The Biblical Doctrine of Hell

The Cur­rent Con­tro­ver­sy: For most of 2000 years of church his­to­ry men of faith have held to the teach­ing of the eter­nal pun­ish­ment of the wicked. Cur­rent­ly, among evan­gel­i­cal Chris­tians, some schol­ars of renown are espous­ing the posi­tion known as anni­hi­la­tion­ism. This is the belief that the wicked ulti­mate­ly cease to exist, i.e. pun­ish­ment is not eter­nal. These men are Clark Pin­nock, John R. Stott, Phillip E. Hugh­es, and John Wen­ham. This view is also held by Sev­enth Day Adven­tists, Jeho­vah’s Wit­ness­es, and The World-wide Church of God (Arm­strongism).

B. Main Ques­tions asso­ci­at­ed with the teach­ing of Eter­nal Pun­ish­ment, i.e. Hell:

1. Is hell a real­i­ty? Can edu­cat­ed peo­ple in this day and age real­ly believe in a lit­er­al hell?

2. How can a lov­ing God con­fine peo­ple to such pun­ish­ment?

HELL