Christians and Others: How do you know which bits of the bible are literal and which are metaphorical?

Look to believe that ....God would mercilessly ....beat up .....people in hell ....endlessly .... is INSANE! People that will believe this will believe anything. When I read verses in the Bible that say the earth is FLAT, I realize that non learned men wrote it. When there are contradictions in the Bible I reject them. Therefore I reject anything that is of such. I go directly to the Creator. We do not need a book of contradictions to confuse us. We need LOVE from those that created us, not hate. And God is a God of Love. Just as we love our Children, so he loves us. The "poison doctrine" of the endless torments from our Creator, is evil. It is an evil thing to accuse the Creator of such an ungodly act as eternal hell.