Hell is not a fiery place of torment

The Catholic Church actually discouraged their followers from reading the Bible on their own " a policy that intensified through the Middle Ages and later, with the addition of a prohibition forbidding translation of the Bible into native languages. In 1199, Pope Innocent III condemned the translation of the bible book of Psalms into French.In 1211, By order of Pope Innocent III, Bishop Bertram of Metz organized a crusade against all people reading the Bible in the vernacular, and any such Bibles found were duly burned. So, I am not interested in what the Roman Catholic Council has to say concerning hell. They should rather be explaining why they prevented people from having free access to a personal copy of the bible. Jesus words at Mark 9:42-49 "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." These words should not be taken literally. If it were to be taken literally then Jesus is alluding to self-mutilation."if thy hand offend thee, cut it off" "if thy foot offend thee cut it off" "if thy eye offend thee cut it off" If we were to follow this "cut it off" rule we will all be maimed maybe even dead as a result of severe mutilation of our bodies. Further, Mark9:49 says "For every one shall be salted with fire". So if this fire is literal then everyone has been condemned to a fiery place of torment. When reading the bible we have to read the whole context not just a verse. In this chapter of Mark 9, Jesus was using hyperbole. He was saying that a person should be willing to give up something as precious as a hand, a foot, or an eye rather than allow it to cause him to stumble into unfaithfulness. Hell is not a place of punishment. its a grave. Ecclesiastes 3:19,20-"for that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." Psalms146:4 "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 "for the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten so is their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun" The dead is unconscious. They don't feel pain, envy or love. How can such an unconscious dead body be eternally punished when they can't even feel pain.Where is the logic? Romans6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The reason why humans die is because we are sinful. Exercising faith in Jesus Christ and dedicating our life to God gives us the hope of eternal life. Using hellfire as a scare mechanism to prevent people from sinning is wrong. To err is human. We are all sinful. We sin everyday. No one is perfect. That is the reason why Jesus came to earth to die for our sins. 1John1:8,9-"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Exekiel33:11-"Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" A loving God will never punish people in a fiery place of torment. We inherited sin from Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve the original sinners were sentenced to death not a fiery hell.Genesis3:3-"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Why should their offspring be sentenced to fiery place of torment when they did not commit the original sin.Jesus didn't die for Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are condemned to death. They have been completely annihilated. Jesus died for the offspring of Adam and Eve.