Last week, Kirk Cameron did a podcast testing the boundaries of Christian fellowship and debate, bringing on an annihilationist to discuss his view in what’s dubbed a “Dangerous Conversation.”
James Cameron, the son of Kirk Cameron, argues in favor of annihilationism, but his arguments is rather simplistic. The first is that it would make God cruel and unjust, alluding to the 8th Amendment in the US Constitution. The argument is that eternal conscious torment is unjust. Kirk Cameron posits the argument against this that lying to a dog results in less consequence than lying to the government which has a less severe consequence than lying to an all powerful deity. Such a deity who exists in eternity would carry out a punishment that’s eternal in nature. Kirk Cameron follows this up, citing Revelation 20:10, which is explicit about Satan and the reprobate being tormented in the final state.
James Cameron’s second argument is that Scripture is agnostic on the issue. This argument is echoed by Kirk Cameron who takes it to argue that annihilationism is within the camp of Christianity. Nevertheless, James Cameron says that there are verses on both sides, but does not provide a definitive verse that presupposes an end to eternal punishment.
The idea that God’s character is impugned by eternal conscious torment is ridiculous, as the Creator can act as He pleases with the creation. God is not obligated to save anyone, but rich in mercy, He saves many. As for the punishment of a fallen creation, the consequences of cosmic rebellion merit eternal torment. The idea that God’s punishments in Scripture came with a mercy, excludes examples where they did not, but even these point ahead to God’s grace as well as eternal judgment.
Jesus saves sinners from God’s wrath, which begs the question of what this wrath is and looks like. This is to say, annihilationism is a more severe false teaching than Kirk Cameron lets on, simply because his son is swayed in favor of annihilationism.
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This is why C. S. Lewis’s “The Great Divorce” is my favorite. It posits there’s a bus from hell to Heaven every afternoon at 3 o’clock, and all who will may ride. Not found in Scripture, but nicely solves the problem of eternal punishment for the sins of a human lifetime.