Fellside: I have some help for you, courtesy of Dr. N.R. Needham.
Old Testament Jews did believe in eternal torment. Who were they? The Pharisees.
Quote:
"Of the other two schools of thought, people regard the Pharisees as the most authoritative interpreters of the Law. They are the leading Jewish sect. They teach that everything happens according to destiny, or the will of God; the actual decision to do good or evil rests cheifly with human beings, they say - but even so, in every human act, destiny takes a hand. They hold that every soul is immortal, but only the souls of good people recieve new bodies, while the souls of evil people go to eternal punishment.... The Sadducees utterly deny immortality of the soul, punishment in hell, and heavenly rewards. The Pharisees are bound together by a common spirit of friendship and seek to promote harmony with the common people. But the Sadducees are disagreeable, even toward each other, they treat one another with the harshness that people usually reserve for foreigners.
-Josephus, The Jewish War Book 2, chapter 7
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Josephus testifies that the Jews that crucified Christ believed in eternal torment. The Sadducees were the lesser sect, not regarded as authoritative or experts in the Law. The Pharisees were the authorities. I highly doubt they were agents of the Roman Catholic church.
Also, Origen, a universalist in the early church in the 3rd century even believed in the eternality of the soul. He did not believe Hell was a place of eternal punishment, but seemed to believe in a quasi-hell/purgatory where Hell was a means of purifying rebel human souls and angels and that, ultimately, all would be purified. Where did he get this notion? From allegorical interpretation of the Bible and ignoring the plain meaning of the text.
Looks like your opponent has slim to no authority on his side.
Needham, N.R., 2000 Years of Christ's Power, Part One: The Age of the Early Church Fathers, Evangelical Press, England, 2002. pp. 42-43; 122-123.