In 1856 Charles Spurgeon—one of the most lauded and read preachers of all time—said, “There is a real fire in hell … it will
not consume, though it will torture you.”¹ He compared it to how asbestos will glow red hot while sitting in a fire, yet the fire does not consume it. He stressed that hell is not a place of metaphorical fire but of actual flame. In 1992 R. C. Sproul, famed radio teacher who reached millions each month, taught that hell was worse than anything we can imagine. “If we try to imagine the worst of all possible suffering in the here and now, we have not yet stretched our imaginations to reach the dreadful reality of hell.”² This is quite a statement, considering what’s come out in the horror genre over the years. Sproul dismissed the idea of hell just being separation from God, stating instead, “In hell, God will be present in the fulness of his divine wrath.”³ In 2023, the ministry of Adrian Rogers published
his sermon, “Five Minutes after Death,” garnering 755,000 views in the last two years. He spoke about hell as a place of sensual and emotional misery and torment. He added that “Memories will sting like a hornet in hell” as people think back to all the times they had opportunities to believe but persisted in unbelief.⁴ These three preachers hold to the common view of hell—that hell is a real place where embodied people are in a fire suffering endlessly.

But is it true?

As it turns out, there are three major problems with the idea that hell is eternal conscious torment (ECT). In what follows, we’ll work through each of these three objections and then see what the Bible actually says about the fate of the wicked.

The first reason to reject hell as eternal torture is that such a belief contradicts the many scriptures that clearly and repeatedly teach that the fate of the wicked is destruction. From the beginning God told the first humans “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). Then he sent them out of the Garden of Eden lest they “reach out their hands and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever” (Gen 3:22). The point is clear: humans don’t innately live forever, but if they can eat from the tree of life they will. Throughout scripture eternal life is for the righteous not the unrighteous.

Can you imagine Adam’s surprise if after death he found himself in an eternal torture chamber? Wouldn’t he be justified in saying, “Whoa, wait a minute! Nobody said anything about roasting forever in a fire! I thought the punishment was to return to the dust.”? Why would God withhold such a critical piece of information from humanity? No, God did not promise endless suffering but extinction as the consequence for humanity’s sin.

Genesis is not alone in holding out annihilation as the consequence for sin. Throughout the Bible, we find plenty of statements about the destiny of the wicked. Here is a sampling.

“The way of the wicked will perish” (Ps 1:6)
“The wicked shall be cut off” (Ps 37:9)
“The wicked will be no more” (Ps 37:10)
“Transgressors shall be altogether destroyed” (Ps 37:38)
“They are doomed to destruction forever” (Ps 92:7)
“All the wicked he will destroy” (Ps 145:20)
“The wicked are overthrown and are no more” (Prov 12:7)
“For the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will go out” (Prov 24:20)
“You shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Mal 4:3)
“The road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it” (Mat 7:13)
“Fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mat 10:28)
“Everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16)
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life” (Rom 6:23)
“These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction” (2 Thes 1:9)
“A fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Heb 10:27)
“Sodom and Gomorrah…he condemned them to destruction and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly” (2 Pet 2:6)
“Like irrational animals … as those creatures are destroyed, they also will be destroyed” (2 Pet 2:12)
“The day of judgment and destruction of the godless” (2 Pet 3:7)

I have not included all the scriptures that speak on this subject, because that would be very repetitive. Still, it’s easy to see the future God has planned for the lost. He aims to have a judgment at which time they will suffer annihilation, not eternal conscious torment.

Even though we have overwhelming evidence from the Bible that the unrepentant will perish, we do have a couple of texts here and there that seem to suggest ongoing torment. Some think Jesus taught the idea in this text.

Mark 9:47-48. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched

On a face-value reading, this text seems to support the idea of ECT (eternal conscious torment). We have Jesus talking about people who are thrown into hell, worms that never die, and a fire that is never quenched. To better understand these verses, it’s helpful to consider the original prophesy from Isaiah that Jesus had in mind.

