what we commonly believe to be hell is not place of torment

Sheol, Gehenna, Hell, all the same thing? I will rebuttal very little of my opponents arguments because as I will show, they actually support many of my arguments. The only thing I will be disagreeing with is his conclusion which is that Sheol and Hell are one of the same thing. The bible uses three terms to describe the afterlife(besides heaven) which are Sheol, Gehenna, and Hell. Lets go on and define them. Sheol- noun (in hebrew theology) 1. the abode of the dead or of departed spirits.(1)Gehenna- Ge·hen·na (g-hn)n. 1. A place or state of torment or suffering. 2. The abode of condemned souls; hell.(2) Hell- hell (hl) n. 1. a. often Hell The abode of condemned souls and devils in some religions; the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death, presided over by Satan. b. A state of separation from God; exclusion from God's presence. 2. The abode of the dead, identified with the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades; the underworld.(3) As you can see, Hell is both Sheol and Gehenna. It is both the abode of the dead and a place of eternal punishment. So which version of Hell is used in the bible? Both. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Hell always meant Sheol since there was no afterlife in Jewish culture. It is only in the New Testament that Hell gains the new meaning of eternal punishment, or more specifically, Gehenna. All that die now go straight to Sheol as my opponent said, but when the day of second judgment comes, all the wicked will be cast into Gehenna. Gehenna is the lake of fire as used in the bible but is translated as hell in the NRSV. Do the scriptures back up my bold claim? Lets see… “and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.”-Acts 24:15 What does this mean? That there is clearly going to be a resurrection of ALL the dead in Sheol. But why would there be a resurrection? Lets look at Revelation 20:11-15 “And I saw the dead…..and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things….. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”- Revelations 20:11-15 This scripture shows how the resurrected dead will be judged and those not found in “the book of life” would be cast into the lake of fire which is Gehenna or Hell. Gehenna is the second death. Hell, a place of torture? My opponent claims that hell is not a place of torture, but what does the bible say? Lets see… “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. “ Mark 9:43-48. “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”- Revelation 20:10 Please do show how the above does not show hell to be a place of torture. Revelation even goes on to say that they would be tormented day and night. Why did Jesus and Job go to hell? 1)It is commonly accepted that Jesus died for our sins. So in a since, you could say Jesus took our place in hell. 2) An alternate explanation is that Hell talked about after Jesus death was Sheol. 3) Job is written in the Old Testament which always referred hell as Sheol. Conclusion While my opponent is right in his arguments about Sheol, he has really only told half the story. Sheol is a temporary place until the day of the second judgement comes when they will be cast into Gehenna. Hell as commonly believed, is indeed a place of eternal punishment. (1)http://dictionary.reference.com... (2) http://www.thefreedictionary.com... (3) http://www.thefreedictionary.com...