Misunderstanding Hell: Ancient Perspectives and Theological Evolution

There’s something profoundly liberating about peeling back the layers of history and finding the raw, untamed wisdom beneath. On today’s episode, we welcome Neil Douglas Klotz, a scholar and mystic whose journey into the Aramaic roots of Jesus’s teachings unveils a radically different understanding of the man, his message, and the world he lived in.The Jesus many of us have encountered is a product of centuries of translation, political maneuvering, and cultural adaptation. The blue-eyed, English-speaking figure who stands at the center of Western Christianity is a far cry from the Aramaic-speaking mystic who roamed the hills of ancient Palestine. Neil Douglas Klotz takes us back to the beginning, to the words that Jesus actually spoke, words that vibrate with an entirely different rhythm than those found in the King James Bible. “If you read ‘spirit’ in the New Testament,” he says, “just put ‘breath’ over that word, because that’s what the Aramaic also means.”It is in this forgotten wisdom that we find a Jesus who wasn’t simply demanding belief but rather inviting participation.

One of the most profound mistranslations, according to Klotz, is the oft-quoted phrase “believe in me.” In Aramaic, the more accurate translation is “believe like me.” This shifts the message entirely—Jesus wasn’t asking for blind devotion but instead urging people to embody faith in the way he did, to step into the divine flow as he had.The Aramaic worldview, Klotz explains, did not divide existence into rigid dualities. There was no separation between body and soul, breath and spirit, heaven and earth. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, is not some far-off celestial domain but something “within and among” us. The words for “within” and “among” are the same in Aramaic—suggesting that the divine is not a place to go but a way to be, something alive in the interconnected web of existence.And what of hell? Another grand misunderstanding, says Klotz. Jesus never spoke of a fiery pit of eternal torment but rather referred to Gehenna, a literal burning trash heap outside of Jerusalem. The idea of an eternal damnation was a much later addition, a political tool used to control through fear. The Jesus of Aramaic tradition wasn’t threatening souls with punishment—he was urging people to purify their burdens, to release what weighs them down, to transform their suffering rather than be consumed by it.Even the crucifixion, Klotz suggests, is layered in mystery and translation errors. The idea of Jesus returning, he argues, is not about a second coming in the clouds but rather about a recognition of Christ’s presence in one another. “We will see Jesus in each other and in nature,” he says. “That’s the Second Coming.” Perhaps the greatest tragedy of organized religion has been its insistence on externalizing the divine, when all along Jesus was saying: It’s here, now, inside you.

SPIRITUAL TAKEAWAYS

1. Breath is Spirit – In Aramaic, the word for spirit and breath are the same. Every inhale and exhale connects us to something greater, a reminder that we are not separate from the divine but are continuously part of its unfolding.
2. Faith is Participation, Not Belief – Jesus didn’t ask people to believe in him; he asked them to embody faith as he did. It’s about stepping into a way of being rather than subscribing to a doctrine.
3. Heaven is Within and Among Us – The kingdom of heaven is not a distant place but a lived experience, something we create through our relationships, actions, and awareness.

It’s a wild thing, to realize how much has been hidden in plain sight. The Aramaic Jesus is not a figure of power and punishment, but a guide toward deep presence, compassion, and awakening. It is in the breath, in the heart, in the connection between beings that his true teachings still whisper through time.

Please enjoy my conversation with Neil Douglas Klotz.

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