If hell fire is not a real place then explain Christ words in Mark 9:43-45?

Question

"And if thy hand offend thee cut it off: It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, then having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:And if thy foot offend thee cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life then having two fee to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched"

Do you understand what he is saying? This proves that hell does exist, Christ would know best wouldn't he?

He's basically saying it's that serious, better to loose a limb that causes you to stumble than to go in great health into hell. Does his saying not make sense?

Answer 1

If Hogwarts is not a real place, then explain Hagrid's words in Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone in Chapter 4, The Keeper of the Keys?



"He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled--"



Do you understand what he's saying? This proves that Hogwarts exists, because as Keeper of the Keys there, Hagrid would know best, wouldn't he?



He's basically saying that Harry will get an excellent education there, and since it's in a book, it must be true.



"Does his saying not make sense?"

Answer 2

First of all the Bible speaks more of hell than heaven. Faith comes into the picture whether you believe this or not. If you believe this than you believe Christ is real, and the bible is the true living word of God; if you do not believe the Word of God and that there is no literal place then you take that on the basis of faith as well. Jesus can be trusted because of the following facts: 1. Jesus is a historical person and his life was well documented in the Roman Empire. Biblical historians, and archeology confirms the events in the life of Jesus Christ. He death was well documented by Roman soldiers by piercing his side; both water and blood came forth; he literally died of a broken heart. Jesus taught with authority and what he said would happened happened. Events that were prophesied hundreds of years before he died and arose again. He appeared to over 500 people who testified that he arose from the grave. Also there was an earthquake and the temple curtain was ripped from top to bottom. This would have been impossible for human hands to accomplish. Now all of the other leaders in history has never arose from the grave and they have never ascended into heaven. If heaven is a literal place then so is hell; both are given the same terminology. But again just because we do not believe something does not make it any less true.

Answer 3

First of all there was no word Hell used in the original Vulgate. The word "Hell" originated from the Old English word "Hel" during the 7th century. Catholic Bibles do not use the word "Hell" in them because originally before the Bible was translated into Latin it originally was written in Greek. So our Old Testament uses the word Sheol, and our New Testament uses the words "Hades" or "Gehenna". The Greek word Gehenna is actually in Hebrew "Gehinnom". And I'm sure there are Jews that will agree with me on this when I say the unquenchable fire literally means that Gehenna will exist for all eternity, not for all of those who are suffering in Gehenna (For some yes, for many no). Some Jews believe that the "fire" of Gehinnom is like the Christian version of what is considered Hell, but on the other hand it can also be symbolic for suffering or the pain of remorse.



I hate to say this Jesus was Jewish and Jews believe that there is purification for those with lesser faults.

Answer 4

If that being so, do you also believe LITERALLY what it also said....



that "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed" and " it is better for thee to enter (with one foot) into life then having two feet to be cast into hell"?



That is, you have only one hand, or one ye, or one foot, etc in your spiritual body? Don't make sense right? (if you choose one part to be real and literal and the other part to be metaphor).

Answer 5

Jesus is saying (for you do not understand) that it is better to lose and hand or foot then to be cast into hell fire. Jesus never says in this you or anyone will be, but it is better to lose a body part then to experience hell fire.

It is better to never sin at all then to be cast into hell fire, but Jesus died for this and us so we do not have to suffer but we can be forgiven.

Anything is better than being cast into hell fire, this is what this is saying. Not that anyone goes, but it is not a good thing hell fire is painful and suffering at its worst. Understand now?

Cutting off all your extremities (and the pain of it without pain killers) is better (not as painful) then being cast into hell fire.

In other words nothing, no pain compares to hell fire. So going there is not to be desired or sought, it is painful and bad. So do anything you can (like remove limbs that sin) to keep from going there.

bless you.

