Not one of those passages says hell is eternal conscious torment. [100] It is taught that the unpardonable sin is committed by those who "den[y] the Son after the Father has revealed him". All men have been created to see God unceasingly in his uncreated glory. For those who do not love God, and who do not love at all, this same "consuming fire" will be the cause of their "weeping" and their "gnashing of teeth." "Those who have selfless love and are friends of God see God in light—Divine light, while the selfish and impure see God the judge as fire—darkness". What they mean by this, of course, is that, consciously or subconsciously, ... not the language of eternal conscious torment, not the language of “eternal separation from God,” not the language of “ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being,” but the language of destruction. The debate about the duration of hell must stick very close to the text and not try to solve the question by theological formulations where we try to figure out what hell must be like based on what we think God is like. In death, life and consciousness are gone. Both references obviously apply to the same position — that of never-ending conscious suffering. snuffed out in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:15) and cease to exist for all eternity. The existence of hell, as the everlasting abode of the devils and those human beings who have died in the state of mortal sin, is a defined dogma of the Catholic Church" (Baker, "Fundamentals of Catholicism" (1983), volume 3, p. 371). He cited the view of Saint Augustine of Hippo that Hell is under the earth and that of Saint Gregory the Great that hell is either on the earth or under it. [98] The first is a place commonly called Spirit Prison which is a state of punishment for those who reject Christ and his Atonement. [55], In a homily given on 25 March 2007, Pope Benedict XVI stated: "Jesus came to tell us that he wants us all in heaven and that hell, of which so little is said in our time, exists and is eternal for those who close their hearts to his love. It turns out that his reasons are not first of all to do with God’s revelation in scripture but with a gag-reflex—his moral revulsion against a deity that would preside over an eternal conscious torment in hell. This is what hell is" (, Adomnan of Iona, Life of St Columba. Rev. 20:15 +). . Eternal conscious torment is a fitting punishment for sin committed against a great and infinitely glorious God. [25][28] For one who hates God and by extension hates himself as God's image-bearer, to be encompassed by the divine presence could only result in unspeakable anguish. On the contrary, the belief of hell as being eternal conscious torment. In a parable about "The Rich Man and Lazarus" in Luke 16:19-31, the poor man Lazarus enjoys a blissful repose in the "bosom of Abraham" (Luke 16:22), while the rich man who was happy in life is tormented by fire in Hades (Luke 16:23-24), the two realms being separated by a great chasm (Luke 16:26). [29][30][31] Aristotle Papanikolaou[32] and Elizabeth H. Prodromou[33] write in their book Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars that for the Orthodox: "Those theological symbols, heaven and hell, are not crudely understood as spatial destinations but rather refer to the experience of God's presence according to two different modes. Even though these images are often used to support ECT, I don’t think they are very good arguments in favor of this view. Biblical Arguments for Eternal Conscious Torment. Unconscious definition, not conscious; without awareness, sensation, or cognition. People will be consigned to hell after the last judgment.[84]. Does the Bible teach, and do the early Church Fathers, saints, bishops, and Ecumenical Councils teach an eternal hell, meaning a conscious, 'everlasting punishment' or 'eternal torment' in a "place" called "Hell" ? Some Recent Podcast Interviews with Michael Bird. 5:5, Prov. "[36] According to Theodore Stylianopoulos, "Hell is a spiritual state of separation from God and inability to experience the love of God, while being conscious of the ultimate deprivation of it as punishment. Matthew 25:46 is the poster child verse for those who believe in eternal conscious torment in hell. Also, send me the Evangelical Newsletter and special offers. This transformation takes place during the higher level of the stage of illumination called theoria, literally meaning vision-in this case vision by means of unceasing and uninterrupted memory of God. Hell is the place and state of eternal punishment for the fallen angels and human beings who die deliberately estranged from the love of God. These verses, it is argued, indicate that death is only a period or form of slumber. The Christadelphian view is broadly similar to the Jehovah's Witness view, except for the fact that it teaches the belief that the resurrected will be judged for how they lived their lives before the resurrection. The problem with this line of reasoning begins with the first premise. [88], Another area of debate is the fate of the unevangelized (i.e., those who have never had an opportunity to hear the Christian gospel), those who die in infancy, and the mentally disabled. Unconscious definition, not conscious; without awareness, sensation, or cognition. They define "Gehenna" as eternal destruction or the "second death", which is reserved for those with no opportunity of a resurrection such as those who will be destroyed at Armageddon. However, some still assume that if there is torment in Hades, there must also be never ending torment in hell. