As I explained in my article
The Beast and prophet are explicitly described as being “tortured there, day and night, age to ages.”
Yeah, I know:
The other reason they love the idea of eternal torment—a reason which is slightly more legit than t’other—is because they figure it’s a powerful motivator for getting people into God’s kingdom. If anyone’s on the fence about this idea of living under Jesus’s reign in peace and harmony (mainly ’cause
The rest of us really don’t love the idea of eternal torment. Problem is, we don’t really see any way around it. That’s what Jesus describes in the scriptures. So that’s the reality we’re obligated to deal with: When people reject Jesus, that’s the destination they’ve effectively chosen. If people prefer
It’s not like we can make up a reality we like better. (Although that’s certainly never stopped people from trying, has it?)
The possibility of parole.
Ever hear of someone who had
Sometimes I read their testimonies; sometimes I hear ’em speak about it in church. More than one person tells the tale of dying, then suddenly finding themselves in a dark fiery place which they identify as hell. They didn’t like it; they cried out for mercy; they came back to life. And now they’re Christian. And hoping they’re never going back there again, and warning the rest of us away from it.
I have huge doubts that near-death experiences are legitimate afterlife experiences. For two reasons. One’s the fact every near-death experience fits that person’s cultural expectations. Christians, or people who live in a predominantly Christian culture, experience pop culture versions of heaven or hell. Whereas Hindus encounter Hindu gods, Muslims experience Muslim ideas of paradise or hell, and Buddhists feel themselves being elevated to higher realms. Everybody experiences what their subconscious expects to see in the afterlife, as opposed to every religion’s claim of a uniform afterlife. And if everybody sees the afterlife they expect, instead of the actual afterlife, they clearly must be dreaming. Yes, including the Christians—because Christian near-death experiences reflect popular culture, not bible. They’re really vivid, believable dreams, but dreams nonetheless.
The other is how nobody’s been to heaven but the one who came down from heaven.
Problem is, I know people who’ve taken to basing their beliefs on these near-death dreams, and now they believe if any of us die and find ourselves in hell, we can repent—because they repented!—and God’ll hear us, be merciful, and parole us from hell. They figure hell is just temporary. We go there till we come to our senses. Then God’ll let us into heaven.
It’s a nice idea, but y’know we oughta confirm all these nice ideas with the scriptures, the general consensus of fruitful fellow Christians, and basic common sense, before we start establishing our theology upon them. And I can’t find evidence that they’re valid.
Jesus told stories where people found themselves under judgment, or in torment, and of course they wanted out of it. Who wouldn’t? No doubt they were really sorry for everything they’d done to get themselves into that mess. But they didn’t get to take it back. There’s the Lazarus and Dives story,
Yes,
A lot of Christians are bugged by the idea of hell as a permanent condition, ’cause they see it as inconsistent with a gracious, forgiving God. I agree; it certainly feels that way sometimes. But—to show you how inspiration sometimes comes from the oddest places—I’m reminded of a bit from the TV show Rick and Morty, where Rick breaks into the White House, and warns a Secret Service agent away from him:
- GENERAL. “Arrest them.”
- RICK. “Son, you have a right to refuse his order, and I guarantee you’re gonna die if you touch me… and there’s no afterlife; everything just goes black. Don’t do it!”
- AGENT. [touches Rick; instantly drops dead]
- MORTY. “Wha— Rick!”
- PRESIDENT. “Okay, what was that?”
- RICK. “Death.”
- PRESIDENT. “What kind?”
- RICK. “Instant.”
- PRESIDENT. “There was no sound! He just died!”
- RICK. “Yeah. Terrifying. It’s a terrifying thing to watch happen. It’s called a deterrent.”
- OTHER GENERAL. “You couldn’t just knock him out?”
- RICK. “How is knocking out a deterrent? Everyone wants to be knocked out. Nobody wants to be dead.”
Unlike God, Rick isn’t good; he cares about nobody but himself, and cares about Morty because he would feel bad if anything happened to him (although he could easily swipe another Morty from a parallel universe). But like God, Rick set up a deterrent with permanent consequences, and bluntly warned people away from it. And yeah, everybody would rather the consequences weren’t so permanent. Like the ideas of purgatory, or getting paroled from hell someday. But again, how is temporary hell a deterrent?
Well it’s not. Temporary hell is a slap on the wrist. ’Cause if paradise and full restoration is what follows, whether you gotta suffer through hell for 15 minutes or 15 millennia, everything becomes a slap on the wrist. Heaven not only cancels out all the suffering before it; it’s meant to.
And y’know, some of us are fine with that idea. Because we don’t care as much about evil as God does. Stands to reason; we’re kinda evil ourselves.
The possibility of annihilation.
There’s a legitimate alternative to the idea of hell as eternal conscious torment. It’s an idea which is growing in popularity: It’s the Adventist idea that when people are tossed into the eternal fire, they burn up and cease to exist. They’re annihilated. Hence it’s called
It’s based on the idea the fire may be eternal, and burns day and night forever and ever. But the beings tossed into it aren’t. It’s based on the scriptures which describe the wicked as getting destroyed:
Matthew 10.28 KWL - “Don’t fear those who can kill the body and can’t kill the soul.
- Fear more the one able to destroy body and soul in ge-Henna.”
And that’s what annihilationists are counting on: God’s too merciful to leave people in eternal conscious suffering. Plus, what kind of paradise will the kingdom be when we’re aware—heck, could probably hear—people outside suffering forever? So when they’re put in the fire, they burn up. They’re gone. They cease to be.
What about the descriptions of hell as eternal punishment? Well, being annihilated is an eternal punishment: Those people won’t exist anymore. Unlike death, where there’s hope of resurrection, in the second death there is no such hope. They’re gone forever. It’s just as much a deterrent as the idea of eternal torment… without the morally bothersome idea of eternal torment.
Annihilationism has historically been a fringe belief in Christendom, and still kinda is: Adventists hold to it, as do Jehovah’s Witnesses. But every so often a prominent
Me, I’m not sold on annihilationism. Everlasting fire and smoke means there’s everlasting kindling. Which I admit sounds awful—but I believe everyone who winds up in hell chose hell. Nobody’s gonna be in there by accident. All of them reject Jesus, salvation, and the kingdom. They knew the alternative was fire, but willfully chose the fire. Sucks to be them, but they soiled their beds and are nonetheless gonna lie in them.
Again: God warns us away from hell. He doesn’t want anyone to go there. We shouldn’t either, and need to join him in shooing people away. And stay out of it ourselves.
