Religion without hell?

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I, like TC, relate hell with separation from God more than with painful torture

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IMO
The OT and therefore the Jews believed hell was a separation from their god.Psalms 116:3-4
The sorrows of death, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found touble and sorrow. The called I upon the name of eh Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. KJVThe author seemed to be calling on God to deliver him from a problem he was having. Later on (Psalms 116:7) the author says:"Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealth bountifully with thee." So he was not dead and therefore could not have been in the lake of fire of the NT.Another reference to hell is in Jonah 2:2. Jonah is whinning from the belly of the whale. "..., and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."KJV
Again, not dead just in a pickle.Now in our Bible lesson we turn to the NT. There is all kind of fire in here. Fire seems to be painful to me. But what do I know. Here we go (I'll list them in sequence; all from the KJV):Matthew 5:22, 18:9 "...hell fire."
Mark 9:43 "...to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." (ouch!!)
Luke 16:23-24 "And in hell he [the rich man] lift up his eyes, being in torments,...for I am tormented in this flame."
James 3:6 "...fire of hell"
and finally Revelation 20:14 (everyone's favorite book) "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."These may not be convincing to you but it tells me that 'separation from God' and 'painful torture' are two different doctrines.Thanks for your time