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?”
Tag: phil fernandes
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.
“The punishment of hell will be annihilation, the everlasting loss of life and conscious existence.”
I have promoted the conditionalist view of final punishment in debates with two fellow Reformed bloggers, and I recently scheduled a debate on the topic with a Catholic. Now I have been given the opportunity to debate an Arminian, Dr. Phil Fernandes, pastor of Trinity Bible Fellowship in Silverdale, Washington, and president of the Institute of Biblical Defense, a Christian apologetics ministry based in Bremerton, Washington. Dr. Fernandes has a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion from Greenwich University, an M.A. in religion from Liberty University, and a B.Th. from Columbia Evangelical Seminary. He is the author of several books, including The God Who Sits Enthroned: Evidence for God’s Existence (Xulon, 2002), No Other Gods: A Defense of Biblical Christianity (IBD, 1998), God, Government, and the Road to Tyranny (Xulon, 2003), Contend Earnestly for the Faith (PublishAmerica, 2008), and most recently Hijacking the Historical Jesus: Answering Recent Attacks on the Jesus of the Bible (CreateSpace, 2012). Continue reading “Chris Date vs. Dr. Phil Fernandes on Hell”