406 Difficult Texts for Annihilationism? (Warren Prestidge)

 

Although most Christians today believe hell is a place where the dammed suffer eternal conscious torment, the bible teaches that the lost will perish.  For example, the most famous verse in the bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16).  Did you see the two options there?  On the one hand, those who believe will have eternal life.  On the other, those who do not believe will perish.  Now, considering that eternal life contrasts with perishing, we shouldn’t envisage perishing as also having eternal life, but of a much less pleasant variety.

 

But, if this “annihilationist” perspective is true, then what do you do with the handful of texts that seem to imply that the lost suffer continuous and unending torture?  My guest today, once again, is Baptist pastor Warren Prestidge of Auckland, NZ.  He will help us work through a few key texts to make sense of everything, including Matthew 25.41, 46; Mark 9.47-48; Revelation 14.11 and 20.10; and Luke 16.19-31 (The Rich Man and Lazarus).  What you’ll see is how Prestidge’s careful reading explains what these verses really mean in their context without reading in medieval assumptions about infernos and torture chambers.