Some good objections were raised to my recent post on Hell. I had suggested I was open to "annihilationism" - the idea that dying apart from Jesus leads to complete cessation of being rather than eternal torment in Hell. In other words, the unsaved die and are forgotten; their conscious existence ends after the final judgment.
So here is the first objection: Hitler.
If you kill 6 million people it seems like you are getting off pretty easy if the punishment is ceasing to be. (Which is the same punishment that everyone else gets!) That doesn't seem like justice.
I would agree.
But first of all, we have to admit that Hitler is an outlier, to say the least.
You might be able to make the case that Hitler and a handful of other individuals deserve to be tortured eternally for his crimes against humanity, but what about Uncle Burt, who did his share of cussing and fighting and lying on his taxes, worked his job and raised his kids and loved his wife but refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord?
Does Uncle Burt deserve the same fate as Hitler?
I would hope Hitler's section of the lake of fire is at least significantly hotter than Burt's.
Secondly, I don't know that annihilationism necessarily precludes the wrath of God being poured out on Hitler's or Burt's head. Or anybody else's. It could happen before those souls cease to be.
I don't see why God's wrath cannot be terrible in intensity while also being finite in duration.
We talk of the wrath of God being poured out upon his Son on the cross ... which was certainly terrible, but also finite.
I will take this opportunity to repeat my "I may be wrong" mantra - especially as I am just now exploring Hell vs. Annihilation from philosophical and Scriptural angles. Getting pushback is extremely useful.
So ... more objections tomorrow.
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