The concept of hell, as understood in the common belief of the Western world, has evolved from merely a dark, silent place like a grave to a place of eternal torment. However, the Greek word gehenna, often translated as hell, refers to a place of destruction and death, not of living torture. Jesus spoke to the Jews about gehenna, illustrating it as the Valley of Hinnom, a place where utter destruction by fire left nothing but ashes. The Bible declares in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death, not eternal life in torture, emphasizing that eternal life is the gift of God. The punishment revealed is death, the second death, from which there is no resurrection. This eternal punishment is death for eternity, not an ongoing process of punishing. Jesus used the term gehenna fire to illustrate the lake of fire, described in Revelation 20:14 as the place of the second death, a final punishment far hotter than any imagined torment. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus plainly stated that both soul and body could be destroyed in gehenna, reinforcing it as a place of complete destruction. Revelation 20:13-15 shows that death and hell deliver up the dead for judgment, after which death and hell themselves are cast into the lake of fire, signifying the second death. Those not found in the book of life are also cast into this lake of fire, a place of eternal punishment through destruction. In Matthew 23:33, Jesus warned of the damnation of gehenna as the second death, an eternal punishment. Ancient cities like Sodom and Gomorrah suffered eternal fire, as mentioned in Jude 7, yet they are not still burning; they were burned up forever in eternal destruction. Malachi 4:1-3 describes a day that will burn like an oven, reducing the wicked to stubble and ashes underfoot, leaving neither root nor branch. Isaiah 66:24 speaks of unquenched fire and undying worms upon the carcasses of transgressors, yet this does not imply endless burning but rather a complete destruction, as demonstrated by unquenched fires in history, like that of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 52:13, which burned out after fulfilling their purpose. The Bible consistently portrays hell, derived from gehenna, as a place of final destruction, not eternal torment. Psalm 37 and Psalm 104:35 affirm that the wicked will be cut off, consumed, and perish, no longer existing on the earth. This aligns with the hope of resurrection to judgment, contrasting with the notion of immediate, eternal torture at death, and affirming that through Christ, we may receive everlasting life from God.

Some hold to the false teaching that at death, a wicked person's soul is tormented in an eternally burning hell, leading friends and relatives to pray for relief of the departed soul's suffering. However, the Bible declares that the soul itself can die, offering no support for such torment. God's Plan reveals a far more hopeful and loving approach, promising resurrection and the opportunity for eternal life to billions who have not yet known His truth, rather than a destiny of endless punishment for the ignorant.

The concept of Hell as an eternally burning place is not supported by the biblical language and context. The lexical argument examines the words used in the Bible for what is often translated as "hell," revealing that they do not carry the meaning of an ever-burning place of torment. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "sheol" appears 66 times, primarily meaning a hole, pit, or grave—a place where dead bodies are placed, not a realm of conscious suffering. Its meaning evolved to represent a void or place of the dead, but never in the Old Testament does it suggest a fiery, eternal torment. Examples from Psalms, Numbers, and Jonah illustrate "sheol" as a physical grave or pit, such as David's reference in Psalm 16 to not being left in the grave, or Jonah's description of the fish's belly as his "sheol," a place of impending death. In the New Testament, the Greek word "hades" mirrors "sheol," used only 10 times and consistently meaning the grave or abode of the dead, as seen in Acts 2 where Peter equates it with David's "sheol." Revelation pairs "hades" with death, reinforcing it as the place of the dead, not a place of eternal fire. Another Greek term, "tartaroo," a verb meaning to cast down, appears once in II Peter 2:4, relating to angels cast down to earth as a place of restraint, not a fiery hell for humans. Finally, "gehenna," used 12 times exclusively by Jesus Christ, refers to the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, a literal dump where trash and bodies of criminals were burned, symbolizing complete destruction in the Lake of Fire, not ongoing torment. Jesus employs this imagery in Matthew 5 to convey total consumption by fire for those who reject God, aligning with Jeremiah 7's depiction of the valley as a place of slaughter under God's wrath. The prophetic argument further challenges the notion of an eternally burning hell, showing through biblical prophecy that God's plan, as outlined in Revelation 20 and Malachi 4, involves the Lake of Fire as a place of final destruction where the wicked are burned up completely, reduced to ashes, with no indication of perpetual suffering. The theological argument reinforces this by emphasizing that sin leads to death, not eternal life in torment, as seen in Genesis 2 and 3, Ezekiel 18, and Ecclesiastes 3. God declares that the soul who sins shall die, and death means a cessation of consciousness, with the body returning to dust and the spirit to God, devoid of any ongoing existence in a fiery hell. Scriptures like Psalm 146 and Romans 6:23 affirm that eternal life is a gift through Christ, not an inherent trait, negating the idea of an immortal soul suffering endlessly. Thus, the biblical perspective points to destruction in the Lake of Fire as the ultimate fate for the unrepentant, not an eternally burning hell.