I come here to share what I have learned, and learn what others share. We all share a love of Jesus and I believe we have all come here for a reason. Hopefully our work here is acceptable to the Lord
Hell doesn't exist....yet. The way I read it, when you die you go to sleep, just like Lazarus. If you are saved, you get resurrected at the first resurrection and live in the clouds with Jesus for a thousand years where the Book of Life is opened and all is made known. After the 1000 years, the wicked dead get resurrected and then get put to death. It appears that Satan gets to burn forever. What would heaven be if you had to watch your family and friends who didn't make the cut get cooked for eternity?
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; 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 which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
In the New Testament there are 3 words translated Hell; Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus.
Hades in the Greek means simply "the grave" and is best exemplified in scripture by Revelations 20:14 where death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire.
Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom was basically the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where refuse burned continually; they also threw dead bodies of criminals, indigents and other human debris in there as a practical matter and that's why the fire never went out. It had a constant supply of fuel. Jesus is speaking of Gehenna in Matthew 5:22 and 5:29 where he says "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for whole body to be thrown into "Gehenna".
Tartarus is spoken of by Peter in [2 Peter 2:4] where [God did not spare the Angels when they sinned but sent then to Tartarus....putting them in gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.] Tartarus is also mentioned (not by name)in Jude 6, [And the Angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the Great Day.
What would heaven be if you had to watch your family and friends who didn't make the cut get cooked for eternity?
You are correct. A loving creator God would not let the parents of unbelieving children watch those children being burned alive for eternity. A loving creator would destroy those unrepentant, unbelieving children in the Lake of fire, along with death and the grave(Hades).
The idea of an eternal hellfire is a myth concocted by the church and further popularized by "Dante's Inferno".