(Warning: This post is long and is in 2 parts. The first part is here in the original post and the second part is in the first reply so that it is all together)
The Bible teaches Annihilationism not ECT for the unsaved
What is ECT? It stands for Eternal Conscious Torment in hell. The aim of this paper is to take every verse in the Bible that seems to support ECT and demonstrate, using Scripture, that it means eternal destruction and not eternal suffering.
Sadly ECT has been the default view of the Christian church for close to 2,000 years. Who knows how many people have been turned off from becoming Christians because they think the God of the Bible tortures people forever in flames. Thankfully, the Bible does not teach this!
The God of the Bible is a God rich in mercy, grace, love and forgiveness. But He is also holy. The wicked must be destroyed. In this short paper, I hope to demonstrate that the Bible teaches the lost will be destroyed in the lake of fire and not suffer forever. My hope is that God will reveal His truth to you as you study this.
Now let us go to the verses that seem to support ECT (eternal conscious torment) and prove that they do not:
Daniel 12: 2, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
So we see the righteous being raised to eternal life in this verse but only eternal contempt for the wicked. What is this contempt? Is it eternal conscious torment? The Hebrew word used for “contempt” in Dan 12: 2 is “deraon”. It means contempt or abhorrence. It is used only one other time in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 66: 24, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched and they shall be an abhorrence (deraon) to all flesh.”
We see the “contempt” or “abhorrence” being tied to corpses. Are corpses conscious? I don’t think so. We will examine the “worm not dying” and the “fire not quenched” in a later verse.
Let’s look at the next verse ECT proponents use:
Matthew 13: 49-50, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Those who believe in ECT will say that because it says “weeping and gnashing of teeth” that this must go on forever. The text does not say that though. That is reading into the text something that is not stated. The “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is simply a warning that it will be a terrible day for those who are condemned. When a person is judged unfavorably in court is there not “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in that persons soul?
Notice how the verse said “furnace of fire.” What happens in a fiery furnace? Things are burned up and consumed.
Hebrews 10: 26-27, “For if we sin willfully after receiving a knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation that will consume the adversaries.”
Let’s look at the next verses used by the ECT proponent:
In the gospel of Matthew the term “outer darkness” is used 3 times in Matt 8: 12, 22: 13 and 25: 30. This is used erroneously to promote the idea that people sit in “outer darkness” forever being tortured. What does it really mean?
Jude verse 13 talks about ungodly men and says they are “wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
Obadiah verse 16 when talking about the the “Day of the Lord” says about the wicked that, “they shall be as though they had never been.”
And 2 Peter 2: 17 also talking about ungodly men says, “for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
So what is this darkness? It is simply ceasing to exist. Being cutoff from God forever, never to live again. This darkness happens after the judgment seat of Christ for all the ungodly when they are burned up and consumed in the lake of fire (hell).
Let’s look at the next verse used by the ECT proponent:
Matthew 25: 46, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.”
This verse is talking about the sheep and goats judgment. The sheep are the righteous who inherit eternal life and the goats are the wicked who inherit eternal punishment. Notice that the verse does not say “eternal punishing” but “eternal punishment”.
It is a final judgment that happens to all the unsaved. Their punishment is eternal but is it eternal conscious torment? What does Jesus say about this in Matthew?
Matthew 10: 28, “And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.
2 Thessalonians 1: 8-9, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
The “eternal punishment” is ceasing to exist forever.
Let’s look at the next verse used by the ECT proponent:
Mark 9: 43-48, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
The rest of this passage repeats two more times and substitutes “hand” with “foot” and “eye”. So what is this passage saying?
The Greek word for hell is “Gehenna”. Gehenna was the trash dump located just south of the city walls of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom. Garbage was taken there for the purpose of being burned up by the fires that were constantly burning in Gehenna. It was symbolic of complete and utter destruction and Jesus used it all the time in His teaching to refer to it as the fate of the wicked. People listening to Jesus would have had a clear idea of what He meant.
So what does it mean by “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched?”
Jesus is quoting a verse that we looked at earlier in this study.
Isaiah 66: 24, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Notice once again, these are corpses. They are not alive. They are not being consciously tormented.
“Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” is figurative language that means they will be destroyed forever and is not literal. It is a symbolic/poetic phrase. If we take it literally that means we have immortal worms. Immortal worms in hell? It simply means “the worm will not die” until it has devoured the corpses. The destruction of the unsaved is final.
What about the “fire is not quenched?” Fire refers to irreversible and final judgment throughout the Bible. For example:
Jude verse 7, “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Is Sodom and Gomorrah still burning? Obviously not. The “eternal fire” is irreversible judgment. A fire that will not be quenched. In case you still have doubts here is another example:
Jeremiah 7: 20, Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place; on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
Are the trees, men, beasts and fruit still burning 2,700 years later after this prophecy was fulfilled? Of course not. It is irreversible judgment. A fire that will not be quenched.
