Actually the eternal fires of "Hell" do not exist anymore.
The NT word translated as hell is actually Gehenna which is Greek for the
Valley of Hinnom.
The Valley of Hinnom had a very horrendous history in ancient times. It was used as a place where the pagan worshipers did all sorts of vile and wicked things - including burning children alive as sacrifices to the idols Moloch and Baal. One section of the valley was called Tophet, or the "fire-stove," where the children were slaughtered (2 Kings 23:10). It was a place of tremendous evil for many years.
After the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile, the valley became the city’s incinerator. Apparently they even added sulpur or brimstone to keep the fires burning continuously.
Gehenna became a vivid symbol of destruction and an abomination.
Therefore if your dead body was thrown into Gehenna, you were deemed a criminal. Your body was destroyed and you had no part in the world to come. This is the picture that the NT authors were presenting, not eternal torment.
Gehenna is no longer burning.
Photos of Hell
Fortunately the scriptures do not support the teaching of eternal torment.
The only scripture that might support the teaching is:
Matt 25:46”"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
If one was to receive eternal torment as taught, then the person would still be "living".
IOW being tormented throughout his eternal life, but this verse states that only the righteous receive eternal life.
Therefore the punishment is death by destruction in the Lake of Fire, which is eternal in the sense that it is a permanent judgment. No resurrection for this person.
Eternal life is for the righteous and all others just cease to exist.
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