Daniel 12:2 and “Eternal Contempt”1Adapted From The Bible Teaches Annihilationism by Joseph Dear, Section XX.
Few passages from the Old Testament are cited as evidence that hell is a place of eternal torment. Given the Old Testament’s emphasis on death and destruction, this shouldn’t surprise us. If I believed that the unsaved live forever in torment, I wouldn’t run to passages about the wicked withering and dying like grass,2Psalm 37:2. or that call for them to melt away like slugs,3Psalm 58:8. or that describe them being burned to ashes and left without root or branch at the final judgment (like Malachi 4:1-3 does) either. But one passage stands out as an exception. One passage is a commonly cited as proof of eternal torment. That passage is Daniel 12:2:
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt (NASB).
Basically, this passage speaks of the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved. But aside from the fact that this does not speak of inherent immortality, it doesn’t say anything about eternal conscious existence for the damned, period.
Continue reading “Daniel 12:2 Does Not Teach Eternal Torment”
| ￪1 | Adapted From The Bible Teaches Annihilationism by Joseph Dear, Section XX. |
|---|---|
| ￪2 | Psalm 37:2. |
| ￪3 | Psalm 58:8. |