And Hells come back to haunt me

[snowtracks]

I can understand your predicament and would advise you to take a step back from the Bible before taking anything it contains as 'gospel' (pun fully intended).

Try researching the history of the texts themselves. Who wrote them? (Hint: nobody knows) How was it collated? What was left out? How accurately was it copied over the years? Read about William Tindale's version of the new testament (over 90% of which was used directly for the King James Bible). Tindale had about 10 documents to work from whereas we now have some 5700 document versions of the new testament (many of them fragmentory). Read about John Mill and the 30,000 odd discrepancies he found between the small handful of texts he had when creating his version of the text... Does the history of the texts equate to a tome of significant credibility?

Good places to start would be to read Bart Ehrman and check out 'The Human Bible' podcast. Also check out the arguments concerning the recension of the text from the theists. Which arguments sound most honest and based on reality?

Unless you have made some informed judgement on the historical credibility of the text, why accept anything written in the text?

Btw as far as im aware, 'hell' is an old English word referring to a covering (in this case a 'covered place'). The original texts refer to 'Hades' which is an ancient Greek concept. For me, this is instructive... ; )

not a matter of semantics: the bible teaches the existence of heaven and hell. unbelievers go immediately to hades, and eventually to hell after the great white throne judgement when the books are open. remember, everyone including believers will appear before Christ individually to give an answer to their lives.