Last week I wrote a couple posts
about an interesting topic that I apparently jumped fully into, that is the
topic of annihilationism. This is the idea that hell will end for those condemned
there after a time – that rather than suffering for eternity those damned will
be annihilated, that they’ll cease to be.
It seems there are four parts to
the annihilationist’s argument (of the more than one hundred comments on my
facebook post you’d think there are at least four hundred arguments for it and
just as many against it), these are:
1) The biblical references for the ‘destruction’ of the wicked,
2) The inconsistency of an eternal hell with the love of God,
3) The injustice or unfairness of the disparity between sins committed in this life and the punishment of eternal torment, and
4) That allowing evil to continue in hell would mess with the perfection of the universe God will create after the Judgment Day. (Order taken from Wayne Grudem)
Over the next series of posts (for the record there are seven of these) I
hope to respond to this doctrine, not only to respond to it but also to make
clear both the biblical stance as well as my stance on this topic of the
eternality of hell.
However
before we begin to look more deeply at this topic I want to make one thing
absolutely crystal clear and this one thing should be at the front of our minds
whenever we are discussing or thinking about the topic of hell, namely that we
are thinking about the outcome for millions of real people.
Hell
is real, whether one believes in annihilationism or eternal hell, it’s still
real and will still be awful and real people will go there. Friends, family,
moms, dads, brothers, sisters, children will inhabit this terrible place where
God justly pours out his wrath on those who are not saved by the blood of
Jesus. This MUST be at the forefront of our minds as we think about this topic.
The wrath of God is real, and it will be – and is - unimaginable.
1 comment:
"are thinking about the outcome for millions of real people."
Indeed. A wise reminder.
Your list is incomplete, though, and I'd encourage you to update it so as to do the discussion justice. Email me at chrisdate@rethinkinghell.com and I'll help you complete it. I won't turn it into a debate, I'll just give you brief explanations of what's missing so you can respond in full.
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