God tells us through the
prophet Ezekiel that if we fail to give a warning to someone when danger is
coming then we will be accountable if the person dies.
CSB17 Ezekiel 33:6
However, suppose the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn't blow the
trumpet, so that the people aren't warned, and the sword comes and takes away
their lives. Then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I
will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.'
God Himself followed this
principle. Several biblical summaries of a large portion of Old Testament
history (from Moses to the fall of Israel and Judah) basically say, “God warned
you that if you kept sinning then x, y, and z would happen to you and you kept
sinning and now x, y, and z have happened to you” (see 2 Kings 17:13ff;
Nehemiah 9:26-29; Jeremiah 11:7-8). God described in considerable detail what
the consequences of continued rebellion and idolatry would be, and He warned
Israel over and over quite explicitly what was coming.
Even outside of Scripture,
it is widely recognized that a part of justice is giving clear advance warning of
the consequences if people break the law.
The fair warning principle creates a big problem for
the doctrine of eternal torment.
Tormenting someone for
billions of years, and then for billions more, and then on and on for eternity
is much worse than simply killing them. God warned Adam that sin would result
in death. But where is the first clear warning that all who sin will suffer
eternal torment (unless God saves them)?
When people attempt to
make a biblical case for eternal torment, usually the earliest verse they site
is Daniel 12:2.
CSB17
Daniel 12:2 Many who sleep in
the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace
and eternal contempt.
There are two major
problems with Daniel 12:2 relative to the principle of fair warning.
First, the book of Daniel
was one of the last books written in the Old Testament. By the time Daniel was
written more than half of human history from Adam until today had already passed.
Therefore, if Daniel 12:2 were the first warning of eternal torment, it would
still mean that more than half of human history passed without any clear
warning of this terrible fate in God’s Word.
The second problem is far
more serious. Daniel 12:2 says nothing about eternal torment. It mentions “eternal
contempt,” but contempt is what the righteous feel, it is not what the unrighteous
are feeling. A person does not have to still be alive for us to feel contempt
for them. Consider Hitler. The only other verse where the same Hebrew word for “contempt”
is used is Isaiah 66:24 where the righteous are looking on dead bodies with
contempt. Daniel 12:2 also mentions “eternal life.” Significantly, only the
righteous have eternal life. This strongly implies that others do not live
forever, and thus cannot be in torment forever.
What about the gospels? Do
we find clear warnings of eternal torment there? No. The verses which are
frequently cited as supporting eternal torment do not actually say anyone will
be tormented forever. Perhaps the most commonly cited verses in the gospels to
attempt to support the doctrine of eternal torment are Mark 9:47-48 and Matthew
25:46. I explain why Matthew 25:46 actually supports annihilationism here,
and I address Mark 9:48 at the 4:30 point in this ten minute video. Even if you
think these verses refer to eternal torment, they certainly do not clearly and
simply state something like “the unrighteous will suffer eternal torment.”
There is no clear warning of eternal torment.
Nor is any such warning
found in the book of Acts where the apostles preach the good news.
Do we find warnings of
eternal torment in the epistles of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, or John? No.
Finally, we come to the
book of Revelation. In between the death of Christ and the writing of
Revelation many people had been born and died (assuming a traditional date of
writing sometime near the end of the first century). Finally, in Revelation,
eternal torment is explicitly mentioned. It is mentioned in one, or possibly
two passages (it is directly stated in Revelation 20:10, and many people feel
it is strongly implied in Revelation 14:11). Do these passages finally contain
a clear, fair warning of eternal torment? For several reasons the answer is no.
First, if the passages in
Revelation are taken literally then it is only the devil, the beast, the false
prophet and those who receive their infamous mark who experience eternal
torment. This is hardly a clear, broad warning to you and all your friends and
neighbors. But a deeper problem is that both of these passages occur in visions
full of symbolic imagery. Further, John tells us what the lake of fire
symbolizes. It symbolizes dying a second time (for a detailed discussion of
this, with much evidence provided, read What is the Second Death? ).
