Kirk Cameron, the Christian actor, has recently been in the news for a recent podcast in which he says he no longer believes in an eternal, conscious hell. Instead, he believes in annihilationism (when a non-believer’s soul is destroyed in one burst of fire).
I like and admire Kirk Cameron. Despite his Hollywood background he’s a brave Christian. He stands up for what is right and takes criticism for it. But he is wrong here.
Hell is a hard doctrine; hard to accept, hard to understand. Naturally, mankind has been suggesting alternatives to it throughout the years. Here’s just three: 1) annihilationism (as Cameron proposed); 2) purgatory (the Catholic doctrine that there is an afterlife place where sins are purged before the sinner is released upward into heaven); 3) that hell is not an afterlife place but is a symbolic way of understanding the bad things that happen to us in this world (as if this world is bad enough so there is no need for further punishment in the afterlife).
All three are wrong. Revelation speaks of a lake of fire as a judgment for the devil and his angels. After that come the jarring words: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire,” (Revelation 20:15).
We wish the lake of fire was only for the devil and his angels (they deserve it!); but why does it have to be extended to unsaved human beings? Shouldn’t we get something milder? After all, doesn’t our human justice system give plea bargains, parole, time off for good behavior?
But God didn’t make the afterlife that way, much as we might wish He would have. He set His own standard from a position of perfect knowledge and holiness.
Some additional comments on this…
1. Hell is a difficult doctrine, but we must still accept difficult doctrines.
I’ve personally struggled with the doctrine of hell, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in it. We must believe in some things we don’t understand. I think of it in the same way I think of other Bible difficulties—I believe and pray for more light on the matter. And if I don’t get more light, I’ll still believe it because I trust God.
Some biblical truths are hard; the Trinity for example. It doesn’t make human sense, but we believe it because it is God’s way of presenting Himself—three Persons, One God. Another example is the doctrine of the deity of Christ—that Christ is fully God. Wouldn’t it be easier to understand a Christ who was merely like God, or close to God, or God-like? But the Bible presents Him as God. Fully human and fully divine. That doesn’t make sense. But we believe it.
When we consider the biblical revelation about hell—eternal conscious punishment—our understanding or liking of it is not of primary importance. Our acceptance of it is what counts because God has revealed it.
This brings us to a second consideration.
2. The Church can help us with difficult doctrines
When we are troubled by something in the Bible, we should remember that we are not alone. We have the church to help. By this I mean the accepted doctrines handed down over the centuries—things thought about and wrestled about by others who have gone before. This wisdom is distilled into what we call articles of faith or statements of faith.
I’ve found that in evangelical denominations , these statements are petty similar to each other—usually 12 to 16 statements about the big and most essential things about what we believe. One of these statements will inevitably be about the afterlife—heaven and hell.
Admittedly, the older I get the more I notice the mistakes and failures of the church. But the church is Christ’s body. It reminds us that we are not alone. And the church’s conclusion about hell—at least in every evangelical church I know of—is that hell is real and is the eternal destiny of those who do not believe in Christ at the time of their death. It helps to know that we do not have to wrestle over these things alone. Others have thought about it too and come to some conclusions. This gives us strength and confidence. This brings us to the third consideration.
3. The severity of hell is a warning to avoid it at all costs
Jesus said we should take drastic action to avoid going to hell: “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire,” (Matthew 18:8). Now, if eternal fire didn’t exist, why would Jesus say that it did? And if it didn’t exist, it would water down the urgency of the warning. The severity of hell should be retained not only because it is true but because of its warning effect. It is a an urgent call to take decisive measures at all costs to avoid going there.
Jesus doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, that’s why he warns against it. Jesus deals with hell not by softening it, but by giving us a way to avoid it: grace. He gave us an escape hatch by means of his death and resurrection. This is free and universally available. Hell is severe, yes; but the offer of escape is so abundant and free that there is no excuse for not taking it.
Hell is not ‘reasonable’ but neither is grace. Grace is too wonderful and generous and free to be reasonable. We might object to grace on the same grounds that we object to hell—it doesn’t conform to known, customary human standards. But that’s the point; it’s God’s idea, not man’s. The gospel message is that though the ultimate punishment for sin is severe, the way of escape is free and generous and universally offered. Both sides of the equation—punishment and salvation—have higher stakes than human beings would devise.
So, let’s think twice before we try to make the gospel message ‘reasonable’–either on the judgment side or the salvation side. Both need to be retained in their full biblical force: judgment for sin that is worse than we can imagine, but an escape from it that is better than we could imagine. And there is more than just the rescue, there is also eternal admission to paradise. Nothing reasonable about that.
We shouldn’t be looking to moderate or tame the gospel; we should take it as it is. There is a ‘Hell to shun and a heaven to gain’.