Isaiah 66:15-16, 24. For the LORD will come in fire and his chariots in a whirlwind, to vent his anger in fury and his rebuke in flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD execute judgment, and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. … And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

The scene is not one of supernatural worms who can survive in an eternal fire while God artificially keeps humans alive by continuously regenerating their bodies as quickly as the fire consumes them. No. What we have here is “a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.”⁵ The phrase “their worm never dies” in Mark 9:48 is an inaccurate translation. The text doesn’t say “never” but “not,” thus the
translation should be “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”⁶ (This is also the case in Isaiah 66:24, which Jesus was quoting.) The point is not that God has designed magical worms to maximize the suffering of the wicked, but that worms and fire will consume the corpses of the dead. That the fire is unquenchable, does not mean it is eternal—it just means that it cannot be put out until it consumes its fuel. So, this passage, far from supporting ECT, actually shows the aftermath of the destruction of the ungodly.

This brings me to my second reason to question ECT: proportional justice. In New York State Criminal Code, life in prison without parole is the harshest penalty. This is reserved for heinous crimes like murder in the first degree. Then there are misdemeanors and violations for less serious crimes. Running a stop sign currently garners a fine of $150 with an additional surcharge of $90 and three points on your license. What if the judge decided to punish a stop sign offender with life in prison without parole? This would be a scandal. But why? It’s a scandal because the punishment is not proportional to the crime.

Now, say someone named Myrtle has lived a fairly decent life, generally trying to do the right thing. Though she’s an atheist, she pays her taxes, rounds up for charity at the checkout, and even gives blood each year during the company’s blood drive. Of course she’s done some bad things too. She cut off her parents because they held different politics. She held grudges and harbored bitterness to those who wronged her, especially her ex-husband. But she hasn’t done anything terrible, certainly not worse than others in her socio-economic setting. She dies and gets condemned to burn in hell. She roasts in agony for a full hour, thinking this has got to be over soon. After a day, she can’t believe the punishment is still going, considering the fact that she led a generally upstanding and morally upright life. A week into her unmitigated torture and she’s still no closer to paying off her debt. A year passes, then two. Second by second her nerve endings explode with white hot pain. As her eightieth year
in hell rolls around, she thinks, “Now, even if I sinned every moment of every day for my entire life, I am now finally fully paid up.” But, no, she’s not any closer to escape. In fact, she’s still only getting started. A century passes, then a millennium, then a million years. She’s been artificially kept alive for a million years so she can pay for her sins. Unbelievably, reaching that milestone means absolutely nothing, for even after a million years, she’s no closer to paying for her sins.

This justice worry is no mere issue of squeamishness due to our delicate sensibilities in an era of soft living. No, this cuts to the
heart of a central concept of justice—equity. The psalmist declares that God is equitable.

Psalm 9:7-8. But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with equity.

The word equity means uprightness or fairness. The idea is that God judges in such a way that the punishment is suitable or proportional to the crime. This is something we understand easily enough, since we all have an innate sense of fairness. C. S. Lewis demonstrated this nicely.

Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining ‘It’s not fair’ before you can say Jack Robinson.⁷

We all know what justice looks like, and more to the point, we know what injustice feels like. Torturing someone infinitely for a
finite number of wrongs is not fair.

My third reason to question the common view of ECT is that it maligns God’s character. To get ahold of this, imagine I have a
friend named Vernon. Vernon has really high standards. Also, he’s very sensitive and easily offendable. He holds grudges forever. What’s more, Vernon happens to have access to immensely powerful technology beyond our wildest dreams—nanotech that can even bring the dead back to life. Vernon does this all the time. He brings those who have wronged him back to life and he tortures them. He’s found a way to keep them alive indefinitely. He delights in tormenting them minute after minute, day after day, year after year. What do you think of my friend Vernon? You would say Vernon is a cruel soul. You may even think Vernon is just another name for Satan. But what if I told you I was really talking about God?

But I’m convinced God cannot be cruel. To be cruel is to be vicious, mean, and spiteful. That’s not God. He is the opposite of cruel; he’s merciful, gracious, and loving. Scripture says the following.

Psalm 145:8-9. The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.

How can God be gracious if he tortures people forever? How can he be merciful if he shows no mercy to those who have wronged him? How can he abound in steadfast love if he wants to maximize people’s suffering? Believing in ECT blasphemes God as cruel and, therefore, it cannot be right.

So, as we’ve seen so far, ECT cannot be correct because it (1) contradicts many scriptures that say the wicked will be destroyed, (2) it violates the ethic of proportional justice, and (3) it implies that God is cruel.

