1. Introduction
· You may want to scroll all the way down to the verses if you want the meat straight away.
· This is an in-house debate among Christians. It is a secondary issue. We can still consider each other brothers and sisters in Christ while disagreeing in these areas.
· I think people’s perspective on Hell’s fairness is probably dependent on their understanding of what it actually is. Which is why I made this document.
· This isn't a case of your verses verses my verses. This is a case of any verse used for eternal conscious torment (ECT) is actually better explained by annihilationism (the unsaved will cease to exist).
2. Is Hell Unfair?
· People think God is evil for sending people to Hell. That’s a very simpleton simplistic way of thinking about it. If you live an immoral life constantly violating your conscience, and you reap the bitter rewards of mental illness and loneliness and whatever other penalty for your decisions, you cannot say God or the universe actually did anything to you. The terrible place you find yourself in was all your own doing. And it’s the victim mentality that keeps you there. It’s only when people take ownership/responsibility and humble themselves that progress can begin.
· The Christian understanding is that by default everyone is already on their way to Hell and Jesus is the one standing there hoping you’ll choose life. This makes sense if you have a correct view of human nature. Humans tend towards self-preservation and ironically self-destructiveness. In defense of this I would point to all the thousands of choices we make every day that we know can be bad for us but we do anyway (smoking, junk food, laziness). And we are all hopelessly prone to corruption, if you can’t agree then surely you must provide a better reason as to why we haven’t achieved world peace? The metaphorical Jesus with his hand out, is really a belief founded on gratitude being the way of life. Not living for yourself.
· Whatever Hell actually is, it is deserved. People hate to think of a judgmental God that punishes people for eternity. But that’s only because it is them personally. Everyone wants to see justice done in any other situation. Imagine the outcry if Hitler never killed himself and we had the opportunity to punish him but he was treated with kid gloves and let go. The sense of justice within us would tell us there’s something wrong. Would we call the judge that let him go loving or stupid and negligent? That’s why revenge movies are so predictably popular.
· An eternity of Hell does seem incredibly unfair when you consider all the really nice and good people you know and how if there’s a Heaven they should definitely be going there. But your idea of ‘good’ and ‘nice’ is based on your subjective view of goodness. What standard are you using to call them good? And can you read their minds 24/7? When you compare any human to moral perfection they do fail. Anyone who believes a sinner/unsaved person can enter into eternity even if its to suffer, probably misunderstands the concept of eternity. If there is an eternity of life, use your common sense and recognize that no imperfection could exist in it. If there could, then it would just be the exact world we have now but forever. That’s why the first step to entering eternity is acknowledging your sinful nature and TRYING to overcome it. The key is in the humility. You think about that person in your life (probably of the older generation) who for the most part actually is a good person and does all the good deeds. Now imagine if they said (or perhaps they have said) “I’ve never done anything wrong to anyone I’ve always tried to do my best.” That’s actually a very arrogant pride mentality. It’s common for people to delude themselves into thinking they’ve never really done anything wrong and those are the ones who are in the most danger. “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners.” Luke 5:32.
3. Heaven and Hell on Earth
· Intrinsically religious people who obey God’s commands have been documented in psychological literature for a long time as having far better mental health than their nonreligious counterparts. When you’re voluntarily selfless, you feel better and live a more joyful life.
· The same way, when you cut God out of your life and his laws, and you live for yourself you feel the inner turmoil. The west is in a ‘mental health crisis’ that just so happens to coincide with its abandonment of Christianity. There’s a lot more to unpack here. But it speaks to what the nature of Hell will be… a self-imposed torture.
· Narratively, the bible does speak of God meting out judgement, but you could simply believe the bible is just metaphorically true and acknowledge that the natural result of acting selfishly will be mental (and sometimes physical) anguish. You have to do a good internal critique here, if God is real and designed you, then he designed you to conduct yourself a certain way. He gives you the freedom not to, but with that freedom comes the natural consequences.
4. Varying degrees of punishment
· It seems unlikely that Hell really is ECT (the most popular view). If this were the case, how does one account for the varying degrees of punishment that will be present? Is the fire slightly hotter for more evil people? In fact, the blanket punishment that most believe in would actually be unjust because justice is a punishment proportional to the crime, but everyone’s crimes are different. We certainly see different degrees of rewards in Heaven!
Ø Mt 10:15 “The wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off on Judgement Day.”
Ø Mt 11:22 “Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgment Day than you!”
Ø Mt 16:27 “And will repay every man according to his deeds.”
Ø Luke 12:48 “But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly.”
Ø Luke 20:47 “Because of this, they shall receive greater damnation.”
