A Personal Testimony

After over twenty years of faithfully upholding the traditional view, and with a pillow soaked with the tears of agonizing contemplation, I privately wrestled for ten plus years with the subject of our discussion. With complete confidence in the final authority of Scripture, I diligently searched to see "whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11).

Four discoveries led to a departure from what I had always been taught:

1. I could not find Scriptural validation for the immortality of the soul, but rather abundant testimony against it.

2. I found that Scripture clearly and consistently taught that the wicked will perish, burn up, die, be destroyed, consumed, and be no more.

3. I was overwhelmed with the continual presentation of eternal, everlasting life as the gift of God given only to those in Christ, and this in constant contrast to the fate of the wicked who would finally and truly perish.

4. I was startled at how weak or contradictory our "proof-texts" were for endless torment — that "where the worm dieth not" was a direct quote from Isaiah 66:24 concerning "carcases" when the wicked would be "consumed;" that ever-rising smoke always bore witness to complete consumption (Sodom, Idumea, Babylon), not continual torment; that the story of the rich man and Lazarus is a satirical parable directed at covetous Pharisees, and is absolutely silent as to the nature or duration of the final punishment; that Scripture certainly depicts the "punishment" as "everlasting" (Matt. 25:46), but consistently defines that punishment as "everlasting DESTRUCTION" (2 Thess. 1:9; Matt. 7:13; Rom. 9:22; Phil. 3:19; Cf. Job 21:30; 2 Pet. 2:9, 3:7), not endless agony; that the last and most figurative book in the Bible does not contradict the literal language of God's jurisprudence in the previous 65 books, but contrasts those who are written in the book of LIFE from those who "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second DEATH" (Cf. Rev. 20:6, 15, 21:8).

After sharing these discoveries with other believers, I would confess that I was gradually being persuaded that "conditional immortality" is true. Further intense study continued to sway until I became fully convinced, not, mind you, by the writings of men, but by the powerful and plain words of God:

1. The fact that God is a consuming fire, and that when the fire of God fell in judgment it always consumed its prey, was impressive.

2. The silence in the prophets and epistles concerning torment in Hell (whether Sheol, Hades, or Gehenna) was compelling.

3. That the penalty for sin as revealed in the New Testament, the sacrifices for sin required in the Old, and the vicarious atonement for sin accomplished by Christ, all comprehensively pointed to a miserable end of life, not an endless life in misery, was confirming.

4. The persistent pictures in Scripture of chaff, stubble, tares, thorns, and dried branches being completely devoured, consumed, and burned up in unquenchable, eternal fire was unmistakably clear (chaff is not indestructible, especially in fire that is unquenchable).

5. That the Scriptural testimony is that God's holiness compels His mercy, not His wrath, caused me to praise the Just Judge Who has given such a wonderful written revelation of His righteous character.

6. But an exhaustive cataloging of every Scriptural usage (154 times) of some form of perish was CONCLUSIVE BEYOND DOUBT, revealing that the Divine Author never used any such word to describe a process without an understood end, and certainly not to describe endless torment.

I've been through four stages of departure from the traditional dogma: (1) private questioning; (2) growing persuasion; (3) conclusive certainty; (4) enthusiastic advocacy. 

Though I am often grieved and puzzled by the fiery antagonism and smoky arguments of many ardent defenders of perpetual torture, I am nevertheless thankful for any opportunity to share with others what I genuinely believe is the truth of Scripture.