Answer 6

In Bible times the most thorough means of destruction in use was fire. (Jos 6:24; De 13:16) Hence Jesus at times used the term “fire” in an illustrative way to denote the complete destruction of the wicked. (Mt 13:40-42, 49, 50; compare Isa 66:24; Mt 25:41.) On one occasion Jesus warned his disciples against letting their hand, foot, or eye stumble them so that they would be pitched into Gehenna. Then he went on to say: “Everyone must be salted with fire.” He must have meant that “everyone” who did what he had just warned against would be salted with the “fire” of Gehenna, or eternal destruction.



It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as ‘subjects for Gehenna.’ (Mt 23:13-15, 33) To avoid such destruction, Jesus’ followers were to get rid of anything causing spiritual stumbling, the ‘cutting off of a hand or foot’ and the ‘tearing out of an eye’ figuratively representing their deadening of these body members with reference to sin.



Jesus says that his followers should remove from their lives anything as dear to them as a hand, a foot, or an eye that may cause them to stumble. Better to be without this cherished thing and enter into God’s Kingdom than to hold on to it and be pitched into Gehenna (a burning rubbish heap near Jerusalem), which symbolizes eternal destruction.

Answer 7

He was wrong, just cause some poor sap said it, doesn't make it true.



In the Kalama Sutra, Buddha says.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it..

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.



But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Answer 8

Hell is real. Believe or not, it is a real place and it does exist. you've heard of the phrase, "i'm living in hell", or "hell on earth". don't believe these phrases. there maybe moments on earth when life seems "hellish" but earth is not like hell, it's not even close. you can't compare the two together because they're two separate places. there's heaven, earth, and hell. three separate places not to be intertwined with each other, or confused with one another.



"heaven on earth". don't believe this phrase either. heaven is going to be much better than earth and hell is going to be much worse. the question you need to ask yourself is, which one do you want to go to.

Answer 9

Can you trust any written word? how do you know some dude didnt just write that a few hundred year ago, and got his friends to write there own to 'collaborate' his stories?



gott becareful, lot of subjective info out there

Answer 10

Youre on a stepping stone path and you skipped from stone 0 to stone 3 without looking at stone 1...stone 1 are people who think jesus didnt exist...your argument suggests that jesus was real TRUTH FACT AND NONFICTION...when in reality...nobody knows...how is jesus better than mohammed? buddha? Are they all real? SMH.....

Answer 11

You say that "This proves that hell does exist," however . . . it can not, because God's Word never contradicts itself, and it plainly says:



". . . There is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave."---Ecclesiastes 9:10



". . .The living are conscious that they will die;

but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . ."---Ecclesiastes 9:5



"You will ... return TO the GROUND, for out of it you were taken.

For *dust you are* and to *DUST* you --[NOT, 'part of you']-- will return."---Genesis 3:19



"The *FUTURE* of wicked people will indeed be CUT OFF."---Psalm 37:38b



"And these will depart into EVERLASTING CUTTING-OFF . . ."---Mathew 25:35a



"Transgressors themselves will certainly be ANNIHILATED."---Psalm 37:38a





The 'fire' that Christ spoke of was in reference to the fire in the dump around the city of JErusalem, used to purify the area of all residue from garbage, as well as the dead bodies of animals, & criminals who were believed to have been too evil for God to resurrect in the future. Thus, the fire symbolizes ETERNAL PURIFICATION. . .



Notice that Christ said that "These will depart into EVERLASTING CUTTING-OFF,

in harmony with Psalm 37:38b:



"The *FUTURE* of wicked people will indeed be CUT OFF."



With one's future 'cut off', they can't be alive anywhere, suffering or not.



The 'lake of fire' in Revelation has both 'adamic death' & 'the common grave of mankind' thrown into it, thus signifying that they --& their effects-- will be ETERNALLY REMOVED from EXISTENCE:



"Death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire.

This means the SECOND DEATH, the lake of fire." --Revelation 20:14



The 'fire' will be eternal in that the purification that has been effected by their removal will be PERMANENT.

.

Answer 12

It can easily be explained actually. Many Bible translators have inaccurately translated the Greek GEHENNA as hell at Matthew 9:43-45, more on that a bit later.



The Bible says at 1 John 4:8 that “God is love” (not that He HAS love), would a loving God really torture people FOREVER?