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states "the dead know nothing", and 1 Thessalonians 4:13 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming. The dominant historic Christian view is that hell is a place of eternal conscious torment for rebellious, unbelieving humans (and demons and Satan). This verse quotes from Isaiah 66:24 and mentions both unquenchable fire and worms that never die. For example, John Calvin, who believed in conscious existence after death,[82] had a very different concept of hell (Hades and Gehenna) to Martin Luther who held that death was sleep. (Those theological symbols, heaven and hell, are not crudely understood as spatial destinations but rather refer to the experience of God's presence according to two different modes.). Genesis 37:35; Numbers 16:30-33; Psalm 86:13; Ecclesiastes 9:10). This is partially true, but the part that is not true is what makes all the difference. Rev. The traditional view of hell is usually equated with pictures of people screaming in … In my previous post, I summarized some of the strongest biblical arguments in favor of terminal punishment. In my previous post, I summarized some of the strongest biblical arguments in favor of terminal punishmen t. In this post, I want to summarize the best arguments for eternal conscious torment (ECT)—the traditional view of hell where the wicked will experience never-ending punishment. [78], The Catholic Church, and the Catechism, repudiates the view commonly known as "double predestination" which claims that God not only chooses who will be saved, but that he also creates some people who will be doomed to damnation. The strongest, most explicit, most clear verse in all of Scripture that is used to teach the everlasting conscious torment of the reprobate is certainly Rev. In the Greek Septuagint, the Hebrew word Sheol was translated as Hades,[citation needed] the name for the underworld and abode of the dead in Greek mythology. Also, send me the Evangelical Newsletter. In the eschatological discourse of Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says that, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, and will consign to everlasting fire those who failed to aid "the least of his brothers". 7:15 +; Rev. Therefore, eternal conscious torment is not true, since God is not immoral. 5:29, Mat. This view is often called Christian universalism—its conservative branch is more specifically called 'Biblical or Trinitarian universalism'—and is not to be confused with Unitarian Universalism. [6][23] In Revelation 20:13-14 hades is itself thrown into the "lake of fire" after being emptied of the dead. However, they will see God's glory eventually, but as an eternal and consuming fire and outer darkness. "The Green Catechism" (1939–62) said: Deut. [35] Paul Evdokimov stated: "Hell is nothing else but separation of man from God, his autonomy excluding him from the place where God is present. [83], In most Protestant traditions, hell is the place created by God for the punishment of the devil and fallen angels (cf. Hades is an intermediate state for the wicked between death and resurrection—a resurrection that will lead to judgment (Dan 12:2) and then the punishment of hell. For those who love the Lord, his Presence will be infinite joy, paradise and eternal life. Think of it like a mortgage—at some point, you pay it off and satisfy the debt. 28:18, Isa. Matt 25:41; 2 Thess 1:9; Jude 13)? Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. See more. It's the start of a busy day for me.... Social trust is the glue that holds society together. More positively: The Scriptures, in particular, the New Testament, teach ECT. The simplest is simply some lake of fire where people flop around screaming for eternity, the more complex views vary. "Eternal redemption" does not mean that the process goes on without end—for the redemptive work was done once and for all—but that its issue will have no end forever. They are not in agreement on all points, and no council universally recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Churches has formulated doctrine on hell,[citation needed] so there is no official doctrine to which all the faithful are bound. [50], Capuchin theologian Berard A. Marthaler also says that "hell is not 'a place'". The Unity Church of Charles Fillmore considers the concept of everlasting physical Hell to be false doctrine and contradictory to that reported by John the Evangelist.[109]. It is this pain of loss that is central to the Catholic understanding of hell. The key phrase is, “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.” Advocates for terminal punishment take “condemned to extinction” to mean “condemned to extinction,” while ECT advocates take “condemned to extinction” to mean “never ending torment” and not “extinction.” And therefore, advocates for terminal punishment are outside the bounds of orthodoxy according to many evangelicals. A moral objection to eternal conscious torment (ECT) is that if sinners are tormented in hell for all eternity (or, to be more precise, the lake of fire), then God’s justice is never satisfied. Those who worshiped the Beast will be tormented forever and ever (Rev. "The recent Catechism is ambiguous, neither denying nor confirming the existence of physical torments" - Charles Steven Seymour, "A Theodicy of Hell', p. 82 (2000). It doesn’t specify the duration of that suffering. For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo no greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. If they are tormented “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb,” then what do we do with other passages that seem to say that the wicked in hell exist away from the presence of God (e.g. Prominent evangelical theologians who have adopted conditionalist beliefs include John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Clark Pinnock, Greg Boyd,[93] and John Stott (although the last has described himself as an "agnostic" on the issue of annihilationism). It is the presence of God's splendid glory and love that is the scourge of those who reject its radiant power and light. "[34] Several Orthodox theologians do describe hell as separation from God, in the sense of being out of fellowship or loving communion. ECT advocates say that “a punishment of eternal fire” refers to the eternal conscious torment of unbelievers. One of the disagreements between the two views is over the meaning of death. I think this is the strongest passage in favor of ECT, although, as previously stated, there are some valid exegetical responses by those who hold to terminal punishment. 