0:00 I watched everything about Kirk Cameron in hell on the internet, so you didn't have to. Hey guys, no doubt you've caught wind of the controversy that's swirling around. There's so many contradictions it's hard for me to even reason with this. But here's the deal, okay, like, I don't like that position. What are we gonna do with our little growing pain? I don't like who believes that position. While we believe Kirk is sincere, the gospel only makes sense if hell is dangerous. Needless to say, that put a fair amount of people into a bit of a tailspin. To me, annihilationism seems easy. So, is conditionalism heretical? The answer is no. And I just don't like it. Now, ultimately, of course, God's word is our absolute authority, not a fallible human being.
0:51 So, I thought I'd respond by quoting some of the great Christian scholars of the past. So, what just happened? What just happened real quick here? Well, Kirk Cameron came out and said, by the way, on my podcast, I want to tell everybody that, oh, I decided that I believe that hell, who a lot of people believe is eternal and burning, most of Christianity believes it this way, is actually an annihilation, a deletion from the earth, a burning up, in other words, smoke, leaving no root and branch. You know, this is the type of biblical terms that the Bible actually describes it. And he's like, you know what? I think it aligns more with the character of God, and I think there's proof in the Bible to prove it. And he went ahead and he did some proving. I don't think he showed everything. So, I want to do a little bit and show what he missed in this Bible study that I think really, really draws a line. It really helped me when I started studying this. Because, you know, when you study something, if you grew up in a faith, you still have to figure it out for yourself. You can't just accept it all and go and do your work. You have to dig into it, and that's what we're going to do tonight. But before we do that, I want to give a reason why we are doing this tonight.
2:04 This is for you guys. Sometimes when I'm doing these videos, a joy of mine is reading your comments. And one of the comments I got just recently was this one. It said, I have always had a deep respect for the Christian principles of love and compassion. But this forced belief amounts to Christian blackmail. You're talking about the idea that, hey, God will destroy you if you don't love him, or at least know him. Or you don't have faith. You don't believe. You don't, as some Calvinists say, get saved, which I'm not a Calvinist. But this forced belief amounts to spiritual blackmail. Well, what's he talking about here? Well, he's talking about the idea that if you don't love God, you don't learn more about him, you don't have that saving relationship with him, then you won't make it. Is that blackmail?
2:52 He goes on to say, Why should good people of other faiths and good non-believers be excluded? God is smarter than this. Well, he is smart. But he's also smart enough to know that everyone on earth has sinned. Everyone is not good. Our natural abilities are not good. Have you sinned? Have you lied to somebody? Have you stolen something? Have you committed adultery? Have you looked at a woman lustfully? I like how Ralph sometimes gets that going with other people, although I don't agree in his belief on hell. I think it's interesting that when we, as people, tend to believe that we are good on the inside. We are not. There's nothing good about us, and we need that changing relationship in order to fix us. But it doesn't really answer the question, because he says, I've always had deep respect for Christians and their principles, but why would God blackmail somebody into loving him?
3:50 I mean, God knows everything. A lot of things are attributed to God in the Bible. Like, for instance, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But think about this for a second. Just like clay and ice, the sun will melt ice and will harden clay. But they arrived at two different things. What caused it? The sun. But they arrived at two different locations. Melted and hardened. Same thing happens with God. And he says, by the way, I'm going to cause things to happen just because I am who I am. When the Bible says, hell's going to be a hot place, it's going to be a hot place, but he's not sitting down there going, I'm laughing at you, saying, man, I just want to destroy all these people. It is what's going to happen. And he's telling you, this is going to happen. Let's get you guys out of here. So the only way to get you guys out of here is to absolutely follow him and learn about him.
4:50 So what about this whole thing about eternal? What is that? Because the Bible does mention eternal quite a bit. What does that really mean? Well, just... Use the Bible as your source key. If you go to Jude 1.7, it says there is an example of eternal fire, and that was with Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, is Sodom and Gomorrah still burning today? No, it's not. Well, let's read it. Jude 1.7 says, Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the city about them in like manner, given themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of... What? Eternal fire. So they're suffering eternal fire, but that would mean they have to be still burning today. Hmm. Well, if they're still burning today, then we can go see them, right? Boy, those people are still burning somewhere.
