[Nate]

The radio yesterday had a report from Hell - being a small town somewhere in Hicksville, USA.

Which reminded me of my own visit to the gates of hell when I lived a five minute walk from the Valley of Hinnom, just outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. The name is pronounced Gai Hinnom in Hebrew, which became the name of (and reputed location of the gates to) hell (Gehonnim in Hebrew).

There's a story about the End of Days that the valley will be filled with a great fire and crossed by two bridges - one made of iron and one of paper. The devout will cross the bridge of paper whilst the unfaithful will cross the one of iron. Their faith shall reward them and the paper bridge will hold whilst the iron one will collapse, dropping the unfaithful to their doom.

So, how did a nice little valley get such a dreadful reputation? In the Canaanite period, the city of Jerusalem was occupied by the Jebusites. They constructed a huge metal statue of their god (I think it was Baal) with outstretched arms and built a fire underneath until the hands were red hot. Then they threw their children into the hands. Fun for the whole family, really.

And this concludes today's travel guide.