The State of the Dead

[Saint Steven]

Yes, there is crossing over from death to life, but death spoken of is the grave, shoel, where the body decompossses. Grave is not Hell. Grave is not the place of torment, rather Hell is. Abraham was in the Grave and there was a great divide from Lazarus who was in Abraham's Bosom to the rich man who is being tormented.

Distinction between the grave/shoel and Hell is quite apparent in those versus I read, don't you think so?

Yes, I think we are getting tripped up on word definitions here.
I said, "I agree that hell is different than the Lake of Fire."

The KJV uses the word "hell" for the grave (Sheol-Hades) in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. So yes, it is not in reference to the final hell/lake of fire.

 

[Saint Steven]

Focus on the antecedent term "the smoke".

Let me ask you if I said....

"He left him for dead"

Is "him" dead?

No, it is just a figurative statement, implying that "he" completely demolished "him", in say a race for example.

"The smoke" is figurative to imply there is nothing left of them, but a memory of what was.

I will give you another example.....

Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Long after the fact, Jude brings Sodom and Gomorrah into remembrance, in highlighting that their suffering the vengeance of eternal fire was total and complete destruction, never to reel back from it ever again. The figurative language used in "the smoke" is the same principle of understanding what is being implied, that is the Lake of Fire is a place where a soul will be completely destroyed, never to rise up again.

Nope.
I think the example there was the fire and brimstone. It will be like that. We can't use that scripture to "undo" another. IMHO