Given Eternal Conscious Torment, Is God’s Justice Ever Satisfied?

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A moral objection to eternal conscious torment (ECT) is that if sinners are tormented in hell for all eternity (or, to be more precise, the lake of fire), then God’s justice is never satisfied. Think of it like a mortgage—at some point, you pay it off and satisfy the debt. Or, with a prison sentence, eventually you serve your final day and satisfy
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Hollywood’s Hell

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Most people get their theological education from Hollywood. Show of hands—how many people think that Satan is the boss of hell? You know the image. It’s played as a joke—hell is where Satan rules, and the name of the game is torturing people. That’s his job and demons are his underlings.  For example, that’s the premise of the recent show, The
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The Rich Man, Lazarus, and Samuel

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One of the central texts in the debate over hell is Luke 16—the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Actually, whether or not this is a parable is part of the debate.  People who deny eternal conscious torment deny that Jesus’ story depicts a real situation. For example, many annihilationists want to deny it because, for one
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Where Did Abraham Go When He Died (Gen 25:8-9; Luke 16:22-23)?

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I am about a third of the way into writing my book about hell, tentatively entitled, Final Punishment: A Biblical Case for Conscious Eternal Torment. I’m hoping to finish by the 2019 National Conference.  There is so much interesting Biblical information about death and the afterlife in the Bible. The picture is far more complicated than most people assume.  For example, two important Hebrew
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Eternal Existence vs Eternal Life

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In my discussions with annihilationists, one of the conceptual roadblocks I’ve encountered is an inability to distinguish between eternal existence and having eternal life.   Some annihilationists reason this way: “To have eternal life means to exist forever. Only believers have eternal life, therefore only believers will exist forever. Since unbelievers lack eternal life, they will
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Hell? Yes!

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By Dix Winston* Speaking to journalist and friend, Eugenio Scafari, the Pope reportedly said of those dying without Christ (or according to Roman Catholic Theology in a state of mortal sin): “They are not punished. Those who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those
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Annihilationism, ECT, and the Biblical Definition of Death

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I’ve been exploring the debate between annihilationism and eternal conscious torment (ECT) in a series of blog posts. One of the disagreements between the two views is over the meaning of death. Many proponents of annihilationism understand death to mean the cessation of existence, especially conscious existence. They say that when someone dies, the whole
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Where the Worm Does Not Die — Mark 9:48; cf. vv 44, 46

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  Jesus described the state of those in Gehenna with these terrifying words, “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). I’ve been comparing the eternal conscious torment (ECT) view with annihilationism in a series of blog posts. How does each view deal with this verse? The Annihilationist Interpretation Edward
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