There really is not a
single, simple clear warning of eternal torment for all unbelievers in the
entire Bible.
What About Warnings of Annihilation?
I’m convinced that the
Bible teaches that the unrighteous will perish (John 3:16), have their souls
and bodies both destroyed in hell (Matthew 10:28), and be burned to ashes (2
Peter 2:6). This view is called annihilationism or conditional immortality.
Are there warnings of
death, perishing, and being burned to ashes in the Bible? Yes, from Genesis to
Revelation we find many such warnings. Fair warnings. Here are a few examples:
Genesis 2:17
Genesis 3:19
Psalm 37
Psalm 92:6-9
Proverbs 14:12
Malachi 4:1-3
Matthew 3:11-12
Matthew 7:13-14
Matthew 10:28
John 3:16
Romans 1:32
Romans 6:23
Philippians 3:19
James 5:20
2 Peter 2:6
Revelation 20:14
(for a more comprehensive list
of verses see this page
on the Rethinking Hell website)
Our Responsibility
So far, I’ve presented
this topic mainly terms of how it relates to two views of the final fate of the
unrighteous, namely eternal conscious torment vs. conditional immortality. But
let’s not forget the very urgent and practical application of the principle of
fair warning.
Ezekiel, the other
prophets, and the apostles all faithfully carried out their responsibility to
warn the people of their day of the consequences of sin. It is our
responsibility to warn our neighbors, friends, and family members today. This
warning should come in the context of sharing the good news. The good news is
that through faith in Jesus Christ our sins can be forgiven, and we can receive
the gift of eternal life. God has graciously made a glorious way for us to be
saved. We don’t have to perish!
Is there any problem if people
warn of “too much”? What I mean is, does it matter if instead of warning people
that they will face eternal destruction for their sins, some people warn that
the unsaved will face eternal torment?
First, let me state that God
graciously uses imperfect people with imperfect gospel presentations to call
people to faith in Christ. I’m an example! I thank God for all my brothers and
sisters who prayerfully are sharing the true gospel, even
if in their presentation they include some elements that I think are incorrect,
like eternal torment. An imperfect gospel presentation is far different from a
false gospel.
Having said that, I think it does matter if
the consequences of sin are presented as eternal torment rather than as
perishing. Here are three problems:
1. A warning of eternal torment will not
resonate with our God-given conscience as well as a warning of death because
the unsaved “know God's just
sentence-- that those who practice such things deserve to die—" (Rom. 1:32
CSB17).
2. Warning of eternal
torment makes God appear to be cruel and unjust. Imagine if you hired a
baby-sitter and the baby-sitter told your young children that if they
misbehaved then when you came home you would cut off their fingers and toes.
You would never let the baby-sitter near your children again! (I think I first
heard this baby-sitter analogy from Edward Fudge.) In a similar way, we hurt
God’s image when we grossly disform and exaggerate the nature of final
punishment. Eternal destruction and missing out on the joys of eternal life
forever is already a very severe judgment. We don’t need to add to it.
3. Because of the wrong
teaching of eternal torment some people have rejected the Bible as being entirely
true and embraced the errors of theological liberalism, and others have
rejected the concept of God altogether and embraced atheism (I discuss this and
give examples in a
short article here.)
Conclusions
By direct teaching and by
example, the Bible teaches the principle of fair warning. If eternal torment
were true, the Bible would miserably fail to give fair warning. But, if conditional
immortality is true, we find fair warnings given all throughout the Bible.
Finally, we ourselves are responsible before God to give fair warnings to our
neighbors in the context of sharing the wonderful good news that in Christ our
sins can be forgiven and we can have eternal life instead of perishing.
If you want to read more
about conditional immortality vs. eternal torment vs. universalism discussion,
you may find a list of resources here.
My past training from the Baptist teachings doesn't agree with this conclusion because they teach that the state of the dead is alive;(the teaching of immortal soul, that came from Catholic tradition). But as I've put aside my preconceived ideas to allow Scripture to define Itself, I now agree that death in Scripture means sleep, and we only will receive immortality when The Son of YHVH brings his reward with him.
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