Ø John 19:11 “Therefore he who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
Ø Rom 2:6
Ø Heb 10:29 “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God…”
Ø James 3:1 “”We will be judged more strictly.”
Ø 2 Pet 2:21 “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command the were given to live a holy life.”
Ø Rev 20:12-13 “And the dead were judged according to their deeds.”
Ø It should be said I also don’t love the answers provided by annihilationism on this issue of blanket punishments and how the varying degrees of punishment would play out. One theory makes analogy out of varying ways of being killed. Quick and painless verses long and painful.
· Just because I like making lists, here are the verses regarding varying degrees of rewards.
Ø Prov 24:12 “And will He not render to man according to his work?”
Ø Mt 19:28-39 “Everyone who has left [family] for my sake, will receive many times as much.”
Ø 1 Cor 3:8 “But each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”
Ø 1 Cor 3: 11-14 “Now if any man builds on the foundation…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show when the quality is tested by fire.
Ø Rev 22:12 “Behold I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”
5. Other Relevant Verses
· Mt 25:41-46. Depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels. These will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life. If the unsaved are eternally conscious and tormented, then technically they also have eternal life. Ceasing to exist also happens to be an eternal punishment.
· Mk 9:43-49 and Mt 5:29-30 and 18:8-9. Enter life crippled rather than full bodied in Hell. Where the worm never dies. And fire not quenched. (In the Greek it also says salted with fire). V44 and 46 most scholars would say are scribal accretions over time. In the ESV they are not there. The focus is about losing some part of you as opposed to losing your entire being. It’s comparing partial loss to a complete one. Not so bad for annihilationism. In Eze 20:47-48 God uses an “unquenchable fire” that does indeed burn and consume things that do not last forever. The word ‘unquenchable’ is used in another place Mt 3:12. Jesus is going to burn the chaff in unquenchable fire. The Greek word used for burn was katakaio. Not simply kaio. This is a compound verb combining a preposition with burn to mean completely burn up, reduce to ashes. With Moses and the bush in Septuagint, the bush was kaio (burning) but not katakaio (completely burning up). John the Baptist is clearly saying the chaff will be completely burnt up. And the worm not dying is a quote from Isa 66:24. He’s referring to a scene in which God has killed people, and they are no longer alive! Jesus knew what he was doing when he quoted this passage and there’s nothing about the passage to indicate conscious torment. Jer 7:30 onwards also makes comments about scavenger animals coming and feeding on corpses. It was a great cultural shame. People would stay by their loved ones and shoo away animals. The worm not dying is meant to symbolize the shamefulness but the inability to even shoe away scavenger animals. The salted by fire could be a reference to what ancient people used to do when destroying a city. They would lay the ground with salt so nothing could grow there again. A picture of complete destruction. Maimed and enter LIFE. Also, the fire was burning before anybody was thrown into it, meaning it doesn’t need an eternal fuel source like the devil or unsaved souls.
· 2 Thess 1:8-9. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. Forever separated from God’s glory. If destruction means to be annihilated, it’s already eternal. They will say separation means they’re alive. If it is ECT why couldn’t it be much more direct and clearer? It’s abundantly clear if’s a complete absence of life and consciousness.
· Rev 14:9-11. Tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night. The fact that it’s written like this in Revelation, a dreamlike, heavily symbolic and metaphorical text, should be evidence of the highest order that this is not literal! Think about all the other prophecies and dreams and things in the bible. They are all pictures that need depicting and symbols that need deciphering. How many examples do we have of dreams and prophecies being EXACTLY LITERALLY what was shown? In Ch 1 John LITERALLY SEES 7 gold lampstands but they get decoded as the 7 CHURCHES. The rams and beasts that represent world powers? The skinny cow that represents famine. Nothing but imagery not to be taken literally! Plus, people who believe in ECT don’t actually believe God will be there watching it because they believe his presence is completely gone from there. None of them actually picture God and the angels watching people in Hell. The 3 symbols in this verse drinking wrath, fire and Sulphur, smoke ascending, converge in Ch 18 to describe the fate of mystery Babylon. She will be thrown down and found no more. He's having it interpreted for him. The destruction of a city and the death of its inhabitants. Annihilation.
· Rev 20:10-15. The devil was thrown into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are also and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Death was thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. It is saying the lake of fire is the symbol of the actual second death. Annihilation. The lake of fire is the symbol and it is decoding it as the second death. The final annihilation. Death and hades are thrown in as well! They are not conscious agents! So what does it symbolize? The text tells us. In 21:4 death shall be no more! Just like everything else that was thrown into the fire. It is no more.