(Post continued in part 2 in the first reply)
The Bible teaches Annihilationism not ECT for the unsaved
What is ECT? It stands for Eternal Conscious Torment in hell. The aim of this paper is to take every verse in the Bible that seems to support ECT and demonstrate, using Scripture, that it means eternal destruction and not eternal suffering.
Sadly ECT has been the default view of the Christian church for close to 2,000 years. Who knows how many people have been turned off from becoming Christians because they think the God of the Bible tortures people forever in flames. Thankfully, the Bible does not teach this!
The God of the Bible is a God rich in mercy, grace, love and forgiveness. But He is also holy. The wicked must be destroyed. In this short paper, I hope to demonstrate that the Bible teaches the lost will be destroyed in the lake of fire and not suffer forever. My hope is that God will reveal His truth to you as you study this.
Now let us go to the verses that seem to support ECT (eternal conscious torment) and prove that they do not:
Daniel 12: 2, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
So we see the righteous being raised to eternal life in this verse but only eternal contempt for the wicked. What is this contempt? Is it eternal conscious torment? The Hebrew word used for “contempt” in Dan 12: 2 is “deraon”. It means contempt or abhorrence. It is used only one other time in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 66: 24, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched and they shall be an abhorrence (deraon) to all flesh.”
We see the “contempt” or “abhorrence” being tied to corpses. Are corpses conscious? I don’t think so. We will examine the “worm not dying” and the “fire not quenched” in a later verse.
Let’s look at the next verse ECT proponents use:
Matthew 13: 49-50, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Those who believe in ECT will say that because it says “weeping and gnashing of teeth” that this must go on forever. The text does not say that though. That is reading into the text something that is not stated. The “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is simply a warning that it will be a terrible day for those who are condemned. When a person is judged unfavorably in court is there not “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in that persons soul?
Notice how the verse said “furnace of fire.” What happens in a fiery furnace? Things are burned up and consumed.
Hebrews 10: 26-27, “For if we sin willfully after receiving a knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation that will consume the adversaries.”
Let’s look at the next verses used by the ECT proponent:
In the gospel of Matthew the term “outer darkness” is used 3 times in Matt 8: 12, 22: 13 and 25: 30. This is used erroneously to promote the idea that people sit in “outer darkness” forever being tortured. What does it really mean?
Jude verse 13 talks about ungodly men and says they are “wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
Obadiah verse 16 when talking about the the “Day of the Lord” says about the wicked that, “they shall be as though they had never been.”
And 2 Peter 2: 17 also talking about ungodly men says, “for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
So what is this darkness? It is simply ceasing to exist. Being cutoff from God forever, never to live again. This darkness happens after the judgment seat of Christ for all the ungodly when they are burned up and consumed in the lake of fire (hell).
Let’s look at the next verse used by the ECT proponent:
Matthew 25: 46, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.”
This verse is talking about the sheep and goats judgment. The sheep are the righteous who inherit eternal life and the goats are the wicked who inherit eternal punishment. Notice that the verse does not say “eternal punishing” but “eternal punishment”.
It is a final judgment that happens to all the unsaved. Their punishment is eternal but is it eternal conscious torment? What does Jesus say about this in Matthew?
Matthew 10: 28, “And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.
2 Thessalonians 1: 8-9, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
The “eternal punishment” is ceasing to exist forever.
Let’s look at the next verse used by the ECT proponent:
Mark 9: 43-48, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
The rest of this passage repeats two more times and substitutes “hand” with “foot” and “eye”. So what is this passage saying?
The Greek word for hell is “Gehenna”. Gehenna was the trash dump located just south of the city walls of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom. Garbage was taken there for the purpose of being burned up by the fires that were constantly burning in Gehenna. It was symbolic of complete and utter destruction and Jesus used it all the time in His teaching to refer to it as the fate of the wicked. People listening to Jesus would have had a clear idea of what He meant.
So what does it mean by “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched?”
Jesus is quoting a verse that we looked at earlier in this study.
Isaiah 66: 24, “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Notice once again, these are corpses. They are not alive. They are not being consciously tormented.
“Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” is figurative language that means they will be destroyed forever and is not literal. It is a symbolic/poetic phrase. If we take it literally that means we have immortal worms. Immortal worms in hell? It simply means “the worm will not die” until it has devoured the corpses. The destruction of the unsaved is final.
What about the “fire is not quenched?” Fire refers to irreversible and final judgment throughout the Bible. For example:
Jude verse 7, “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Is Sodom and Gomorrah still burning? Obviously not. The “eternal fire” is irreversible judgment. A fire that will not be quenched. In case you still have doubts here is another example:
Jeremiah 7: 20, Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place; on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”
Are the trees, men, beasts and fruit still burning 2,700 years later after this prophecy was fulfilled? Of course not. It is irreversible judgment. A fire that will not be quenched.
(Post continued in part 2 in the first reply)
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