I too enjoy a good spiritual discussion. 8)
As to being created in the “image” of God, I would think that means things like...our physical appearance (two eyes, two arms, etc.) is like His. I also see the “heart, soul, mind” similar to the trinity (Jesus-heart-physical manifestation, Mind-thoughts, ideas, creation-God the Father, and Holy Spirit-soul).
However, when you look at Scripture, every verse talking about everlasting/immortal life comes from believing in Jesus.
hmmm? animals have two eyes. Not sure God has any eyes or arms as he is in the spirit realm we cannot comprehend. Right or wrong I always thought what separated us from animals was an immortal soul and that our spirit element was what was meant by image of God. Having said that I can tell from this thread and reading other materials that this is a deep topic worthy of a lot of reflection and discussion. No one can really lay claim that they 'know'.
I do think physical destruction makes more sense to me than eternal torment although I am not sure it matters whether it makes sense to me or not. I saw where someone said that the Hell was designed for Satan and his demons and only they experienced eternal torment. I was then thinking that this does not solve the difficulty for me. So it was hard to accept that God would design and allow eternal torment for man but it is OK as long as it's applied to some other form (fallen angels). A fallen angel chooses to disobey as does a human. But there are different rules for angels than men? I don't see that theory being any easier to accept. interesting stuff though.