A serious discussion about hell

Does hell really last forever, in other words for all eternity? That's pretty extreme torture and I don't think that's what the Bible means. It goes against what I know God's nature to be.

The main verse that says hell lasts forever is Revelation 14:11 which says, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast." But is that "for ever and ever" literal or symbolic?

Isaiah 34:8-10 predicts a similar fate for the land of Edom: "For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance....And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall up up for ever."

The phrase in Revelation, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night" was clearly borrowed Isaiah where it says, "It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall up up for ever."

But when God remakes the world, is this one country Edom going to be burning pitch for eternity? I think not. It's symbolic language. So why then wouldn't the same words in Revelation also be symbolic without doing violence to the intended meaning of Scripture?

I think people will be punished according to the measure of their sin and then will simply be extinguished like a cinder. They won't be punished for eternity but simply miss out on eternal life.