Webster’s Dictionary says that the English word “hell” is equal to the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades. In German Bibles Hoelle is the word used instead of “hell”; in Portuguese the word used is inferno, in Spanish infierno, and in French Enfer. The English translators of the Authorized Version, or King James Version, translated Sheol 31 times as “hell,” 31 times as “grave,” and 3 times as “pit.” The Catholic Douay Version translated Sheol 64 times as “hell.” In the Christian Greek Scriptures (commonly called the “New Testament”), the King James Version translated Hades as “hell” each of the 10 times it occurs.—Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14 / http://bit.ly/r2vgnb



The fact that the King James Version translates the one Hebrew word Sheol three different ways shows that hell, grave and pit MEAN ONE AND THE SAME THING. And if hell means the common grave of mankind, it absolutely, positively COULD NOT at the same time mean a place of fiery torture. Well, then, do Sheol and Hades mean the grave, or do they mean a place of torture?



Before answering this question, let us make absolutely crystal clear that the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades mean the same thing. This is shown by looking at Psalm 16:10 in the Hebrew Scriptures and Acts 2:31 in the Christian Greek Scriptures, which verses you can see in the following links of the American Standard Version Bible:



Psalm 16:10 (ASV): http://bit.ly/nHpeZp

Acts 2:31 (ASV): http://bit.ly/pkfogt



Notice that in quoting from Psalm 16:10 where Sheol occurs, Acts 2:31 uses Hades. Notice, too, that Jesus Christ was in Hades, or hell. Are we to honestly believe that God, the Father of Jesus Christ tormented His only-begotten Son in a hell of fire? Of course not! Jesus was simply in his grave.



When Jacob was mourning for his beloved son Joseph, who he thought had been killed, he said: “I shall go down mourning to my son into Sheol!” (http://bit.ly/n33aiB ) However, the King James Version here translates Sheol as “grave” (http://bit.ly/oh6UEc ) and the Catholic Douay Version translates it “hell.” Now, stop for a moment and THINK. Did Jacob believe that his son Joseph went to a place of torment to spend eternity there, and did he himself want to go there and meet him? Or, rather, was it that Jacob merely thought that his beloved son was dead and in the grave and that Jacob himself wanted to die?



As can obviously be seen, God's Word the Bible teaches that both good and bad people go to the Bible hell. For example, the good man Job, who was suffering a GREAT deal, prayed to God: “O that in Sheol [grave, King James Version; hell, Douay Version] you would conceal me, . . . that you would set a time limit for me and remember me!” (Job 14:13) Now THINK: If Sheol means a place of fire and torment, would Job wish to go and spend his time there until God remembered him? Clearly, Job simply wanted to die and go to the grave that his sufferings might end.



In all the places where Sheol occurs in the Bible it is NEVER, EVER associated with life, activity or torment. Rather, it is often linked with death and inactivity. For example, THINK about Ecclesiastes 9:10, which reads: “All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [grave, King James Version; hell, Douay Version], the place to which you are going.”



So the answer becomes VERY clear. Sheol and Hades refer not to a place of torment but to THE COMMON GRAVE OF MANKIND (Psalm 139:8). Good people as well as bad people go to the Bible hell.



Now then, lets talk about GEHENNA. All together there are 12 verses in the Christian Greek Scriptures where the King James Version uses “hell” to translate the Greek word Gehenna. Is Gehenna really a place of fiery torment, whereas when Hades is translated “hell” it simply means the grave?



In the Hebrew Scriptures Gehenna is “the valley Hinnom.” Hinnom was the name of the valley just outside the walls of Jerusalem where the Israelites sacrificed their children in the fire. In time, good King Josiah had this valley made unfit to be used for such a horrible practice. (2 Kings 23:10) It was turned into a huge garbage, or rubbish, dump.



So during the time Jesus was on earth Gehenna was Jerusalem’s garbage dump. Fires were kept burning there by the adding of brimstone (sulfur) to burn up the garbage. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 1, explains: “It became the common lay-stall [garbage dump] of the city, where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every other kind of filth was cast.”