Hell in the bible · Spiritual Rebels

Hell in the bible

I think we all know hell is not a lake of fire in which we will be tortured for all eternity after death if we aren't good little monkeys. I am wondering if anyone has any useful apologetics for defending Jesus and his supposed depictions of such a place as misinterpreted or misconstrued. For example he talks about gehenna which was a place where child sacrifice/ burning took place. He also talks about a ravine of fire etc.

I think fire = purification, as the Jewish people had no idea of hell and fire was purification/ God's cleansing - the burning bush for example. So when Jesus talks about fire, that is where it takes me. Purification, burning away of what is not us, hardening steal etc. I think the church added this idea of punishment for eternity to take power over the people. But I don't know the history specifically.

Any references to Gnostic bibles or anything else to add would be awesome! Just trying to open a discussion my fellow monkeys :)

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