And Hells come back to haunt me

[themonkeyman]

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.

Actually I have started reading Gnostic Works and Hell Is described a bit more clearly however there are conflicting views.

1) Its a house which is on fire and we are bound in flaming hot chains sitting in boiling hot oil.
2) Its darkness where Angels Chase us.
3) Its at least 3 years deep from Heaven if one were to drop a stone.
4) Its a lake of fire.
5) It is Eternal / However the concept of eternity really only came about with Plato.
6) It follows a classical description of other kinds of hell.
7) Jesus describes it as Torture and Punishment however he never mentioned Sadistic Torture. Which would could imply a softer form of torture e.g. My Kid screaming is torture. It doesent actually include physical pain and Jesus never mentioned such.
8) The description using Fire is again another form of something developing with time. The first descriptions of hell did not include fire but Ice which is known as a much worse way to be punished, Dante followed this.
9) In the book of enoch we are told that we are subjected to certain forms of cruel torture however this contridicts Jesus direct teachings on what hell is as Enoch descripes it as Ice where as Jesus as a lake of fire.
10) Other Hells, As we are still Animals we still have a consience of right and wrong and in order for us to be able to 'Let Go' of people doing bad things to us a Concept of a place where they are tortured fits right with Humans.
11) I had a dream when I was young about the Vision of Hell, To me it was Simply Darkness I also had a dream about heaven to which I equated to a Glass Box.
12) All Biblical Descriptions of hell are written by people who are now long dead, They never explained hell or why we should not go there, Jesus himself put out sturn warnings however the problem we have here is that we are relying on another persons word for our own belief.

Conclusion
According to most Christians we should follow the Bible but given its history and political stances throughout the years we can say without question that the Bible has been subjected to Manipulation.

The Bible concepts have also developed throughout the Centuries and so has the concept of God.

The Problem is that the Bible was written by Men who in most cases were Illerterate, Meaning how the heck could they know that the scribe was writing something different to what they said? Was the Scribe a Believer or a Pharasie.

Lastly God being everywhere and nowhere and before and after time although we could say that he approves of the Bible. His Non Intervention since Jesus died on the Cross would leave me open to say that Either God does not care / exist or that He does. If Does care then why is there so many conflicting views of Christianity.

I was told the Holy Spirit leads us but my question is well then why is there so many versions of Christianity ranging from Orthodox to Pentecostal from Morman to Universalists. Surely one of them has to be wrong?