Hello Paidion,
You wrote:
It seems that the apostle Paul was well acquainted with the teachings of our Lord Jesus. He brought the gospel to the Gentile world to a greater extent than any other apostle. In the 12 (or maybe 13) letters which he wrote, which constitute 26% (or 30% if you include Hebrews) of the entire New Testament, he often warned people about God's judgment, but he never mentioned Gehenna, or the Lake of Fire even once. Shouldn't that great apostle and evangelist, who suffered much for his faith and his evangelical work, have warned his listeners of their danger of ending up in etermal torment forever? I don't think this bold man of God neglected to do so out of fear of what his hearers would think of him.
So if over 99% of people who have ever lived, die without trust in Christ, and go to eternal torment, why did none of the apostles warn those of their own day about this fate? And why did they not write about it in their epistles so that future generations as well as their readers, could be warned?
As I understand the point you are making (an argument from silence), if eternal punishment is true, why did Paul not warn those to whom he preached concerning this fate? Since he and the other apostles did not, the belief must be false.
I would turn this argument around. Since eternal punishment was a belief held prominently by the Jews, and also by many of the gentiles (it was so well known among the gentiles that it has been charged by some that they were the source of the Jew's belief in it), why would Paul and the Apostles need to mention any more than the coming judgement while preaching the gospel?
Given this well known belief among both Jews and gentiles, current during the preaching of Jesus and the Apostles, what is more telling is the fact that they never thought to disabuse those they preached to of this supposed falsehood. It is particularly surprising that Jesus never corrected the Pharisees in this matter given His many confrontations with them.
You provided evidence of this belief of the Parisees, of whom Josephus was one, in the link you provided in your post on October 10. Here is a quote from Josephus' discourse:
by giving justly to those that have done well an everlasting fruition; but allotting to the lovers of wicked works eternal punishment. To these belong the unquenchable fire, and that without end, and a certain fiery worm, never dying, and not destroying the body, but continuing its eruption out of the body with never-ceasing grief: neither will sleep give ease to these men, nor will the night afford them comfort; death will not free them from their punishment, nor will the interceding prayers of their kindred profit them; for the just are no longer seen by them, nor are they thought worthy of remembrance.
He certainly left no room for arguing over the meaning of
aionios!
