How can a person call themselves "Christian" and "never done a lot of research into the subject" of "hell", examining Hebrew and Greek words as well as comparing Scripture with Scripture to attain to an accurate understanding ? And it need be noted that Jesus said that " a faithful and discreet slave" would provide "meat in due season" or accurate spiritual food (Matt 24:45-47), explaining what the Bible really teaches, rather than the "crumbs" (KJV) that the churches gives out.(Luke 16:19-21)
With that said, let's establish what the "hell" of the Bible as opposed to the doctrine of "hellfire" that the churches espouse. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word sheol is used that means mankind's common grave. For example, after Jacob had been deceived into thinking that his son Joseph had died, Genesis 37 says: "And all his sons and all his daughters kept rising up to comfort him, but he kept refusing to take comfort and saying: “For I shall go down mourning to my son into She´ol ! ("grave", KJV)” And his father continued weeping for him."(Gen 37:35, New World Translation)
Yet at Deuteronomy 32:22, the King James Bible reads: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell (Heb. sheol), and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."
And at 2 Samuel 22:6, the KJV reads of David: "The sorrows of hell (Heb. sheol) compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me." And at Job 26:6, the KJV reads of Job's reply to his so-called friends: "Hell (Heb. sheol) is naked before him (Jehovah God), and destruction hath no covering." A modern English translations reads: "The Grave is naked in front of God, and the place of destruction lies uncovered."(New World Translation)
At this point, there is an inconsistent rendering of the King James Bible, causing confusion as to the meaning of sheol. This is like a person who keeps changing what he wants when ordering a meal, not sure of anything. The waiter would become frustrated, to say the least ! It is like a father who exasperates his children by constantly changing his set of standards.(Eph 6:4; Col 3:21)
There is one Scripture in Psalms whereby the apostle Peter used it concerning Christ Jesus, that provides a synonymous word in Greek, that says: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Heb. sheol); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."(Ps 16:10, KJV) At Acts 2:31, Peter tells the Jews on the day of Pentecost: "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (Greek hades), neither his flesh did see corruption."(KJV)
But if the belief that "hell" is for the unrepentant as a place of eternal torment, then why was Jesus there ? Obviously, both the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek word hades does not mean eternal torment in a "fiery hell", but rather mankind's common grave, to which the vast majority of dead mankind are at, and in which Jesus was in the Bible "hell" for parts of three days.(Matt 12:39, 40)
And because Jesus used the expression of "fire" in his teaching in conjunction with Gehenna to show that a rebellious person against the Father, Jehovah God's rulership, will everlastingly die, and that the KJV supplanted the Greek word Gehenna with either "hell" or "hellfire" (as at Matt 5:22, 29, 30 [KJV uses "hell fire" in vs 22, but "hell" in vs 29, 30 for the same word Gehenna, showing inconsistency again]), this has led many to a wrong conclusion, and believing a lie.
That "hell" is not a place of "fiery torment" and releases it "prisoners"can be seen at Revelation 20. Here the apostle John sees that "the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (Greek hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."(Rev 20:13, KJV)
And then what happens to the Bible "hell" ? The next verse says: "And death and hell (Greek hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."(Rev 20:14, KJV) Thus, "hell" is itself destroyed by being cast into "the second death", which is the same as Gehenna, everlasting destruction.
Paul wrote concerning Adamic death: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."(1 Cor 15:26, KJV) Hence, once sheol and hades, mankind's common grave is emptied of all who are there, then Adamic death will disappear forever, never to have mastery over mankind again.(Rom 5:12)