31:16, Ezek. Jude 1:7 [113], Parables of Jesus concerning the hereafter, View of conditional immortality and annihilationism, The King James Version translates "ᾅδης" 9 times as "Hell" and once as "grave" (in, God himself is both heaven and hell, reward and punishment. Get updates from Theology in the Raw delivered straight to your inbox. [6] Only one passage describes hades as a place of torment, the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:19-31). How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! [96] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that others who have died before Armageddon will be resurrected bodily on earth and then judged during the 1,000-year rule of Christ; the judgement will be based on their obedience to God's laws after their resurrection.[97]. Think of it like a mortgage—at some point, you pay it off and satisfy the debt. Notice that there are five necessary elements to the traditional view of hell: a place in the afterlife, Whether God will be for each man heaven or hell, reward or punishment, depends on man's response to God's love and on man's transformation from the state of selfish and self-centered love, to Godlike love which does not seek its own ends. See universal reconciliation, apocatastasis and the Problem of Hell. Eternal Conscious Torment is too horrible and monstrous to be true Eternal Conscious Torment would mean that God is not just to punish finite sin infinitely God is holy and will not allow evil to exist forever. In Christian theology, Hell is the place or state into which, by God's definitive judgment, unrepentant sinners pass in the general judgment, or, as some Christians believe, immediately after death (particular judgment). It’s not derived from Luke 16, since Luke 16 isn’t talking about the final state of the wicked in hell. Apart from one use in James 3:6, this term is found exclusively in the synoptic gospels. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire". Pharisees weren't being warned of Eternal Conscious Torment. Third, there’s a famed theological formulation that was forged in the middle-ages that goes something like this: “A sin committed against an infinite God deserves an infinite punishment.” (Was it Anselm?) In his recent book arguing for universalism, David Bentley Hart explains why he abhors the doctrine of hell as eternal conscious torment. Columba of Iona is alleged to have on several occasions even been able to name particular individuals who he said were going to end life in hellfire for their sins and accurately predicted the way they would die before the event had even happened. Are the people who are tormented all the wicked who are in hell, or just a subset of the wicked who “worships the beast and its image and receives the mark” on their foreheads? Eternal Conscious Torment cannot explain degrees of suffering.... No matter how much any given member of the damned has suffered in that view, there is always an infinite amount of suffering to be continuously endured. At all events the doctrine of conscious, eternal torment for impenitent men is clearly revealed in the Word of God. If you believe in Hell (as eternal conscious torment) and God, how do you reconcile them? Let me begin with some of the weaker, though common, arguments that are often given for ECT. In its review, Publishers Weekly called the book "persuasively argued. 31:17, Ezek. Jesus here depicts a wicked man suffering fiery torment in hades, which is contrasted with the bosom of Abraham, and explains that it is impossible to cross over from one to the other. 116:3, Psalm 139:8, Prov. 32:36a & 39, II Sam. [80][81], The varying Protestant views of "hell", both in relation to Hades (i.e., the abode of the dead) and Gehenna (i.e., the destination of the wicked), are largely a function of the varying Protestant views on the intermediate state between death and resurrection; and different views on the immortality of the soul or the alternative, the conditional immortality. (St. Isaac of Syria, Mystic Treatises) The Orthodox Church of America website, "Paradise and Hell exist not in the form of a threat and a punishment on the part of God but in the form of an illness and a cure. Romans 2:7-9; 2  Thessalonians), while the general epistles use a range of terms and images including "raging fire" (Hebrews 10:27), "destruction" (2  Peter 3:7), "eternal fire" (Jude 7) and "blackest darkness" (Jude 13). Annihilationism is the belief that unredeemed souls will be “annihilated,” i.e. 2. My thesis is both positive and negative. Second, we have reason to believe that those in hell will … In any case, ECT advocates point out that “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or not.” The last line is, to my mind, the only part of this passage that may suggest ECT—“no rest, day or not.” The first part about the smoke going up forever comes from Isa 34:10 where it clearly emphasizes the finality of the destruction (of Edom) and not the never ending torment of the city of Edom. The words “they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” plainly admit of only one meaning—everlasting conscious torment. But it is uncertain where the place is" Addis & Arnold (eds). Therefore, the eternal conscious torment view involves unconditional preservation of … Sometimes venial sin, though needing first of all to be cleansed, is an obstacle to the receiving of the reward; the result being that the reward is delayed. This view characterizes hell as being a place of death, destruction and darkness at which non-believers suffer into eternity. 