All I know is death and hell go into the Lake of Fire and it does not sound like a nice place. I have never understood my father’s position on this. Of course he is SDA which might be the problem.
“Hell” can be confusing to people because many do not teach or preach it, as the article suggests. Those that do, sometimes latch onto particulars from either the Old or the New Testament without acknowledging the whole.
That there is punishment for unrepentant sin is the one thing that is not doubted by Christians. The Catholic purgatory, to me, appears to be a survival of the Hebrew Sheol. Sheol had levels of punishment, from the depths of Sheol where the rebellious angels and demons are bound in torment, on up through to Paradise or Abraham's Bosom, wherein one was gathered unto ones people, an apparently pleasant place.
The three days between the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ should be very informative to people who find their understanding of this matter to be lacking. This would be a very appropriate topic for Easter. Where was He during this time? What did He do and why? What are the implications for we, the living, in this day and time?
The effect of Hell is that SIN is burned out of existence FOREVER- The RESULTS are FOREVER...- the ONLY hook that those who believe in the everlasting torment/ physical fire of hell have is the parable that Jesus told about the Rich man and Lazarus, that Jesus uses as a gentle jab at the Sadducees, who don't believe in an afterlife/resurrection