Origin of the "heaven" and "hell" Myths

Scholars have noted that the earliest christian writings, such as those of Paul and Mark, spoke of Jesus returning to usher in his kingdom on earth, or of a "Son of Man" arriving to inaugurate god's kingdom in this world. These apocalyptic scenarios envisaged rewards and punishments being meted out to people here on earth, and quite soon. As the gospel of Mark makes clear, Jesus expected the "Son of Man" to arrive quickly, within the lifetime of some of his contemporaries. Early christians expected an imminent second coming of jesus himself. Obviously, these were false hopes, and toward the end of the first century people began to realize it. Even after decades of preaching, Jesus never returned in fulfillment of prophecy. Faced with increasing derision, christian writers had to switch tactics. Instead of Jesus returning here to reward and punish, the gospel of John conjured up "heaven" and "hell." In other words, rather than rely on the promise of an earthly kingdom, which could easily be falsified since jesus never does show up, the christian authorities invented otherworldly realms of reward and punishment, which were not falsifiable, to maintain the faith of people, and control their behavior.
Amazingly, countless millions of people have taken the promise of "heaven" and threat of "hell" seriously, when they are in fact pure cockamamie, pulled out of thin air by those desperate to save christian faith and control in the wake of failed prophecy.