It sounds like you were duped by some teacher or other who reads too much into symbolism while declaring a pox on those who have preached on the realities of Hell for 2000 years!
I listen to about 2.5 hours of the bible pretty much every day on my way to and from work. I’m amazed how many verses there are that touch on this subject in sometimes very subtle ways. They pretty much all point to “death”, “destruction”, “perish”, etc. And even the ones that are “fuzzy” are only that way because they are not talking about the person who is destroyed, but the place where the person is destroyed.
I use this analogy to explain: If I say I’m going to paint a fence blue for all eternity, does it mean I am going to spend eternity painting the fence blue, or that I will paint it once and it will STAY BLUE for all eternity?
The scriptures that bring up this concept about the fate of the lost generally relate to the latter.
And I’m not concerned about what has been taught in various churches for 2,000 years. If I was, I would be Catholic. I’m concerned about what the bible says, not what men say.
Actually I’m not Catholic, I’m Baptist so Hell fire preaching is what I heard most of my life!
Then how does the following passage fit into that scenario? Revelation 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 for ever and ever.