AN INSIDER’S VIEW

“…No traditional Christian doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal

punishment. Its advocates must be fewer than ever before. The alternative interpretation of hell as annihilation seems to have prevailed even among many of the more conservative

theologians” (Richard Buckham).

HELL IS REAL

“Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions

which people adopt in this life” (Pope John Paul II July 28, 1999)

“…he lifted up his eyes being in torment”

•In this parable Jesus described a man who “died and was buried” - clearly he is not speaking of a condition found in this life

•The man’s condition was described in very real terms “torment” vs. 23 “agony in this flame” vs. 24

•He realized that others could share his fate - vs.28

HELL IS REAL

THIS PARABLE IS CONSISTENT WHITH JESUS’S OTHER STATEMENTS ON HELL

•Matt 5:29-30; 18:7-9 - Hyperbole in the passage does not mask the reality expressed in the teaching

•Matt 10:28 - Are we to find courage in the fact that God can do little more than men?

•Matt 25:34, 41 - Jesus speaks of both heaven and hell in the same sense

HELL IS REAL

•Many would tell us that a place of eternal punishment is inconsistent with the love of God

•The language used to describe a God that would utilize such a hell is “cruel” “vindictive” “more like Satan than God”

HELL IS PUNISHMENT

“…FOR I AM IN AGONY IN THIS FLAME”

•This parable is being told by Jesus to show the end of those who place value in those things which are “detestable in the sight of God”

•The concept of punitive eternal torment is divine not human

HELL IS PUNISHMENT

Matt 5:22 - “fiery hell” is the place for those who have hated their brother

Matt 25:30 - “outer darkness” a metaphor for that condition beyond the mercy of God is for the “worthless slave”

Matt 25:41 - “the eternal fire” is prepared for “the devil and his angels” and will be the abode of those who showed no love for Jesus

Matt 7:21-23 - those whom the Lord does not know are the disobedient

HELL IS PUNISHMENT

•During the 1700’s and 1800’s there was a shift away from a belief in eternal torture.

•The idea became popular that God’s punishments were to be reformatory rather than punitive.

•“God had to be a humanitarian” (Without God Without Creed, James Turner 1883)

HELL IS ETERNAL

“…during your life you received your good things”

•Abraham seems to speak of existence in two distinct categories - pre-death (“during your life”) and post-death (“now”)

•Abraham informed the rich man that there was no grace or mercy for him in his present condition (vs. 25)

•Once this life is over our condition is determined and does not change

HELL IS ETERNAL

•Matt 25:41 - “depart from Me accursed ones, into the eternal fire…”

•Matt 25:46 - “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”

•Mk 9:43-44, 45-46, 47-48 - “…into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”

HELL IS ETERNAL

•Katargeo – “in this and similar words not loss of being is implied, but loss of well being” (Vines)

•Again this fits the context much better - what motivation is there to face death if the alternative is annihilation?

HELL IS ETERNAL

Matthew 10:28

•Denominations today present hermeneutics which include experience and church tradition

•Religious people today await dreams, visions, and voices

•However none of these can save us from hell

HELL IS FOR THOSE WHO REJECT THE WORD

•Notice what Abraham did not say would keep the rich man’s brothers out of hell

•Notice how simple the answer for the brothers’ dilemma was: “let them hear them”

•Notice how Abraham viewed a miraculous means of converting them - “they will not be persuaded”

HELL IS FOR THOSE WHO REJECT THE WORD

48 “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge

him at the last day. 49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and

what to speak. 50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the

Father has told Me.”John 12:48–50 (NASB95)