Forword — 7Preface — 13IntroductionFear hath torment — 17Chapter 1Evils and demoralizing effects of the doctrine of endless punishment — 23Chapter IIAncient traditions respecting the origin of evil and the Devil — 29Chapter IIIA wicked Devil and an endless Hell not taught in the Old Testament — 33Chapter IVExplanation of the words “Devil” and “Hell” in the Old Testament — 39Chapter VGod (and not the Devil) the author of evil according to the Christian bible — 45Chapter VIGod and the Devil originally twin-brothers, and known by the same titles — 49Chapter VII Origin of the terms “kingdom of Heaven”, “gates of Hell” also of traditions of the dragon chasing the woman, the woman clothed with the Sun, etc. — 69Chapter VIIIHell first instituted in the skies its origin and descent from above — 77Chapter IXOrigin of the tradition respecting “the bottomless pit” — 79Chapter XOrigin of the belief in a “lake of fire and brimstone” — 81Chapter XIWhere is Hell? Ancient traditions respecting its character and location — 85Chapter XIIOrigin of the notion of man’s evil thoughts being prompted by a devil satanic agency having been restricted to the phenomena of the external world — 87Chapter XIIIThe Christian’s Devil whence imported or borrowed — 91Chapter XIVThe various after-death punitive seems of the New Testament, of Oriental origin — 93Chapter XVThe doctrine of future punishment of heathen and priestly origin, invented by Pagan priests — 99Chapter XVIExplanation of Hell, Hades, Tartarus, Infernus, Gehenna and Tophet — 109Chapter XVII163 questions for believers in post mortem punishment — 111Appendix — 133Post ScriptumWhen you install fear, guild and punishment by eternal torture as the basis of society, the psychological make up of most people get distorted and life in general tends towards structural un-happynessWhen you install fear, guild and punishment by eternal torture as the basis of society, then the psychological make up of most people get distorted and life in general tends towards structural unhappyness. However, the doctrine of eternal punishment for unbelievers, executed in a fiery Hell and presided over by a Devil, has been the mainspring and driving force of Christianity. Armed with that belief, the church launched herself upon the Roman Empire, destroyed the pagan religions, extinguished pagan culture, overthrew classical civilization, and pushed the world into the Dark Ages. She filled the world with religious hate, fanaticism, intolerance of science and reason and even established the Inquisition. The most progressive and independent thinking men and women of society were persecuted, just because they resisted the Christian doctrines of fear, damnation, guild and blind obedience. We saw its anticlimax in the Burning Times.Apart from the core message of his book, which has not lost anything of its actuality, Graves also provides a lot of historical data. Giving us insight in the origins of the many false assumptions the Christian faith build its’ empire on. He shows that, mythologically, the God of the Old Testament and the Devil of the New Testament were “originally twin brothers known by the same titles”, and that this God and this Devil were Chaldean sun-gods. The origins of the Devil, eternal punishment, Heaven and Hell are discussed, as well as evil itself within this context.