POSTED 01 JULY, 2011

Why Hell Must Be Eternal

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

The topic of eternal punishment is one of the most unpleasant and least desirable that any Bible teacher will ever have to discuss. I myself get no sense of enthusiasm, excitement, anticipation—and certainly no joy—out of the requirement that any discussion on death, the afterlife, and human destiny requires an analysis of what happens to the unredeemed. This is something that simply has to be addressed, and one which the author of Hebrews actually considers to be elementary to people of faith (Hebrews 6:2). To only address the positive side of human destiny, and not the negative side, would be a dereliction of a responsible teacher’s duty to the Biblical message and story.

Regardless of which position an individual, or a Biblical interpreter, takes, contemplating the issue of eternal punishment is not something “fun.” While it is difficult for one to ideologically justify a doctrine of psychopannychy for Believers (the idea that those who have died in faith are unconscious in their graves until the resurrection), many people who espouse a doctrine of psychopannychy do so not necessarily because they find the idea of going to Heaven into the presence of the Lord revolting. On the contrary, they reject the premise of an intermediate afterlife because if the righteous are in the presence of the Lord in some kind of paradise, then the unrighteous are likely in some kind of penalized state. Such a penalized state is likely a foretaste for them of the final judgment.[1]

Generally speaking, most of those who adhere to psychopannychy also believe in a concept known as annihilationism, and those who adhere to a conscious intermediate afterlife hold to some kind of never-ending eternal punishment. (There are some who believe in a conscious intermediate afterlife before the resurrection, who do espouse annihilationism, and vice versa, although this is rare.) What is annihilationism? The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms notes how this label is from the “Lat. annihilare, ‘to reduce to nothing,’” detailing it as “The belief that those not believing in Jesus Christ will be directly obliterated by God because of their sin.”[2] Annihilationism is, in no uncertain terms, a belief that the unredeemed will experience total oblivion from existence as their punishment for rejecting the salvation of the Creator God.

Quite contrary to annihilationism, traditional models of eternal punishment throughout Christian history have advocated various degrees of conscious, ongoing, and never-ending condemnation to be meted out upon the unredeemed. Many people, who enter into the discussion and debate over eternal punishment, are actually not aware of the fact that not all traditional models have advocated some kind of never-ending fire and brimstone “bath,” but have focused more on themes of never-ending exile and removal from the presence of the Creator.

Entering into the discussion of eternal punishment is also seriously complicated because of many popular—and even some mythological—ideas about Hell, Satan, demons, and the Lake of Fire that need to be overcome. Many think about eternal condemnation in somewhat comedic terms like going to Pitchfork City, with its mayor being a bearded/goateed half-man half-goat dressed in a red suit, where regular orgies are held between condemned sinners and demons—group sex and drugs all included as some kind of hippie party. We have to overcome the different cultural stereotypes we have encountered in popular media, such as an angel sitting on one person’s shoulder, and a devil sitting on the other, reminding us of what is good or evil. We have to get over things like the Dallas series finale Conundrum, where oil baron J.R. Ewing is tempted to commit suicide by one of the Devil’s top agents calling himself “Adam”—dressed in a red tuxedo no less!

Make no mistake about it: eternal punishment is a very serious issue that is to drive people to tears and lamentation, as they are to consider their own very serious mortal and sinful limitations in view of a perfect Creator God. Those who do not respond to the message of the good news of salvation in Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), by receiving Him into their hearts, will be severely penalized for it.

Many of today’s evangelical Christian pastors and teachers admittedly choose to not delve into the topic of eternal punishment that frequently, or in any detail. While being familiar with debates over annihilationism versus a never-ending eternal punishment, they often choose to be agnostic about it. It is often said, “I don’t care what eternal punishment is. Whatever it is, I don’t want to be a part of it.” While I would agree with this basic sentiment, the fact that Bible-believing people do ask the question about what eternal punishment is, and more importantly what human beings need salvation from, makes it imperative that a proper evaluation of the subject be provided. While some theologians and Bible teachers might think that the debate over what eternal punishment is, is just some philosophical exercise; it really is not. When any one of us looks out across the globe and considers the fact that every man and woman needs eternal redemption in Yeshua, what are such people to be redeemed from?

Many people, both inside and outside of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, do not like the idea of an ongoing, never-ending, conscious eternal punishment. They in fact, find any model of such punishment to be a reprehensible doctrine that is nothing short of being unloving and vengeful. When entering into the discussion of eternal punishment, there is no shortage of emotionally-laden remarks to be found from interpreters and readers, who accuse those who believe that God will punish people forever, as being some kind of sadistic monsters. Yet, while those who believe in an ongoing and never-ending eternal punishment actually disagree among themselves whether it occurs in fire or involving fire (the literal versus the metaphorical views), annihilationists often overlook that the Bible does implore God’s people, in one way or another, to actually celebrate the element of judgment as a part of His salvation (Psalm 96:11-13).[3]

There are undeniably difficult things that must be carefully worked through when evaluating whether or not the condemned will be annihilated from existence as their punishment, or be given some form of ongoing, conscious punishment away from God’s presence. Readers have to not only work through the nature and purpose of such punishment, but they also have to consider its time and place. There are also, admittedly, some speculative aspects to the issue of eternal punishment, especially as readers consider Scripture passages speaking of the future. We have to weigh into our deliberations the different dimensions of Earth, Heaven, the New Heavens, the New Earth, and the New Creation. These factors can make the topic of eternal punishment more difficult to sift through than simply acknowledging that in the intermediate state between death and the resurrection, a disembodied human consciousness is held in an inter-dimensional place of refreshment or confinement. On several notable levels, we are dealing with eschatology.

