HELL or not HELL?

[OakTree500]

No there is not, but apparently, (at least according to that site), that translation originally said "Gehenna" which IS a physical place.

I mean the thought behind the saying could be anything, ranging from the literal to a more storylike place for one's mind to process. Apparently it was well known to be a bad place, full of Terrible smells and fires (due to rotting waste/gases) so one would imagine the legends of the place became embellished some what. Think of the bog of eternal stench from Labyrinth.

I mean, in the long run, the bible says a lot of things, but why does that give it any authority over any other book on the planet also full of crazy tails/realms we can't verify exist either?

If Mark 9 isn't saying that those who burn in hell (Gehenna) are tormented forever, what was the point of the passage then?

My understanding is that it's an embellishment of a known place: IE if you sin you'll be thrown into the city dump (Gehenna) to burn for all eternity, with burning relating to the fires constantly burning in that place. It's an actual threat of some kind "Do this and you'll go to a place you actually know about" with a supernatural twist "...and burn forever".

Again, the point ultimately is it's the bible and everything there-in is bullshit anyway, but you get the point.