Is Hell Really Endless? Friday, May 06, 2011 One view of hell that seems to be making a strong resurgence today among evangelicals is Annihilationism.
There are slight variations, but it essentially teaches God will eventually snuff every unbeliever out of existence. Some Annihilationists make room for divine wrath, but they don’t allow it to extend beyond the lake of fire. In other words, they won’t allow God the full force of His judgment, which is eternal, conscious torment. For them, the lake of fire is what completely consumes and finally destroys sinners.
“Wait a minute,” you protest, “what about all the biblical references to eternal flames and everlasting punishment? If you’re having a hard time bending your mind around that, you’re not alone. Punishment in hell is defined by the word aionios, which is the word eternal or everlasting. Annihilationists sometimes explain “eternal” in the sense of an eternal effect. It’s like that with offenses committed against a holy God. With worms chewing away. Travis. The Truth About Hell. Saturday, April 30, 2011 More than 150,000 people die every day.
That’s 4.5 million each month, a number that exceeds the population of Los Angeles. Add to that the number of dead throughout human history—it’s a staggering figure. Tragically, many of those people died without knowing Christ. What fate awaits them? Sadly, those who reject God and His way of salvation don’t find rest when they die. The real conflict over the biblical doctrine of hell is essentially an issue of authority. The Bible is the only authority source that tells the truth about death, hell, and eternity. For Those Who Rail Against Hell. For the last two weeks, we’ve posted a series of articles from John MacArthur addressing the teachings of Rob Bell.
It didn’t take long for one of the primary areas of contention to emerge from the comment thread—the nature of hell. To be clear, we’re concerned here with the nature of hell, not just its existence. In fact, you can’t escape the reality of hell or final judgment in Scripture. It’s a topic taken up by every New Testament writer and it dominates the teaching of Jesus. Of the 12 times the Greek word for hell (Gehenna) is used in the New Testament, 11 come from the lips of Christ. But as you know, false teachers are more subtle than to deny the doctrine outright. Perhaps you’ve entertained those questions, but never found definitive answers. But take care what sources you consult. Before we survey the biblical teaching on hell, here are few preliminary thoughts to consider: From the outset, let’s acknowledge that hell is a hard doctrine to digest—perhaps the hardest doctrine. Bell’s Inferno. Thursday, April 21, 2011 No one in all the Scriptures had more to say about hell than Jesus.
No stern messenger of doom from the era of the Judges, no fiery Old Testament prophet, no writer of imprecatory psalms, and no impassioned apostle (including the Boanerges brothers)—not even all of them combined—mentioned hell more frequently or described it in more terrifying terms than Jesus. And the hell Jesus spoke of was not merely some earthly ordeal, some sour state of mind, or some temporary purgatorial prison. Jesus described hell as a “place of torment” in the afterlife (Luke 16:28)—a place of “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (v. 48). It is a “place [where] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30)—a place of “eternal punishment” (v. 46). Rob Bell is clearly unhappy with Jesus’ teaching about hell. Rob Bell’s god is clearly no one to be feared. That must be said plainly and emphatically. God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins”
Note: This post is long.
You can go here for a PDF version of the 20-page review. Love Wins, by megachurch pastor Rob Bell, is, as the subtitle suggests, “a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived.” Here’s the gist: Hell is what we create for ourselves when we reject God’s love. Hell is both a present reality for those who resist God and a future reality for those who die unready for God’s love.
Hell is what we make of heaven when we cannot accept the good news of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Bell correctly notes (many times) that God is love. Unfortunately, beyond this, there are dozens of problems with Love Wins. A Few Preliminaries Before going any further with a critique, a number of preliminary comments are in order. One, although Bell asks a lot of questions (350 by one count), we should not write off the provocative theology as mere question-raising.