Hell is a real place

Mark 9:43-48 must be read allegorically, else we must believe that there will be many people in heaven who will be crippled for all eternity. In which case, it could hardly be called heaven. To cut off a hand or a foot, or to pluck out an eye actually means to separate oneself from that which might morally weaken them. Christ is not telling us to literally maim ourselves, because removing an appendage or eye would not solve the offensive problem, because the appendages and the eye are controlled by the conscience, heart, and mind. To effectively remove the offense from ourselves by removing body parts would require removing our brain or heart and taking our own lives. In 2 Peter 2:14 we read: Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Here we see that it is not the "eyes" that are the problem, but the "heart" that is the problem. And what good would it do to just pluck out one eye, when it is both eyes that are full of the offense. Again, Christ is not telling us to literally pluck out our eye. This is further supported in Matthew 15:19 where we are told that evil thoughts come from the heart. So why were we not told to pluck out our heart instead of our eyes? The obvious answer is that Christ has chosen a graphic allegory to warn us to separate ourselves from even that which we hold dear to avoid hell. A scripture that supports that fact is Matthew 10:37, where we are told to be more dedicated to Christ than our own family. Now that I have shown that the passages should be read allegorically, it logically follows that "hell" in these passages is also allegorical for suffering, and not a real place. The original Greek word for "hell" in these passages is Gehenna, which is the Valley of Hinnom, located outside Jerusalem, where fires were kept burning perpetually for trash and the carcasses of animals, and even criminals. Christ was using a dismal place familiar to the people to give them an idea of the agony they might suffer. He wasn't speaking of an actual "hell fire". A passage that supports this logic can be found at the very end of the Book of Isaiah, where it speaks of the unquenchable fire, and the undying worm. Not in hell, but on the carcasses of the wicked, as they are seen here on Earth, not in hell. Luke 16:23 explains itself: ". .. in hell . .. being in torments. .. " The man is suffering the agony of hell, not in a place called hell. The man "lifted" his eyes, because even allegorically, no one looks "down" from hell. The man also sees Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. If we were to take the entire passage literally, then all souls that have been saved can expect to be in Abraham's bosom. That'll be a bit rough on poor Abraham. Elaborating a bit further. "In hell" does not have to literally mean in an actual hell anymore than being "down in the dumps" would literally mean being in a dump somewhere. "In hell" simply means "in agony. " As for the video. At first I wasn't going to watch it, but I did anyway. The link only took me to the first part, so I found the entire video here: . https://youtu.be... I found the man's story to be completely fictitious for the following reasons: 1:45 into the video, the man speaks of a "black, dark void". Then 2:19 into the video, he's suddenly transported to "this light". At no point does he does he tell us when he noticed the light, it just suddenly finds place in his narrative, where it becomes a light in the darkness. Of course, such details can be overlooked in the retelling, but I have a hard time believing that would be the case here, considering how detailed the rest of his narrative is for such an alleged traumatic event. 13:46 into the video, he mentions little reptilian demons who delight in torturing a man. No such entity is described anywhere in the Bible, but can instead be found in many horror stories. The other problem with the little demons is that they delight in doing what Christ often describes as evil. So, in a sense, what is hell for everyone else, is heaven for them. This means that God is rewarding evil doers, which would mean that He is not the same yesterday, today, and forever, which in turn means he is not God, which in turn means there is no heaven or hell. The man's little demons contradict religious belief. 14:13 into the video, the man mentions a temple prostitute who died in 69 A. D. How does he know that? Well, 15:05 into the video, he states that he "just knows", despite having to be told everything telepathically earlier. 17:11 into the video, the man sees who he knows for a fact is Hitler. He describes a man whose flesh is constantly rotting and burning. So, how was he able to recognize a face that is always marred by burning, rotting flesh? Oh, that's right, he just knows. At the end of the video, the man is shown a cube, because cubes are the prison everyone in hell is kept in, save for a few tortured souls he saw on his tour of hell. Yes, a reptilian demon, larger than the others that were described, takes him on a pleasant tour of hell. I say pleasant, because despite standing near a man being ripped to pieces by little demons, he is left completely unharmed. Yeah, right. Even if any of this man's story made sense, or failed to be contradictory to religious belief, it is entirely based on hearsay. As my opponent so correctly wrote, the man "claims" to have gone to hell and back. Sorry, but there's only one Audie Murphy.