How literally should we interpret the "lake of fire" in Revelation 19:20 and 20:10? Is there another way to understand Gehenna?
Guest response from Rubel Shelly—who, like me, understands the image figuratively:
"... The strong and provocative apocalyptic language of Gehenna as fire, smoke, brimstone, and darkness are found in the ancient literature of Hebrew and Greek Scripture as warning markers rather than literal descriptions. I would not be surprised if your electrical panel has a yellow sticker on its door that features a lightning strike. No matter what you do in relation to that panel of circuit breakers, you surely don't walk outside and look up to see if there are storm clouds in the area. The motivational value of the stylized bolt of lightning is to caution you against the danger of electric shock. You could get hurt if you are careless... My purpose... is not to mitigate the desolation of Gehenna but to interpret Scripture correctly and to communicate its true terror..." (Hell [2025], 110).
