Originally Posted by Gentleman Johnny

The bible is based off the teachings and parables preached by Jesus Christ. No one is suggesting that it is God's word, mainly due to the fact that almost all of it is up to an individual's interperetation. The stories and fables accounted in the Bible are moral messages intended to influence people to live a good life. What does it matter that God doesn't come down and tell you these things?



and not only is this completely incorrect, it has little to do with the matter at hand. Hell is not a creation of the Catholic Church, the idea has existed for hundreds of years before Catholicism was even conceived. You're a Jew, yet you know nothing of the portrayal of "Gehenna" as a final resting place for the wicked? Previous terms for what is comomonly known today as "hell" are the Greek Hades, Buddhist Naraka, and the Islamic Jahannam. Now, are you going to tell me that all of those religions based their ideas of Hell off of the Catholic Church?