5:43 Are they? No, they're not. Sodom and Gomorrah are described as suffering eternal fire, yet the cities are not still burning today. They were completely destroyed. This makes them an example of the nature of the final judgment. The nature of the final judgment, eternal in result, not eternal in ongoing conscious burning. So every time the Bible talks about eternal, it's not talking about the eternal burning flesh. It's talking about the eternal result of what will happen. Will the fire in hell go out? Well, that's easy, because if you go to Isaiah, it says in Isaiah 47.14, Behold, they shall be as stubble. Who are they? Well, the sinners, the ones who are burned up in hell. They shall... The fire shall burn them up. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, nor a fire to sit before.
6:36 In other words, this isn't going to be just a small fire. This is going to be a serious one. They won't be able to get away from it. It will burn them up. Can you continue to burn if you're burned up? Well, let's read further, because I think Revelation 21 says more. It says, So, can you be in pain if the former things have passed away? And the Bible says there will be no more pain? Is that just for the righteous? No. There will be no more pain. There is no more pain. No pain. The pain is gone. It's done. So, what will be left when this fire goes out then? Well, it says right here in Malachi 4.1-3, Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven.
7:28 And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up. That will leave them neither root nor branch. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. On that day I do this, says the Lord of hosts. Why did Jesus brutally suffer just to save us from some time out? To save us from just falling asleep and never waking up? And from being annihilated? To me, annihilationism seems easy. It's easy. You just live your whole life in sin and then you just cease to exist. That's too easy. There's no way. Then all that Christ did, you're making it of less value. Are we really, though? Are you making it of less value? Not getting to enjoy heaven with the Creator?
8:19 Ever? And not being able to have any of that? Take any part in that and being destroyed? I don't think so. But this idea of annihilationism or nihilism is truly a good belief that a lot of people believe. And there's the majority of Christians that don't believe this. So it's really contentious, right? And so it caused a lot of grief with a lot of different online theologians, if you want to call them that. YouTube personalities that have Christian channels. And so they had to say something about it because it was something that was important at the time to them. So who are these people that believe in annihilation versus eternal hell torment? Well, let's look at this chart real quick.
9:07 At the very beginning you see Jehovah's Witnesses, 95 to 99 percent. Seventh-day Adventists, which is what I am, it's 90 to 95 percent. Christadelphians, which about 90 to 95 percent as well. It is a doctrinal uniform in their church. I didn't know this one. Church of God is official doctrine, 85 to 95 percent. And they are also historically annihilists. Now it goes down from there a little bit, from Church of God of the Seventh Day to Herabitic Judaism. That's kind of the same thing. There's some debate there, 60 to 70 percent. And 60 to 80 percent Church of God. You have evangelical, Anglican, early Christian, all the way down to Islam and Lutheran and Reformed Calvinist, which is what some of these pastors are.
10:03 Calvin believed that you didn't have a choice. You were either going to be saved or not going to be saved, and God just chose. And I don't believe that. I believe it's all based around choices. And so that's interesting that a lot of these online commentaries, these theologians online, if you want to say that, are Calvinist. So that's kind of why all these commentators are just all over the board and falling over themselves and not really saying much out of the Bible about it. According to Scripture, human beings are not naturally immortal after the fall. God alone naturally possesses immortality. Eternal life is a gift. I believe. And it's something that God grants to those who are saved, the redeemed through Jesus Christ.
10:56 He who believes in the Son shall not perish but have eternal life. Immortality is not something that all people automatically possess. And then from there, conditionalism clearly affirms this. Judgment is coming and it's real. God is just because he is holy. Sin is serious and accountability before God is unavoidable. It also affirms real punishment, including real conscious suffering. Where Christians are differing on their views of hell is not over whether or not judgment happens, but over what Scripture says is the final outcome of that judgment. The view of conditionalism does not deny hell.
11:46 It does not deny judgment. It does not deny the seriousness of sin. It doesn't even deny conscious torment. The only difference is does that conscious torment last forever and ever and ever? Or does it eventually come to an end and the person is annihilated? So I want to give it back to you. What do you think? Tell me in the comments what you believe about hell and tell me why. Tell me a Bible verse that really proved it to you. I'll see you there. No, I mean it. Go. Go to the comments right now.