Some people have spent a lot of time studying the issue of hell. A small group of such people got together, and now we have RethinkingHell.com. But for many, this isn’t a top priority. So let me give an overview of some key things that the Bible says about hell, things that I think will surprise a lot of you who haven’t looked into this issue that much before now. Continue reading “Introduction to Evangelical Conditionalism: 5 Surprising Things That the Bible Says About Hell”
Month: October 2013
Experience teaches us that fire is a destructive, devouring agent. Scripture teaches us that, short of miraculous intervention (the burning bush, Shadrach and friends), a fire that remains unquenched will consume that which it burns, leaving nothing behind but ashes (Jeremiah 17:27, Ezekiel 20:47).
Scripture also teaches that the fire which issues from God’s holy presence—sometimes called the eternal fire—is no different in this regard. God’s wrathful fire came down from heaven and annihilated Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:14-19, cf. 2 Peter 2:6, Jude 7). It consumed Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2). Twice did Elijah call down fire from heaven to devour the king’s fifty men and their captain (2 Kings 1:9-11). Continue reading “Strange Fire: Distorting a Biblical Symbol”
Steve Gregg, host of “The Narrow Path,” joins Rethinking Hell contributor Chris Date to discuss the three views of hell and his new book, All You Want to Know About Hell: Three Christian Views of God’s Final Solution to the Problem of Sin. Continue reading “Episode 40: All You Want to Know About Hell, with Steve Gregg”
Historically, traditionalists have not shied away from affirming their belief that the lost will rise from the dead immortal in the sense that they will live forever in hell. While some contemporary traditionalists are comfortable speaking this way, others are not. They appeal on the one hand to the longstanding dominance of their view of hell within the Church as a reason to be skeptical of alternatives, but on the other hand they claim that their predecessors were using biblically imprecise language. Their claim, however, does not hold up under scrutiny. Whether intentional or not, it only obfuscates the truth that their view is one in which the lost will, in fact, live forever—biblically speaking—thus failing to truly rescue it from the answer to the biblical question of immortality. Continue reading “Obfuscating Traditionalism: No Eternal Life in Hell?”
On Saturday, September 28th, 2013, Dr. Phil Fernandes and Rethinking Hell contributor, Chris Date, debated the proposition, “The punishment of hell will be annihilation: the everlasting loss of life and conscious existence.” Date affirmed, articulating and defending conditional immortality and annihilationism. Dr. Fernandes denied, articulating and defending the traditional view of hell as eternal torment.
Both presenters’ opening statements, first rebuttals and notes are available in a book available at Amazon here.
Dr. Tom Robinson, elder and senior minister at the Manhattan Church of Christ, joins Rethinking Hell contributor Chris Date to discuss what he sees as the central significance of conditional immortality to many other areas of the Christian faith. Continue reading “Episode 38: The Centrality of Conditionalism, with Tom Robinson”