Sheol – In the Old Testament, the place where the spirits of the departed go after death. In most passages, it does not seem to be a place of reward or of punishment, but rather a place of shadowy existence. In some other passages, it is a place distant from God. With the advent of Christianity, Sheol was increasingly identified with Hades or hell.
Gonzalez, Justo, Essential Theological Terms.
Hades – A Greek word that referred to the underworld. It is used in early Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures to refer to the place of the dead. While originally the term “hades” did not necessarily imply a place of punishment, it progressively became the place where souls are imprisoned waiting for their redemption or even the place of eternal punishment.
Gonzalez, Justo, Essential Theological Terms.
Gehenna – The Valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem where some of the kings of Judah had sacrificed their children by fire. In later Jewish Rabbinic literature, “Gehinnom” became associated with divine punishment in Jewish Apocalypticism as the destination of the wicked. It is different from the more neutral term Sheol, the abode of the dead.
Kohler, Kaufmann; Ludwig Blau (1906). “Gehenna: Sin and Merit”
Apakotastasis – “There were a number of fathers in the early church (the first four centuries C.E.) who believed in apokatastasis, ‘universal restoration’ (Acts 3:21). They believed that the real meaning of the resurrection of Christ was that God’s love was so perfect and so victorious that it would finally win out in every single person’s life. . . . in the dying process or shortly after death, God’s infinite love can and will still get at you! They felt that no soul could resist such a love once it was revealed to them.”
Richard Rohr devotional, Friday, December 30, 2016.
WHAT DID JESUS SAY ABOUT HELL?
Matthew 5:22 “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Matthew 5:27-30 “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.”
Matthew 23:13-15 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in your- selves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
“The Love of God and The Logic of Hell”
By Rev. Adam Hamilton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwR6- 5nxFoM