The subject of eternal punishment is also one in which readers encounter ancient people using the limited Hebrew or Greek vocabulary they possessed, to describe terrible realities. Twentieth and Twenty-First Century people know many more things about the greater universe, where descriptions like “Lake of Fire” might be found to be a bit under-encompassing.

Most concerning to us above all, though, is that we do not often see enough people who believe in an ongoing, eternal punishment for the condemned—to speak about it with a great deal of remorse or concern for those who will have to experience it. It is a sad fact, but there are some (supposed) Believers who view eternal punishment as a kind of backdoor way to hate people who have done them wrong. While they cannot exercise any kind of vengeance against those who have committed various offenses against them in this world, their view is that God will rightly damn them to a torturous existence, by frying them forever in a molten sea of fire and brimstone, and make them drink lead and eat burning dog feces for eternity. Eternal punishment is frequently over-exaggerated by those who actually wish to see God’s wrath dispensed upon those who have hurt them. This is not only an unhealthy way of approaching the topic of eternal punishment, but is also most reprehensible!

It should not be surprising that when many people have encountered an insensitive approach to eternal punishment—over-exaggerated forms of “hell-fire and damnation”—that they have responded in kind. With the growth of annihilationism in various sectors of Christian theology in the past half-to-three-quarters century, it is not difficult to see rhetoric like: “It is insanity to believe in eternal punishment! It is a lie and it is not true!” But is responding to one extreme with another extreme really appropriate? While it is absolutely true that there have been many abuses from those who believe in eternal punishment—from people who ultimately may be found to have little genuine concern for the salvation of those who have offended them in life—it is inappropriate to reject all models of an ongoing, never-ending eternal punishment out of our personal anger or disgust. We have to be very careful not to interject our own human values of justice and punishment onto the justice decreed by an Eternal God.

The collective responsibility of Bible readers, to be sure, is to go to the Scriptural text and dissect and exegete it carefully and accurately. With this, it is most ill-advised for those of any side, either that of annihilationism or an ongoing eternal punishment, to claim that their view is the “most Biblical,” but then fail to back it up with some level of Biblical engagement. We have to evaluate as many of the depictions of future condemnation on the wicked as we can, and not make the decision of pitting one set against the other. With this in mind, one will find that one set of Biblical portrayals of eternal punishment, that of fire and smoke, has been over-emphasized in various traditional models—with scenes such as blackness, outer darkness, and separation frequently under-emphasized. Likewise, when contending with various arguments presented in favor of annihilationism, it is also to be noted that the language of “destruction” is frequently not kept in view of the diversity of usages witnessed in both Hebrew and Greek, and how “destruction” frequently does not mean “no longer existing.”

Throughout the course of my service as a Bible teacher, I have never hidden the fact that I have been a staunch critic of annihilationism. While I understand the intention of many annihilationists, and I would not consider such a view to be theological heresy, I do not believe that an annihilationist model of eternal punishment appropriately evaluates the relevant Scripture passages to this conversation. I agree with Robert A. Peterson, “The fact that many passages could be interpreted as teaching annihilationism does not prove that doctrine. In order to be true, annihilationism has to account for all of the passages. And at this point it fails.”[4]

While I do admit that some traditional models of eternal punishment, and various teachings on the subject have gone overboard—various abuses and insensitive attitudes do not warrant a complete jettison of the unredeemed experiencing a never-ending punishment away from God’s presence. Ultimately, the issue over eternal punishment is determined by what unredeemed sinners must be redeemed from, and there are many theologians and leaders who have advocated a conscious, never-ending punishment for the unredeemed with sobriety and great remorse, urgently urging all people to get themselves right with their Creator. Hopefully in this article, you will see that my perspective is in accord with these voices, and not with those who would somehow wish to “play God” and condemn to eternal torment those people who they do not like. Repentance before the Lord of one’s sins should be sought in view of His bar of justice.

While the debate, between annihilationists and those advocating traditional models of eternal punishment, is something witnessed in much of contemporary Christianity today,[5] and we will be engaging with various Christian voices from both sides of the issue—what should concern us more is what this discussion means for today’s Messianic Believers. The broad Messianic movement is a relatively unestablished faith community in many matters of theology. When surveying Messianic Judaism or the Two-House and One Law sub-movements, one will encounter people who believe in traditional models of never-ending eternal punishment, as well as people who believe in annihilationism. There are also people who do not know what to believe, and there are people who are quite confused, but who are eagerly seeking fair-minded answers.

Is annihilationism something we need to be considering as a legitimate Biblical option? Have we even been informed that outside of some kind of never-ending lava bath in the Lake of Fire, that there are other traditional models like the metaphorical view? How might this change our approach to the issue of eternal punishment? How much have we not included, or known to include, within our Messianic deliberations on the topic of Hell?

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award for Greek. He is author of numerous books, dealing with a wide range of topics that are important for today’s Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries of various books of the Bible.

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