View source for Hell is a Christian Hoax 23

====Contradiction #3====

Bill states: "This was not a dream-I was actually in this strange place" (p. xiii).

On page 2 of the Internet Script - 23 Minutes in Hell, Bill says: "But first I want to address a couple things, questions that might be in your mind. The first question that would be of mine, if I was listening to me, would be, 'How do you know it wasn't just a dream that you had? A Bad dream?' A couple points to make, first of all, I had left my body. I saw my body when I returned, lying on the floor. So I know for sure it was an out of body experience."

Continuing Bill concludes: "In Job 7:14 it says: 'You scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions.' So this is definitely what the Lord did, terrified me through a vision."

Listen carefully: Bill said that this experience was NOT A DREAM. That he was ACTUALLY in this strange place. That he had LEFT HIS BODY. "This wasn't a nightmare; it was real" (p. xiv). He then quotes from the book of Job" "...the Lord...terrified me ( Bill) through A VISION."

Not true. This hell experience of Bill's could not have been both "actual" and "a vision" at the same time. Anything that actually and literally happens is not a vision. A vision does not actually and literally take place. Here is a helpful definition of a vision from my American Heritage College Dictionary: "vision n. A mental image produced by the imagination." A vision is in the mind rather than in a literal physical reality. It can be brought about miraculously, but it still takes place in the mind, not in a physical reality.

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "vision, Something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy: thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination: a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial."

Dr. Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, "vision, #2384 chizza^yo^n a revelation, especially by DREAM -vision."

Bill assures us that this was not a dream, but actual: "This was not a dream-I was actually in this strange place." Okay, now for a definition of the word "actual." The American Heritage College Dictionary "actual, 1. Existing and not merely potential or possible. 2. Being, existing, or acting at the present moment; current." "actuality, 1. "The state or fact of being actual; reality. 2. An actual condition or fact."

Therefore on the authority of Dr. Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, The American Heritage College Dictionary, Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and the Holy Scriptures, Bill did not actually go to a geographical place called Hell. He admits that it was a vision which contradicts an actual, literal, physical experience. Bill quotes Acts 2:17 as another proof that God said He would in the last days, give some men experiences such as Bill says he experienced: 

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions ( Greek: 'horasis, the act of gazing, an inspired appearance: - sight, vision) and your old men shall dream dreams ( Greek: 'enupnion, something seen in sleep, that is, a dream (vision in a dream): - dream.") 

Again, Bill shoots himself in the foot, because it matters not whether he puts himself in the category of young men, or old men, as neither visions nor dreams can be interpreted as actual, literal, physical events. But as Bill was past middle age when he had his experience, he would have to be in the category of old men in this verse, who dream dreams. Either he had a dream, or he can't use this Scripture to justify his insistence that it was not a dream, but actual.

Experiencing either a dream or a vision does not involve being transported physically and bodily to a different location. The fact is that Bill does not understand the meaning and usage of the simplest of words in Scripture. By stating that his experience was "actual," Bill concedes that if it were a "dream," then he wouldn't have "actually" been in this strange place. It's one or the other. It cannot be a dream or vision while also being an actual physical event.

Doesn't Bill realize that every dream is an 'out of body experience?" That is, wherever one finds himself in a dream or vision, it is all taking place in that person's mind, not through his physical body. One's physical body does not actually travel in a dream as the imagination of the mind travels in a dream. He did not literally and actually leave the location where the dream or vision was taking place. If he is dreaming in his bed, then he remains in his bed during the entire dream. Neither he nor his body goes anywhere. Yet in the dream or vision itself, he may picture himself at some distant location, but his body is still in bed. So the image of what is taking place in his mind may seem in a distant land, but it is only in his mind that his body has travelled to a different location. Also, it is impossible to physically see with one's eyes while his eyes are closed in sleep.

Sometimes when I dream I moan and fidget to the point that my wife will awaken me. I might have been dreaming about a trip to Europe, but I assure you that I was not actually transported to Europe in the few minutes it took me to fall asleep. Therefore, I was not actually in Europe, was I? Both me AND my body were still in bed. The European experience was in my mind, and although I may have dreamed that I saw my body, and recognized the clothing that I was wearing, nonetheless, my body was next to my wife in bed. I did not "actually" go to Europe and return in the number of minutes it took me to dream it. Am I going to fast for anyone? Children can understand these concepts. Why is it that many adult Christians reading Bill's book cannot?

And so, since Bill says that his experience was "definitely" a vision, then if words have meaning at all, Bill did not "actually" go to a place of eternal terrorism as he describes in his book, 23 Minutes in Hell.

Some final proofs also from the Book of Job:

Job 20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

Notice, that God likens as virtually synonymous, "a dream...and...a vision of the night." And why at "night?" Because that is when we sleep and DREAM. Recall that Bill said this happened at 3 a.m.-definitely a time "of the night."

Job 4:13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men.

Notice that, "visions of the night" produce "thoughts," not actuality, And when do these things happen? "WHEN DEEP SLEEP falls on men."

Job 33:15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed.

Notice again that both "a dream" and "a vision of the night" happen at night when we sleep ...in SLUMBERINGS upon the bed." In none of these Scriptural examples did anyone "sleeping," "dreaming," "seeing in vision," or "slumbering upon their bed" in the night, actually GO anywhere. And neither did Bill GO to some fabled hell-hole of insane torture forced upon him by some Satanic, demented, deranged, maniacal, alien monster (sorry, I'm a little short on adjectives today).

Could anything be clearer? What justification is there in Bill trying to convince us that a "vision" is something that actually, physically, materially, and literally happens or occurs, rather than accepting the overwhelming evidence from Hebrew scholars, dictionaries, and the Scriptures themselves, which prove that a dream or vision takes place in the mind, either in a trance, or at night, when we SLEEP?


[[Hell is a Christian Hoax 24|Next Page]]