The Meaning of Hell - Part 1

Hell: a lake of fire? the absence of God? both? neither? I am only vaguely familiar with Biblical Greek and not at all familiar with Biblical Hebrew, but I will do what I can to find the meaning of "hell" in the Bible. My reasoning for doing this? Well, I have had a couple people over the last few years (one recently) who seem to have done their own study and have come up with the conclusion that there is no hell. One concludes that there is no biblical support for the idea of hell as eternal torment in flames, while the other concludes that there is no hell (in any sense) because it goes against the loving nature of God. The former I have no current arguments with, though I am interested to find out how the "eternal torment in flames" idea was arrived at. The latter also makes some sense to me, though I have not been able to come to the same conclusion...yet. So, here begins (continues) my study. If anyone has anything to say on this topic, please leave a comment.