CONCLUSION

That's my viewpoint.

I've established that Hades and Sheol and Tartarus were places for the dead to wait for judgment. I've established that Hades is only temporary, and so the Rich man's torments in Hades were not eternal, but would end in Gehenna. I've established that Gehenna and the Lake of Fire are intended to be understood as complete destruction, the full and final death that only God can deliver.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE

The lens through which I would naturally view the bible, and the lens through which the original audience viewed the bible, are very different.

We have statements like "Melchizedek, having no beginning of days or end of life", which baffle us modern readers. To the original audience, it meant there was no listed genealogy. There are many other examples like this, that defy my instinctual ways of reading.

WEEPING AND GNASHING, or WHO TURNED THE LIGHTS OUT?

Matthew 8:11-12 (also Mt 22:13; Mt 25:30; see Mt 13:42,50; Mt 24:51 and Luke 13:28)
11 "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

GEHENNA

Gehenna is the greek word for the Valley of Hinnom, a burning rubbish pit outside of Jerusalem. It was used to burn up trash and refuse. Jesus uses the metaphor of Gehenna to talk about the horrible consequences that were coming upon some of his Jewish countrymen.

Matthew 10:28
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in GEHENNA."

The Scriptures

Let's take a quick but complete look at the scriptures that people use to prove hell. Since translations sometimes like to blur the distinctions between the words the original writers chose, we're going to highlight the original words in the text.

There are three basic words translated "hell" in the New Testament: Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus. There is one word sometimes translated "hell" in the Old Testament: Sheol.