You’ve likely been taught that we all will live eternally in one of two places. There are two choices we can make, and two destinies available to us: Eternity with God in heaven, or eternity in hell under God’s judgment. But not everyone agrees. Recent scholarship has resurfaced an alternate view of hell. Read More
Podcast: Is Hell Eternal? Getting Greek [Touchpoints]
We need to deal with some of the key words used in Scripture to describe hell. If we believe that God inspired the very words of Scripture, we must be concerned with the specific meanings of those words. Three Greek words most stubbornly resist Conditional Immortality, and thus must be redefined by Conditional Immortality proponents to make room for their viewpoint. Listen Now
Conditional Immortality
I’m hearing rumblings of an alternate definition of hell, one that’s contrary to the historic Mennonite position, and indeed, to the position of nearly all biblically-minded believers since the beginning of the church in the first century. This view is more palatable to our human nature, but it departs from Scripture. Read More
Podcast: Is Hell Eternal? Psalm 37 [Touchpoints]
Psalm 37:10 reads, “Yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.” Conditional Immortality scholars interpret this as conclusively teaching that the wicked will be annihilated in the judgment. But is that what it means? Listen Now
The Power to Change
While man’s ideas to renew fallen men have succeeded to a certain extent, real change only occurs through the power of Christ. Biblical counseling, applied correctly, is the only way to transform and equip people to live victorious, God-honoring lives.
The Necessity of Divine Revelation | Part 3
The Bible is necessary for us to understand God’s will. By God’s will, I mean “that which God desires to do and to have done on the earth.” This includes both what God Himself intends to do and is even now doing, and what He wills for mankind to do. Read More
Podcast: Is Hell Eternal? Biblical Analysis [Touchpoints]
Many things can be fit into Scripture that do not arise from it. Truly biblical Christianity is not built upon that which is compatible with Scripture, but instead on that which Scripture asserts—that which is most plainly taught within the very pages of Scripture. The first fundamental flaw of Conditional Immortality is that it injects into Scripture what could never be deduced from Scripture. Listen Now
Powerless Absolution
The nature of Christ’s atonement is becoming a common discussion. It’s an important one, one upon which our salvation rests. What exactly did Christ do in His death that freed us from sin? Bound up in this is our understanding of what it is that separates us from God. What interferes with full fellowship? What prevents God from embracing all of His creatures in His love? What must we be saved from if we are to be saved to God? Read More
Podcast: Is Hell Eternal? Conditional Immortality [Touchpoints]
Conditional Immortality agrees with the majority of what I’ve laid out so far. Those who hold to conditional immortality maintain that all these things are true: hell is real, it is the destiny of sinners, and it is terrible. The point of departure is not the reality of hell. Rather, it is the eternality of hell, or more specifically, the eternality of the human soul. Listen Now
Experience vs. Theology
Prioritizing spiritual experience over biblical theology is a short-circuited approach to God. It assumes that we can overcome our lack of knowledge if we have sufficient zeal. It makes us think that as long as we’re well-intentioned, as long as we’re putting our whole hearts into pursuing Him, it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing. Zeal is more important than knowledge.