The visceral perception of hell as a particular place filled with diabolical torture chambers is a literary device from the Middle Ages, particularly Dante Allegheri's Divine Comedy.
Unfortunately, some of the modern fire and brimstone types take it as fact.
Confucius reputedly said if we do not yet understand life how can we understand death?
I am recalcitrant to pass judgement on what the New Testament or the Tanakh Old (Testament) actually mean.
I do not read archaic Greek, which is the language the NT and Septuagint were written in - and I do not think anyone who is not fluent in archaic Greek should be in a rush to interpret meaning from the holy books. It is a universal law that translations of archaic languages into vernacular English can corrupt the intent and meaning of the original authors. Particularly so since we do not have copies of the original Gospels or sacred texts, and are relying on the veracity of much later hand copies, mostly from the Middle Ages.
The most spiritual members of my family feel that the metaphysical spiritual dimension is incomprehensible to human minds, and on balance that is good enough for me.
