Ezekiel is even harsher. Ezekiel 16:20–21 accuses them: “You… slaughtered My children and delivered them through the fire to idols.” Ezekiel 20:31 and 23:37 repeat the charge of burning children as sacrifices. Isaiah 57:5 condemns them for slaughtering “your children in the valleys.”
The Tophet, part of this valley, was essentially a furnace for human sacrifice. One ancient source describes the rites: “They… burn them completely at night and by pouring on them much honey and wine they waste away the sacrifice more quickly, lest the all-seeing sun becomes a spectator of the terrible deed. They do these things fasting… they speak to each other about the divine, while at night they observe the stars… For these were the first to sacrifice both of other animals and of themselves, having done this out of necessity and not from desire.”
The biblical writers call it a cursed place. So stop making a joke out of it.