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"…destroyed by the early Christians in 6AD" — there's something wrong with that statement. Edit: according to http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gat

"…destroyed by the early Christians in 6AD" — there's something wrong with that statement. Edit: according to http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-found-in-turkey-130329.htm http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-f..., it was in the 6th century AD.

johnbellone 14y ago
Only off by a couple hundred years, no big deal.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  When the worlds only a few thousands years old, that's quite a margin of error.
Tenoke 14y ago
It was in fact destroyed by the 6 year old Jesus.
- pavlov 14y ago
  According to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas [1], the 6-year old Jesus was regularly breathing life into clay birds, making people blind and killing other children by will, so it seems reasonable that he may have destroyed the Gate of Hell as well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas
  - philwelch 14y ago
    The Infancy Gospel sounds like horrible Jesus fanfiction.
    - colomon 14y ago
      That's kind of exactly it, I think. I don't know anything about the Infancy Gospel other than what I just read in that Wikipedia article, but I'm familiar with two old ballads that are right along the same lines: "Cherry Tree Carol": Joseph is being mean to the pregnant Mary because he's not the father, so Jesus speaks up from the womb and commands a cherry tree to bend over for Mary so she can pluck cherries without reaching. Then Jesus (after being born) prophecies his own death. http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch054.htm http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch054.htm "Bitter Withy": Three "young lords' sons" won't play ball with little Jesus because he is poor, so he builds a bridge of light and walks it; when they try to follow him they fall and drown. Their mothers complain to Mary, and she spanks him with withy branches. He then curses the tree. http://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thebitterwithy.html http://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thebitterwithy.html
    - JonnieCache 14y ago
      Christianity has a lot of fanfiction, and large chunks of it have been merged with the canonical scripture in the popular imagination. Ever noticed how the devil doesn't actually feature in the bible anywhere? Yeah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha
      - danielweber 14y ago
        Accidentally downvoted you, sry.
      - cousin_it 14y ago
        > Ever noticed how the devil doesn't actually feature in the bible anywhere? Sorry? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_Christianity#Sources_of_Christian_teaching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_Christianity#Sources_o...
        JonnieCache 14y ago
        Oh there are lots of references to "satan," but what is he? God's opposite number? A fallen angel? A non-fallen, benign angel? Man's own sinful nature? Previously popular pagan entities? It's a long way from the modern theological concept of the devil. Since then we have post-rationalised all these vague biblical references into one guy with horns and goats feet who hangs out in a lake of fire, but that is a (comparatively) recent idea, as you will find if you examine your own wiki link a little more closely. (BTW the lake of fire barely gets half a sentence either. That's also very much something that came with the "expanded universe" books. Actually they were paintings rather than books, but you can look that up for yourself.) You could also watch this superb recent BBC documentary on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1aa9q1RULg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1aa9q1RULg Wait until you hear about god's first attempt at woman, Eve's predecessor, who went bad! There's a lot of fun stuff that modern christianity has chosen to throw out.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
peeters 14y ago
> according to http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-f... http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-f..., it was in the 6th century AD ...Wouldn't that fail a reasonable definition of "early Christian"? At that point Christianity had been the state church of Rome for 150 years.
- pohl 14y ago
  ...Wouldn't that fail a reasonable definition of "early Christian"? There may be a reasonable definition of "early Christian" that it fails, but it certainly wouldn't fail all reasonable definitions of the phrase.

johnbellone 14y ago

Only off by a couple hundred years, no big deal.

lostlogin 14y ago
When the worlds only a few thousands years old, that's quite a margin of error.

Tenoke 14y ago

It was in fact destroyed by the 6 year old Jesus.

pavlov 14y ago
According to the Infancy Gospel of Thomas [1], the 6-year old Jesus was regularly breathing life into clay birds, making people blind and killing other children by will, so it seems reasonable that he may have destroyed the Gate of Hell as well. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas
- philwelch 14y ago
  The Infancy Gospel sounds like horrible Jesus fanfiction.
  - colomon 14y ago
    That's kind of exactly it, I think. I don't know anything about the Infancy Gospel other than what I just read in that Wikipedia article, but I'm familiar with two old ballads that are right along the same lines: "Cherry Tree Carol": Joseph is being mean to the pregnant Mary because he's not the father, so Jesus speaks up from the womb and commands a cherry tree to bend over for Mary so she can pluck cherries without reaching. Then Jesus (after being born) prophecies his own death. http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch054.htm http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch054.htm "Bitter Withy": Three "young lords' sons" won't play ball with little Jesus because he is poor, so he builds a bridge of light and walks it; when they try to follow him they fall and drown. Their mothers complain to Mary, and she spanks him with withy branches. He then curses the tree. http://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thebitterwithy.html http://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thebitterwithy.html
  - JonnieCache 14y ago
    Christianity has a lot of fanfiction, and large chunks of it have been merged with the canonical scripture in the popular imagination. Ever noticed how the devil doesn't actually feature in the bible anywhere? Yeah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha
    - danielweber 14y ago
      Accidentally downvoted you, sry.
    - cousin_it 14y ago
      > Ever noticed how the devil doesn't actually feature in the bible anywhere? Sorry? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_Christianity#Sources_of_Christian_teaching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_Christianity#Sources_o...
      - JonnieCache 14y ago
        Oh there are lots of references to "satan," but what is he? God's opposite number? A fallen angel? A non-fallen, benign angel? Man's own sinful nature? Previously popular pagan entities? It's a long way from the modern theological concept of the devil. Since then we have post-rationalised all these vague biblical references into one guy with horns and goats feet who hangs out in a lake of fire, but that is a (comparatively) recent idea, as you will find if you examine your own wiki link a little more closely. (BTW the lake of fire barely gets half a sentence either. That's also very much something that came with the "expanded universe" books. Actually they were paintings rather than books, but you can look that up for yourself.) You could also watch this superb recent BBC documentary on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1aa9q1RULg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1aa9q1RULg Wait until you hear about god's first attempt at woman, Eve's predecessor, who went bad! There's a lot of fun stuff that modern christianity has chosen to throw out.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

peeters 14y ago

> according to http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-f... http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-f..., it was in the 6th century AD ...Wouldn't that fail a reasonable definition of "early Christian"? At that point Christianity had been the state church of Rome for 150 years.

pohl 14y ago
...Wouldn't that fail a reasonable definition of "early Christian"? There may be a reasonable definition of "early Christian" that it fails, but it certainly wouldn't fail all reasonable definitions of the phrase.