· Mt 8:12 and 13:42, 50 and 22:13. Outer darkness. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Wheat burning, thrown into furnace. These are not expressions of pain. But sadness and anger. Jews specifically are in view as well. And sadness and anger will of course be their response because they were God’s chosen people. It was parabolic, and it was in context of 1st century Judea. What happened if someone was bound and left outside in outer darkness? They would not have lasted forever they would have been killed. The furnace and burning language is again all about fully consuming. The other time we have burning in a furnace and yet survival is Daniel, and the point of the story was not that he was unsaved! The bad guys die just getting too close!
· Mt 5:22, 23:15, Jam 3:6. In danger of Gehenna. Son of Gehenna. The tongue is set on fire by Gehenna itself.
· Mt 10:28. Luke 12:5. Do not fear those who can kill the body the one who can destroy both the body and soul. Some will say the word for destroy can also just mean ruin. The word is used when Herod wanted to destroy baby Jesus. No one thinks he was going to just 'ruin' baby Jesus. Its again used when the crowd wants Pilate to kill Jesus. But you need only look at the verse and not be an idiot. If it's talking about humans destroying and killing the body, then why would it suddenly change meaning for the soul!?? And the parallel passage says Jesus says it two different ways, but they are just synonymous, they mean the same thing. One says he said cast into hell while one says destroy the soul. They are the same thing!
· Jude 1. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a warning of God’s eternal fire. Yes, exactly, an eternal fire that kills and destroys, no leftovers, no people alive in anyway shape or form. Let the bible tell you what eternal fire means and does. Don’t just assume it burns souls forever because the bible is teaching the opposite.
· Dan 12:2. Raised to everlasting disgrace. Only some get everlasting life. Which again means some don’t get everlasting life. The adjective everlasting only applies to contempt, which is the feeling others feel towards them, but the shame they feel personally is not everlasting! Because them and their feelings are not everlasting. “Some to shame and everlasting contempt”. You can have contempt for dead nonexistent people like Judas and Hitler.
· Rom 2:7. Seeking immortality that God offers. Doesn’t make a lot of sense if unsaved peeps are also getting immortality.
· Rev 22:15. Outside the city gates are the dogs and sorcerers and immoral persons. This is after they’ve been thrown in lake. The vision John was narrating ended in v6. He’s not talking about lake of fire people but people in his own time. Heb 12:22. You have come to Mt Zion and City of Living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. Talking about them being inside the gates right now.
· John 3:16. If they don’t have everlasting life they…? PERISH.
· Think about all the foreshadows of Jesus. The bronze serpent being lifted up, they're all about Jesus saving people from dying. Death. No more existence.
· Rom 6:23. Everlasting life or wages of sin being death. And then remembering there used to be no such thing as chapter and verse breaks. He goes right on in the next verse defining life and death as you guessed it. Life and death without death meaning continued life as many assume.
· As a side and potential point for ECT, Mike winger points out the reason why we could be paying off our sin for eternity is because we can never actually pay off our sin to an eternal God.
· Hades, Gehenna, Sheol and Tartarus, all words translated into English as Hell. Nuanced that has been simplified. Like the prominent view of hell today, complex but simplified.
· 2 Pet 2:4. Mt 8:29. If God did not spare angles and cast them into hell committing them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment. Have you come to torment us before the appointed time? Sheol and hades are a different concept to the lake of fire. The two different concepts are merged together in the term hell. Underworld/place of the dead/intermediate state vs hell and final judgement which they are raised to from the intermediate state. In this 2 Pet 2 verse, the word is Tartarus. In Greco roman myths a place for semidivine beings sent for punishment. He's a Jew but communicating so readers understand. They were kept their UNTIL final judgement. Satan being bound for 1000 years type place.
· The intermediate place of torment could be the varying degrees of punishment until the lake of fire death thrown in second death shows over.
6. Literally Contradictory
· Another reason why the popular view is less likely to be true. If is to be taken literally, we have it as a place of fire but also a place of darkness… It is however very consistent to speak of darkness in a non existent sense. Job wishes the day of his birth had been turned to darkness. He doesn’t wish his birthday was at night time. He is wishing he never existed.
· There are multiple reasons for the use of fire for symbolism. Being burnt by fire is one of the most excruciating things a human can think of. Don’t you think in actuality, Hell would be worse than any human could describe? The same way the Bible says no human can imagine what Heaven will be like?
· Fire is also a purifying process. But for unrepentant people it would of course be eternal because they did not want to be purified. Which means they never can be.
7. History of Doctrine
8. Sources
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