And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night . Moreover, , example) is literally translated “thing shown” or “showing,” and is closer in meaning to the word. .
. But the text indicates that it is the fire which is eternal, not those thrown into it. than the prospect that the lost face an eternity of torment as punishment for their sins. For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb . But conditionalists are convinced that Scripture does not teach the traditional view—and that this can be conclusively demonstrated. So regardless of which translation gets this verse in Jude right, whether Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the punishment of eternal fire or simply serve as an example thereof, Jude tells us that eternal fire does not inflict agony forever, but reduces to lifeless remains. Satan has been very successful — at least on the surface. While this is not an argument for the character of God, a fairly intuitive corollary is that God would not torture young children for fun, because it would be inconsistent with his. This is contrary to the conditionalist view, they suggest, which holds that all unsaved human beings will eventually cease to be. . But the nature of their punishment itself cannot be determined from this parable. that he held to the annihilationist view sent shockwaves through the evangelical world and significantly boosting the visibility of our position.
”, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.
Alternatively, the annihilationist view allows for an array of possible combinations of type, intensity and duration of suffering as part of the process by which the lost are destroyed.
At worst the presence of the qualifier means the destruction must last forever, an eternal destroying. to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart . Philosophical and subjective intuitions about the justice of God are certainly not to override what the scriptures teach, but such reasoned counter-indications at least ought to warn us and make us reconsider our current understanding of scripture. he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people . But conditionalists, by virtue of their annihilationist view, cannot be universalists. Jesus uses the word in Matthew 13:30 and Matthew 13:40, in the parable of the wheat and the tares. First, it may simplify the gospel to something we all understand: a simple reckoning of our works before God, resulting in being brought to an end, the deprivation of life perhaps by means which are painful. . Bell has a very easy job, but one which will be filled with few eternal rewards because he’s forgotten, or never believed, that the Bible is inerrant Word of God. Rob Bell, who was the Founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan went on Oprah’s show Super Soul Sunday and had some simply outlandish things to say about following the Bible.
Truly, I say to you, you will never get out, “. Moreover, the Greek word δεῖγμα (deigma, example) is literally translated “thing shown” or “showing,” and is closer in meaning to the word specimen than something like type or prefigure (which is the meaning of some derivatives of δεῖγμα). Many people cannot conceive of worshiping a God so malicious (in their mind) as to cause endless suffering forever. . When this word is used in the LXX (Jer 18:20; Ez 14:3-7; 18:30; 43:11; 44:12) and in the NT (1 John 4:18) it is usually used in an undefined and ambiguous way. Thus, since the contempt is everlasting, the risen wicked must exist for eternity in order to experience that everlasting contempt.
Given the diversity of possible understandings of this strange and unclear statement, there is no contextual justification for insisting that Jesus must be saying that the lives of the damned will be preserved forever in hell. Many of them, however, affirm the authority of scripture over such considerations and are perfectly willing to bow their knee to the Bible if it can be shown to teach the traditional view of hell.