In the 2012 Shepherd’s Conference, an annual event sponsored by John MacArthur’s Master’s Seminary, faculty member Dr. Matt Waymeyer delivered a lecture critical of Annihilationism, entitled Hell Under Fire. This episode of Rethinking Hell is the third and final installment of our response to Matt’s lecture, featuring co-hosts Daniel Sinclair and Chris Date.
Links
- Part 1 and Part 2
- Dr. Matt Waymeyer’s lecture Hell Under Fire
- Douglas Jacoby interview
- Dr. Glenn Peoples’ video, William Lane Craig on Hell
- Joey Dear’s article, “Double Jeopardy: Why Raise the Dead, Only to Destroy Them?“
6 thoughts on “Episode 23: Response to Matt Waymeyer (Part 3)”
if I’m not mistaken. I believe that some maggots turn adult insects, so they really do not die.
I also find it interesting that Waymeyer says that in eternity torment goes on forever BECAUSE ‘the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’. This is an argument started on a faulty basis of reasoning. He reads the passage through traditionalist eyes and cites the language used in Isaiah as proof that torment is eternal because ‘worms do not die’ in eternity. He does not look at the nature of the language itself and see that the language used in context is to give us the interpretation of the meaning.
Yes, it’s quite amusing how the “corpses/dead bodies” of those slain by Yahweh (Isaiah 66:24) are taken to be the resurrected wicked, immortalized for the purpose of undergoing unending conscious torment (i.e., everlasting life in misery) by traditionalists. The interpretation which best comports with the text, of course, is that the “undying worm” and “fire that will not be quenched” are to be understood as symbols of destruction. Nothing will interfere with God’s judgement of the unrighteous; it is irreversible as well as unstoppable in nature.
The simple fact of the matter, however, is that the OT does not teach the conventional view of final punishment. This should alert the traditionalist to seriously reexamine his or her understanding of the fate of the unrighteous as everlasting conscious torment; something appears amiss.
Could it be that the NT indicates the same destiny for the wicked as the OT? Yes; it appears the Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek New Testament indeed are in harmony: the end of the unrighteous is that of death and destruction. Only the righteous will inherit the land (see Psalm 37; cf. Matthew 5:5).
Did Matt ever talk about the glory of non-elect sinners continuing to sin forever?
No, but Dollahite does in a talk we’ll be responding to in a soon-coming episode.