WHAT IS HELL

Ancient Greek mythology taught that the earth was basically flat (hence the 4 corners) and existed at the center of the universe. They believed that every soul of Man was eternal (our conscious self never dies). There was a father of the gods called Zeus. Nature was controlled by lesser gods who battled each other for power and for the souls of Man. The gods dwelt in a glorious city on a mountain among the stars and man should patronize (serve) the god of their choice and hope to be claimed to serve that god for eternity. For example if you loved the sea then you would want to be chosen by Poseidon. If you were rejected by the gods who dwelt in the glorious city in the sky you would be doomed to serve the terrible god of the underworld...Hades was his name and he was the god who had the power of death. 

Ancient Roman mythology changed that a little bit and the gods received names that were from planets and constellations. The father of the gods was Jupiter. The lesser gods were given names like Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune, and star constellations. The Roman view taught that these lesser gods patronized and helped mankind. That the gods were in competition to see if they could get more souls to join them. Praying to many different gods offered the possibility that at least one of them would want your soul and you would ascend to the glorious city in the stars. If you were not worthy to have the favor of a god and were rejected by the gods you would be doomed to serve the god of the dark fiery underworld. His Roman name was Pluto but he was still often referred to as Hades. His domain was also known as Hades and was not a desirable place to go. 

Roman Christianity that began to form under Emperor Constantine circa 320 AD changed that a little bit more. The lesser gods are replaced by Saints, who are humans that have supposedly ascended to the status of gods and they now have the ability to consciously affect the lives of all living mankind. The father of the saints was now simply called God with a big "G", and Satan became the god of the underworld which was still called Hades. That location, Hades, continues to be used today to refer to a horrible place of darkness, sulfur clouds, lava and fire, and torment and persecution under the ruler-ship of an evil demon of great power. It is often equated with the Lake of Fire and Hell.

Of course none of that is described or even implied in Biblical scripture. There is a place all human souls go after life leaves the body. The body is destroyed and returns to dust. The soul goes to a different place. It is described in the Old Testament as an abyss or a pit from which there is no escape, and as a "place of the dead" where they wait in an unconscious state until the day of resurrection. It was called "Sheol", the grave, in the Hebrew language and Hades, the grave, in Greek translations. No place in the Old Testament describes Sheol as a place of persecution or physical torment.

But because that concept was not agreeable to the teachings of Greek and Roman mythology, that much of the world believed, the word "infernos" (fire below) was substituted by Latin translations and most translations have since replaced that with the words Hell or Hades which most consider to be of equal meaning. Peter used the word "tartaroo" in 2Pet 2:4 when he was talking about the bad angels of Noah's day which were cast into a deep pit of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment. Tartarus was a location in Hades, therefor it is reasonable to infer that there is perhaps a special place in Sheol where the worst of angels are chained. Some ancient teachings suggest that it has fire in it because it's in Hades. Many modern translations of Hebrew and Greek scripture still use that word "Hades" or the term "hell fire" to promote the teachings of ancient mythology.

About 720 AD the European word "Hell" was adopted into the English language. It still only referred to the "netherworld", or place of the dead, where all souls go when life ends. It was a place of darkness and waiting. Rome brought the idea of a fiery underworld to Europe and that was eventually added to Hell. King James was a devout Catholic and the King James Version replaced all the words "sheol" with the word "hell". 

If you read the end of Revelation 20 in most of the different modern translations you will learn that Death and Hades/Hell are all thrown into the Lake of Fire. Unless you're a total idiot you have to realize that Hades and Hell are "not" the Lake of Fire. So that leaves a huge conflict...If the Lake of Fire is not Hades or Hell what is going on here? If Hades and Hell are thrown into the Lake of Fire and cease to exist, and there is no more place for the those died the 2nd death, then what is the Lake of Fire?

When you go back to Rev 20:10 you see that the Lake of Fire is the eternal residence of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet (fallen angels/demons). Those of mankind who are rejected at the final judgment would have to have eternal life to live forever in the eternal Lake of Fire. But they experience the 2nd death which means they don't live.

Jesus told us that believers get eternal life and the rest perish. Who are you going to believe?

We can go into the same conflicts with the realm of the gods above the earth. There is no place in scripture that even remotely suggests that any other human besides Christ himself will ever dwell in the spiritual realm of the Creator. We do not become like him...He became like us.