Two terrible tragedies have dominated the news over the
last few days. A boat fire off the coast of California is believed to have
killed 34 people who were trapped inside by the fire. At the same time, a
monstrous hurricane named Dorian devasted the Bahamas. Tragedies can prompt deep
thinking about life and death and ultimate issues. I have some thoughts I want
to share, but first I want to pen (and pray) a short prayer for the real people
who are hurting today because of these tragedies.
Prayer: Lord please be with the families and loved
ones of those who have perished in these two tragic events. Heavenly Father, we
pray that you will comfort those who are mourning. In the case of the Bahamas,
there are still many people suffering great loss. Many have lost homes, livelihoods,
and most of their worldly belongings. Provide for them, Lord. Please be with Your
people whom you call to minister in disaster relief and recovery. Somehow, we
pray and ask that you will bring good out of these events which are so terrible.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Some objections to conditional immortality which
appear to be absurd when we think about these tragedies
I believe in a biblical doctrine called conditional
immortality. This doctrine states simply that only those who by God’s grace
are saved through faith in Jesus Christ will have eternal life. A simple,
logical corollary to this is that the unrighteous will not live forever. This means
that those cast into hell will not experience eternal conscious torment. You
have to be alive to be in torment. Instead, they will perish (John 3:16),
experience the destruction of their bodies and souls (Matthew 10:28), and be
burned to ashes (2 Peter 2:6).
The last several years I have interacted extensively with
other Christians about the nature of hell. Traditionalists (the common name for
those who believe hell involves of eternal conscious torment) have very often
repeated an objection to conditional immortality which I have always found to
be absurd. They claim that if the unrighteous are annihilated rather than
tortured forever, this effectively removes motivation for them to seek
salvation, give up worldly living, and for us to make great efforts and
sacrifices to win the lost. The two recent tragedies mentioned above illustrate
just how crazy this particular type of objection is.
First, let’s consider the boat fire. We all hope that
those who perished did not suffer very much. We hope that perhaps the smoke
caused them to quickly fall into unconsciousness and spared them several final
minutes of agony. Let’s assume that somehow a medical examiner is able to
verify that a particular victim did quickly die of smoke inhalation. Surely
that is much better than the alternative. But would the families and loved ones
of the victim then cease to mourn? Would they no longer feel pangs of sadness
and deep loss on anniversaries and holidays? Would their families feel that since
their loved one suffered either minimal or no physical pain in the process of
perishing that their perishing is no big deal? To ask such things shows how
crazy such thinking is. Any pain experienced is by no means trivial. But the
short period of pain (which at most would have been a few minutes, and we hope
less than that) is not the measure of this tragedy. The tragedy is measured by
what has been lost. The loss of life and relationships and opportunities. The
loss of future joy and love (but for those who knew Christ, nothing has truly
been lost because we know they will rise again to eternal life!!!).
Those who perished in the boat fire lost perhaps 40, 50,
60, or 70 years of life on this present earth. That’s a huge loss and one that
will surely bring many tears and much mourning. Yet that loss is incredibly
tiny compared to losing billions of years and then more unending eternal years
of life with Christ and His people in the new earth. How can anyone who sees
the tragedy of loss of life in the boat fire not be able to see the infinitely
greater tragedy of loss of eternal life in hell fire? Do traditionalists who
make such objections (and I have heard such objections many times, this is not
a straw man) value eternal life with Christ so little that they do not see how
great and terrible a loss it is when people perish instead of gaining the gift
of eternal life?
And now let’s think about the Bahamas. We cheer those
rescuers who make valiant efforts to save the lives of people caught in floods
and storms. We admire those who heroically seek to save themselves and their
families even if it means enduring intense winds and rains on a vulnerable roof
top with raging flood waters below. It makes perfect sense to us that people
will go to great lengths, spare no expense, and make heroic efforts to save
their own lives and the lives of others.
In the most famous verse of the Bible (John 3:16), our
Lord teaches us that one of two fates awaits every human: we will either (1)
perish or (2) be given the gift of eternal life.
Lord help us to see that this is exactly what is at stake
with the gospel: life and death. Only it’s not merely a few decades of life
that are at stake, but eternal life. Oh Lord, strengthen our hearts to do all
we can to rescue the perishing. Empower us to share the good news of Jesus
effectively and courageously. Help us to share your love with compassion in
ways that draw people to Christ. Enable us to shine your light in our dark
world so that people may be drawn to Christ – and live! Forever.
For Further Reading:
I’ve written another post on this topic here:
I have collected links to articles and videos on the
topic of hell here:
I have a ten minute YouTube video which gives a brief
overview of the biblical evidence for conditional immortality here:
No comments:
Post a Comment