What Did Jesus Teach About Hell?

“ If your eye causes you to sin, get ride of it. You would be better off to go into God’s kingdom with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. The warms never die and the fire never stops burning.” - Mark 9: 47,48, Contemporary English Version.
At fist glance to these words seem to promote the teaching of hellfire. Though, Jesus did not mean to contradict God’s Word which clearly states: “ The dead no longer know anything.” Ecclesiastes 9:5, NAB. To then what, was then, Jesus referring to when he spoke of a person being thrown into hell? Well, the original Greek word translated “hell” is Geenna. This word comes from the Hebrew Geh Hinnom’ which means “Valley of Hinnom”. This valley was located outside of Jerusalem. In the days of the Israelite Kings, it was used for child sacrifice- a gross and unapproved practice condemned by God. This valley was later called “the valley of slaughter,” where “the carcases of this people” would lie unburied. Jehovah God foretold that this place would become a place, not for the torture of live victims, but rather, for the mass disposal of dead bodies. In Jesus’ day, the inhabitants of Jerusalem used the Valley of Hinnom as a garbage dump. They threw the bodies of some vile criminals into this dump and kept a fire constantly burning there to dispose of the reuse and carcasses.
When Jesus spoke of the undying worms and unquenchable fire, he was apparently referring to 66:24. Regarding “the carcases of the men that have transgressed against God,” and “ their worms shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched. Therefore, Jesus used the Valley of Hinnom or Gehenna, as a symbol of death without the hope of a resurrection. In conclusion, Gehenna or hell is a symbol of eternal death, not eternal torture.