Okay.
So, there's 162 references to hell in the New Testament and 70 of those are from Jesus himself.
So I'm curious, how do you interpret those?
For example, I'll give an easy one so its not too confusing...
Matthew 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
Thank you, I have done a lot of research on this topic....
How many words are translated into "Hell" in English Bibles? I can count four ......"hades"....Gehenna"...."the lake of fire"...and "Tartarus".
What do you believe these words mean? Do they all mean the same place?
A decent study of the scriptures will reveal that they do not all refer to the same place.
The scripture in Matthew that you quoted does not mention "hell" but alludes to the "eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels".
This would be "the lake of fire" into which those who have sinned gravely and incorrigibly are cast. Is there another name for this "lake of fire"? The answer is yes...."Gehenna"....so what was Gehenna to a Jew? Remember that Jesus only preached to a Jewish audience.
"Gehenna" was a rubbish dump for the city of Jerusalem where the carcasses of dead animals and sometimes the bodies of executed criminals were thrown for disposal along with the city's refuse. Fires were kept burning day and night to consume the rubbish. What the flames missed, the maggots finished off. Nothing alive ever went into "Gehenna".
So what was behind the idea that the Jews would have understood back then, but that we wouldn't? The Jews were very pedantic about their burial tombs. Go to any Jewish cemetery and see what I mean. To be disposed of like garbage meant no burial tomb with your name and family lineage inscribed. That to a Jew, conveyed no resurrection, because God was going to call the dead from their tombs and restore their lives. No tomb meant not being remembered by God. (John 5:28-29)
What about Jesus' words in Matthew 10:28?
"Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
So in "Gehenna", both body and soul are "destroyed"....not tortured.
What about "hades"...is that a hell of torture with no escape?
Revelation 20:13-14..."
"The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire."
Two things mentioned there are interesting.....that the dead in hades are called out of there to be judged.....and the then "death and hades" are thrown into "the lake of fire". Can you throw death and the grave into a literal place? Or is this destination more symbolic? What did the angel call it? "The second death"....what do you think that means?
In Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 Solomon wrote...
"For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. . . . Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going."
So, there is no consciousness in death. The dead are not capable of any further contact or connection to this world. There was no belief in an afterlife in original Jewish teachings.
The dead were actually dead....not alive in another form, somewhere else. The idea of an immortal soul originated form Greek Platonism and later infiltrated Jewish thought as it did eventually in Christianity....but it is a pagan idea, not a scriptural one. (Genesis 3;19)
Adam was not "given" a soul, but "became' one when God started him breathing. (Genesis 2:7) Souls are living, breathing creatures...both human and animal....all die the same death. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20)
According to the Greek Septuagint (Hebrew Bible translated into Greek) "Sheol" is the Hebrew equivalent to "hades" in Greek. To the Jews, this meant the common grave...the place where 'we are all going'. The ancient Jews had no belief in an afterlife of any description so those who were thrown into "Gehenna" were as Jesus said..."destroyed"...completely eliminated from existence.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, under “Hell” says: “fr[om] . . .
helan to conceal.” The word “hell” thus originally conveyed no thought of heat or torment, but simply of a ‘covered over or concealed place.’
In the old English dialect the expression “helling potatoes” meant, not to roast them, but simply to place the potatoes in the ground or in a cellar.
What then is "Tartarus"? (2 Peter 2:4) It is mentioned only once as a place or condition of restraint for satan and his demons.....no humans are in there. These are "the spirits in prison", to who Jesus went after his resurrection to hand down their judgment.
"Hell" is a very interesting topic if you would like to explore it further....?