When Scripture speaks about the death of the soul, it is referring to the second death of burning in the lake of fire. See:
Revelation 20:10-14: "The Great White Throne Judgment
10The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
Hell may be terrifying, but that is only reason to (1) be so grateful to Our Lord Jesus Christ for His Gift of Salvation, and (2) to work as hard as possible to save our Non-Christian friends from going there. It is not reason to deny hellfire, since the Holy Bible clearly teaches it.
It’s called the second death because they lose their life like they do in their first death. That’s consistent with the established Biblical definition of death.
Yes it says three persons will be tormented “forever and ever” but that isn’t literal. That’s called apocalyptic language it’s and used for dramatic effect. Since it specific about three persons being tormented forever, it isn’t reasonable to expand that more broadly to the general population of sinners. The devil, beast, and false prophet are particularly exceptional antagonists and receive a greater punishment.
Now, forever and ever doesn’t always mean forever and ever where it can be proven that soul death is real. Applying consistent interpretation is how we avoid contradictions in scripture. Some may just call this good hermeneutics.
Edom is not bribing forever and ever:
Isaiah 34:10
10It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
Sodom and Gomorrah are not in eternal fire:
Jude 1:7
7Even 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.
Souls are destroyed, or perish, or put to death. These terms are often used interchangeably and in conjunction with one another:
James 4:12
12There is one lawgiver, who is able to
save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Hebrews 10:39
39But we are not of
them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Philippians 3:18-19
18(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19Whose
end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, and
whose glory
is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Psalm 92:7
7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish;
it is that
they shall be destroyed for ever:
Psalm 37:20
20But
the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD
shall be as the fat of lambs:
they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
Psalm 1:6
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but
the way of the ungodly shall perish.
2 Peter 3:7
7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.
Ezekiel 18:20
20The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
John 3:16
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And many more from Genesis to Revelation.
