By Br. John McGlone
I recently had a great conversation with a young man on the doctrine of hell and his unbelief that God would torment people for eternity in fire. He holds to the view of annihilationism. This is basically the view that God will destroy sinners by fire but that would be finite and not everlasting as the Bible teaches. He made an appeal to the many times that the Bible says that God will destroy or bring destruction upon the unbeliever. I agreed with him that there are multitudes of verses, but added that you can not ignore the others that speak of a conscious torment in fire, gnashing of teeth, etc. Here are a few verses from his interpretation:
Pro_15:11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
Pro_16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Pro_21:15 It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
Exo_22:20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
Psa_37:38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psa_92:7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
I immediately referred him to Mark 9:43-37 which is a direct quote from Jesus Christ.
Mar 9:43-50 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
Well, in this passage it is referring to sinners who won’t cut sin, which offends God, out of their life. This passage begs the question what is ‘their worm’, and why does Jesus mention it? Firstly, the sinner has ownership of this worm, so by deduction we know that ownership will be eternal as the worm dieth not and are existing with the sinner in the fire.
I then queried him about the passage in Rev 14.
Rev 14:9-11 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
I think he was surprised by my bringing up this passage and had not considered this one. Yet, I was surprised within a few moments he agreed that this group of people that had received the mark of the beast would in fact suffer forever in conscious torment in fire. This tells me that the Bible is the source which he is willing to surrender his ideas to, and adjust accordingly. This is both a good sign and good practice for all believers. I asked him if he thought this would be partiality on God’s part, he replied no. I think he answered that too quickly and didn’t consider the ramifications of God burning these people forever, yet treating other sinners in a differing manner.
One of the most compelling passages about eternal fire and damnation is from Matt 25.
Mat 25:31-46 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: …
…44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
This passage clearly points out the eternality of God’s justice, not just that it burns forever, but ‘these’ are in that punishment not just destruction.
Lastly, I pointed out to the young man and he agreed that none of us deserve heaven forever, but we all deserve hell forever. I also shared that it is a temptation to try and make God more ‘loving’ than he has already shown at the bloody cross of Jesus and in His Word which is true forever and ever, and ever, and ever…
He began to respond with the Sheol in the Hebrew argument meaning ‘in the grave’. At this point I believed the Lord was leading me to back off and allow some of the seeds and watering I had already done on this issue to sink in and germinate with him.
Here is a great blog on hell and it’s ramifications. I don’t agree with all the points but it is very good. I think you will be encouraged.