So, what is going to happen? Well, there will be a day of judgment. The dead will rise and stand before the judge. People will face judgment based on their deeds, which will be a frightful day. Those who are not found in the book of life will be condemned to destruction. There will likely be some serious pain and suffering (weeping and gnashing of teeth), but it will not last forever. The aim of hell is not to keep the wicked alive, but to annihilate them. We read about this in many places in the Bible, but it’s most comprehensively laid out in Revelation 20.

Interestingly enough, Revelation 20 also contains the strongest verse used to teach ECT. Let’s take a look.

Revelation 20:10-15. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and the
one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it,
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Did you see it? The text says that John saw a lake of fire and sulfur in which the beast, false prophet, and the devil were being “tormented day and night forever and ever.” Then he saw all these other people thrown into the same lake of fire, presumably also to be tormented in like manner. This is what John saw. This was his vision.

But what is the interpretation?

Before I explain further, imagine with me that a friend was visiting you from another country. She hears you talking about your favorite football team with your brother who likes a different team. You say, “We’re going to spank you guys!” Your foreign friend who has never watched a single game of American football and is speaking English as a second language thinks to herself, “What is this game? Do the teammates run around trying to pull down the pants of the other team to swat them on the backside?” She’s confused because she missed the metaphor. She took your comment literally when you meant that your team would figuratively spank the other team. This, I fear, is what many of us are doing with Revelation.

Our text in Revelation contains a vision that John saw. And it also tells us the interpretation. After the vision ends, we read “This is the second death, the lake of fire.” The symbol was a lake burning people forever, but the reality that the symbol pointed to was “the second death.” In fact, we find a second mention of this in the very next chapter.

Revelation 21:7-8. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Once again, the lake of fire is equated to “the second death.” Now, consider with me for a moment what a second death might mean. We know what death is. If you see a dead squirrel on the road, you know that the squirrel is no longer alive; it no longer scampers about; it no longer climbs trees, etc. If the wicked are alive in an eternal torture chamber, the language “second death” would not make sense. In the book of Revelation, John is not challenging the rest of the Bible’s clear teaching about the destruction of the wicked. No, he’s in full agreement, though he expresses it in a more colorful metaphorical way.

In conclusion, the common view of eternal conscious torment (ECT) contradicts scripture, logic, and God’s character. Rather, the Bible speaks of the final judgment of the wicked—not at death, but at some day in the future. This judgment will result in their destruction. Even though this way of looking at the final punishment is much less severe than ECT, it should instill an appropriate fear in our hearts. Yes, God is merciful, gracious, and loving, but he’s no pushover. You can’t trick him, outsmart him, or bribe him. He is a just judge who will hold the wicked accountable for their sins.

If you don’t want to be found guilty on that day, I urge you to trust in Jesus as your savior. Believe that he died for your sins, that God raised him from the dead, and that he’s coming back to bring the kingdom. Repent and trust in Christ and you will not need to worry about experiencing hell.

What would you say is your strongest reason for rejecting eternal conscious torment?

Bibliography

Net Bible, Full Notes Edition. Edited by W. Hall Harris III James Davis, and Michael H. Burer. 2nd ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2019.

Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009.

Rogers, Adrian. “Five Minutes after Death.” Recorded January 29, 2023. Memphis, TN: Love Worth Finding Ministries. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hmbPNZy6dhc.

Sproul, R. C. Essential Truths of the Christian Faith. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992.

Spurgeon, Charles H. “The Resurrection of the Dead.” In Spurgeon’s Sermons: New Park Stree Pulpit. Edited by Scott Sperling. Vol. 2: Classic Christian Library, 1856.

1. New Park Stree Pulpit, ed. Scott Sperling, vol. 2 (Classic Christian Library, 1856), 218.[↩]
2. R. C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), 285–87.[↩]
3. ibid.[↩]
4. Adrian Rogers, “Five Minutes after Death,” recorded January 29, 2023, Memphis, TN: Love Worth Finding Ministries, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hmbPNZy6dhc.[↩]
5. sn 50 on Isaiah 66:24 in Net Bible, Full Notes Edition, ed. W. Hall Harris III James Davis, and Michael H. Burer, 2nd ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2019).[↩]
6. ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται[↩]
7. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009), 6.[↩]