30:16, Ecc. [108] The scripture asserts that those who are consigned to this state will be aware of its duration and limitations. Thus it is the Catholic Church's spiritual teaching that God does not punish man by some material fire or physical torment. Denny Burk: Eternal Conscious Torment Burk acknowledges the difficulty in coming to terms with unbelievers facing the punishment of eternal conscious torment. (Note that the "Smoke of their torment" rises forever, not their torment) However, the image of rising smoke, and even the claim of smoke rising forever, is in fact an Old Testament idiom that describes destruction, not ongoing burning (let alone ongoing torment… Second, Revelation 14:9-11 also seems to suggest never ending torment: And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The Catholic Church has decided nothing on this subject; hence we may say hell is a definite place; but where it is, we do not know." [107] The residents of outer darkness are the only children of God that will not receive one of three kingdoms of glory at the Last Judgment. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. [104] Other mortals who during their lifetime become sons of perdition, those who commit the unpardonable sin, will be consigned to outer darkness. Fox wrote: "Hell is a place or state of eternal punishment inhabited by those rejected by God because such souls have rejected God's saving grace. [5] By the third to second century BC, the idea had grown to encompass separate divisions in sheol for the righteous and wicked (cf. The moral intuition God has implanted within our consciences cannot justify the insatiable cruelty of a God who subjects sinners to unending torments. It is first and foremost a call to conversion, and to show that Humanity's true destiny lies with God in heaven. When someone genuinely receives Christ and remains in union with him, hell becomes a nonissue. Matthew 25:41), and those whose names are not written in the book of life (cf. The terrible suffering of hell consists in the realization that, over the course of a lifetime, one has come, not to love, but to hate one's true good, and thus to be radically unfit to enjoy that Good. The Early History of the Monastery of Cluny. But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed! Rev. A major reason why this passage is believed to prove eternal torment is because it says “punishment,” and punishment, it is argued, must mean pain or some sort of conscious suffering, and therefore must mean that the person is alive and conscious to suffer. In this post, I want to summarize the best arguments for eternal conscious torment (ECT)—the traditional view of hell where the wicked will experience never-ending punishment. Pages 66–69 of John-Paul Himka's Last Judgment Iconography in the Carpathians provides an illustrated description of some such 15th-century Carpathian icons based on a northern Rus' prototype (p. 193). The Son of Man will send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. "[38] Another writer declared: "The circumstances that rise before us, the problems we encounter, the relationships we form, the choices we make, all ultimately concern our eternal union with or separation from God. Critical Race Theory Examined and Analyzed Several people have asked me to... All the Banter None of the Substance Podcast... Good morning all! How can a relatively short lifetime of sin (some longer and/or more sinful than others) be rewarded with an eternity of suffering? At Fatima in Portugal, it is claimed that Our Lady told St. Jacinta Marto; that more sinners go to Hell because of sins of impurity more than any other.[74][75]. To say that eternal conscious torment is immoral by nature is an opinion. Is this talking about some great rebellion during the first century, or during an end-time tribulation? 12:10 +). However, suffering is characterized as both mental and physical: "The damned will suffer in both mind and body, because both mind and body had a share in their sins. [51], Traditionally in the past Hell has been spoken of or considered as a place. 5:30, Matt. Eternal conscious torment is immoral by nature To accuse God of enacting eternal conscious torment would make God immoral. Those who worshiped the Beast will be tormented forever and ever (Rev. [60] Robert J. The 'place' or 'location' of hell is secondary, and considerations of where it is should not deflect us from our most important concerns: what it is, and how to avoid it" (, "No cogent reason has been advanced for accepting a metaphorical interpretation in preference to the most natural meaning of the words of Scripture" (Hontheim in, "Theologians generally accept the opinion that hell is really within the earth" (Hontheim 1910). Therefore, the wicked will be annihilated. Answer: They will be condemned to extinction just like the earthly cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. We shouldn’t read ECT into ever passage where “undying” is mentioned, or where we see the wicked being punished or suffering. "What do we mean by "hell"? Mormon scripture quotes God as telling church founder Joseph Smith: "I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. At all events the doctrine of conscious, eternal torment for impenitent men is clearly revealed in the Word of God. In short, terminal punishment does not clearly spring from every single passage about future judgment, but it does seem to be the best reading of the large majority of them. Yes. They do not acknowledge that this expression comes from the OT, where it has the frequent and regular sense of "destruction that cannot be resisted." According to ACUTE some Protestants[89] agree with Augustine that people in these categories will be damned to hell for original sin, while others believe that God will make an exception in these cases.[23]. My thesis is both positive and negative. "[103] Mormons also believe in a more permanent concept of hell, commonly referred to as outer darkness. It takes a good bit of theological gymnastics to continually reinterpret these divinely inspired Words of God to mean the exact opposite of their natural meanings. 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