English translations of the Bible often translate several different words 'hell' - which can cause confusion. There are several different terms to be aware of in scripture, sometimes all lumped together as 'hell,' that are not necessarily the same thing.
Hebrew 'Sheol' and the Greek 'Hades' or 'the pit': This is 'the pit' your friend is likely referring to. Sheol/Hades basically refer to 'the grave' or to 'death.' More figuratively, it can refer to 'the place of departed spirits.
(One easy visual aid to remember this term is to think of the Earth's crust - people are buried and decompose in Sheol.)
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going." Ecc 9:10
"And the sea gave up the dead who were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and each of them were judged according to their works." Rev 20:13
Scripture does seem to heavily imply that the dead are not consciously aware of anything, good or bad, in Sheol. It is treated more as a holding place until the judgment. However, there are enough passages with personification of the dead or figurative imagery that it is difficult to be dogmatic about the state of the dead. The Jews generally believed in an afterlife, but it was not a major focus of their faith. In that sense, it is true that the Greeks had much more developed ideas of what they thought the afterlife would look like. (That doesn't make scripture corrupt or false, however.)
Gehenna and the Lake of Fire: A place of suffering and fire where unbelievers and the devil and his angels are thrown after the judgment
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." Matt 10:28
"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." Rev 20:14
Note that Hades (the grave) is thrown into the Lake of Fire after the judgment and that both body and soul are destroyed (over what period of time is unknown) in Gehenna.
A good visual aid for Gehenna is to imagine it like the Earth's mantle - a place of fire and suffering. There is debate within the church as to how long the suffering lasts (is it an eternal judgment of fire that utterly consumes, or an eternal torment of fire that lasts forever, or a suffering equivalent to the sin, etc.)
Tartarus: A holding prison of deep darkness
Tartarus is only referenced in a couple of passages but seems to be a deep, dark prison for certain rebellious angels who are trapped there until the judgment.
"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;..." II Pet 2:4
A good visual aid for this is to imagine the Earth's core - deep and dark.
The scriptures have not been corrupted by Greek philosophy if that is what your friend is implying. However, sometimes our interpretation of scripture can be incorrectly done through the lens of western philosophy, which is heavily influenced by Greek thought. The idea of an immortal soul, for example, is never specifically taught in scripture. Only believers are specifically promised eternal life. An immortal soul can be inferred from many passages, just as other passages seem to speak against it. One's background of philosophy (western/greek vs. Jewish vs. oriental, etc.) can color interpretation, biasing towards or against certain verses, and even over-extrapolating from a text. It is easy to start pulling extra theology out of parables or figurative imagery in scripture, and easy to dismiss figurative imagery or parables as containing no theology or information when they do.
For example, here are a few possibilities for the Lk 16 parable of Lazarus and the Rich man:
- Jesus was using current popular imagery to weave a story with a moral point, so nothing dogmatic can be taken from the passage about the afterlife other than there is no crossing over or second chances
- Jesus' setting was the afterlife between death and judgment, so Abraham's Bosom and Hades represent two subsections of Sheol
- Jesus' setting was the afterlife post judgment, so Abraham's Bosom is eternal bliss while Hades has been thrown into the Lake of Fire and is now a place of torment
One's personal philosophies and beliefs about the afterlife will likely cause one to think one of those main possibilities, or another interpretation, as more likely than the others. It is these personal interpretations, not the inspiration of scripture, that can be swayed by philosophy.
