CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST: What happens when you are thrown into a fire? The logical answer is that you burn to death. Those who have not followed Jesus as Lord will NOT receive eternal life, and therefore they will not be immortal, and therefore they will not be able to survive being thrown into the lake of fire! They will DIE in the lake of fire, not be tortured for all eternity. This is why it is called "the Second Death" - because they died once already (their natural human death, which was a literal death and not a teleportation into a fiery torture chamber) and now they will literally (not receive eternal life in a torture chamber, but die) a second time in the lake of fire. AFTER this, death itself, as well as hell (the grave) will be thrown into the lake of fire, and be destroyed. This is symbolic of the power of death ceasing to exist in this world - for the righteous who were spared from the lake of fire through their submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, they will live in a new and perfect world where death does not exist, nor does hell (the grave where body and soul decay) exist. If the dead are judged immediately after death and sent to either heaven or hell immediately after death, then what is the point of the Great White Throne judgement that will occur in the future at the resurrection? If the dead have already been judged when they die, then why judge them again just to deliver the same verdict again? Can someone repent in sheol ("hell") where there is "no knowledge" and "no wisdom"? Absolutely not! Then the same verdict will simply be delivered again, as well as the same punishment. If people are judged immediately when they die, then the Great White Throne judgement that Jesus Christ will execute upon his return is just a meaningless charade! Why raise the dead out of hell just to re-condemn them back into hell? That's just a waste of time. But if we understand the biblical view that the dead are literally dead - that both body and soul are decaying with no conscious understanding - then it makes perfect sense. Because there is no consciousness in death, then when you die the very next thing you will know will be the resurrection and the judgement before Jesus Christ! Then you will either receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God, or a second death (yes, literal death) in the lake of fire. Your destiny in the future depends on your repentance (turning away from sin) today.