Traditional Christianity tells us that God has created a place of burning torment where those who do not find or accept His salvation will spend all eternity. The bible, well examined, reveals something quite different. God's final judgment on those who reject Him is far from soft, but it is also far from the cruel and unusual visions of people being on fire for all eternity. The fact is, a handful of bible verses have been misunderstood or mishandled, and used far too long to maintain a doctrine that is in conflict with the entirity of Scripture.
But if one finds more reasonable explanations of these verses, and ones that are more congruent with a merciful Creator, is this enough to turn from a traditional view? I hope. And for me, it was. But in reality, I'm aware of the strength of tradition. And because, after a few years now of discussing this doctrine with a number of people who hold or held a traditional view, I fully understand the consequences of challenging peoples' long-held beliefs, it is with some apprehension that I will ask readers to consider some non-traditional, yet very Biblical ideas in the areas of human mortality/immortality and the nature and duration of Hell as taught in Scripture. But my apprehension is over-ridden by my desire to know God more fully and to make Him known to others. And I believe the book I'm writing, Biblical Judgment: A Scriptural challenge to the traditional view of Hell and Immortality, will give readers a clearer view of God than perhaps they've ever had, at least in the area of judgment. The three years+ of Biblical research I've done so far in preparing this volume have helped me understand many things about the God of the Bible that previously were very confusing to me; issues that I was either getting conflicting teachings on, or traditional teachings that did not seem to square up with what I was personally reading in Scripture.
A.W. Tozer once said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." I agree with him, and part of comprehending God's character as revealed in the Bible, is understanding exactly what it teaches about the judgment of those who reject God. This may seem like a non-issue to many Christians, since we consider ourselves to be saved, and therefore will not fall under judgment, regardless of the nature of it. But I would argue that knowing what the Bible teaches about judgment is critical, for several reasons. If tradition is correct, that unbelievers are going to exist and suffer consciously for all of eternity, this immediately brings into question just how merciful our merciful Creator really is. Many traditionalists probably just labeled me as a heretic when they read that, because we often fall back on the fact that God is sovereign. God, as Sovereign, can do as He pleases, regardless of our opinions of what is merciful and what is not, and that is the end of the argument for many, regarding any issue contrary to traditional teaching that someone might bring up. Well, I will not argue against the sovereignty of God in the book or on this website. I too believe that He, as the Creator of all there is, has all rights to do as He desires. I simply maintain that men have either misinterpreted a handful of scriptures relating to the subjects at hand, and ignored mounds of other relevant scriptures, or perhaps worse, have blindly accepted tradition without their own due study.
For those of us who call ourselves Christians, who believe we are "saved", it would seem that knowing just exactly what we are saved from would be of highest priority, among other reasons, so that when we share our testimony with others, we don't fumble around trying to defend ideas that we have little actual knowledge of, simply repeating what we've been told. And yes, most of us have been told all of our lives that it is unending conscious torment that we are saved from (either in literal flames or perhaps not, depending on who is teaching you). This has caused many people, believers and unbelievers, to question God's nature in ways we shouldn't have to.The Bible simply does not teach this, nor does it support the doctrine that all souls already possess innate immortality (the nature and ability to continue existing somewhere for all eternity). The Bible is clear that immortality/eternality belongs only to God, and that He grants it as a gift to those who put their faith in His saving work. It is not eternal conscious suffering that a believer is saved from ultimately, but death - the cessation of life.This fact is so clearly presented in Scripture, that words such as "death" and "perish", by necessity, have been redefined by traditionalists for centuries, but our traditions will not negate the true meanings intended when God inspired men to pen His Word. The in-depth study I present in the book will bring people back to a clear understanding of how God deals with those who reject Him. His dealing is not soft, but it is in fact merciful.
Before you read on, let me clarify that while I do not believe Scripture teaches the eternal conscious suffering (or even existence) of those who reject God, the Bible does teach that after physical death and prior to final judgment, lost souls will go into a place of holding, called Sheol in the Old Testament, and Hades in the New Testament. Both of these words are commonly translated as "Hell" in English. If one believes the Bible to be reliable for creating sound doctrine, as I do, it would be intellectually dishonest to argue against the existence of Hell (Hades/Sheol). However, there is some question as to whether or not this is a place and time of conciousness or unconsciousness, and this will be addressed in Biblical Judgment. Contrary to some other non-traditionalists, I believe that there is Scriptural evidence that it is at least possible that there will be conscious suffering there (and if so, the evidence is that this is a mental rather than physical torment - I detail this claim in the book), but Hades (Hell) is far from a place of eternal dwelling. Of this I'm sure.
So I do not claim that there is no "Hell" in my book or on this website. I simply question its nature and certainly that this is the eternal abode of anyone. Scripture teaches that it is not. But there is another word in the New Testament, "Gehenna", meaning "the Valley of Hinnom" (pictured above), that is also translated as "Hell". This is where so much confusion begins. It would seem that this word/place carries with it an entirely different idea than an abode for the lost, and rather than being translated, the text should have been left as "Gehenna", as it was in some older translations of the Bible. A number of times, Jesus spoke of this place which was once used to sacrifice humans by fire to the false god Molech, and later used in Jesus' day, it is commonly thought, as a dump to burn waste and dead bodies. Jesus referred to Gehenna figuratively when He was foretelling the future destruction of those who reject salvation. He was not saying that after judgment people would literally be thrown into this valley, but that they would be destroyed, as was anything that was thrown into the fires of Gehenna. The message was surely clear to the hearers of His day. But because most translators of English Bibles have chosen to change this geographical location to the word "Hell" (the same English word used to translate Hades and Sheol, the real but temporary abode of disembodied souls) confusion is unavoidable without doing a little research. This is addressed extensively in the book, but for a preview of that information, just click on the "Hell" link above for a discussion of the various Hebrew and Greek terms translated as "Hell".
Not a Cult, Sect, or even a Denominational teaching
My journey toward a non-traditional view of hell and immortality began, in some ways, many years ago. The idea that God would keep the unsaved in existence for all eternity, for no other purpose than their torment and suffering just never sat well with me. But being a "good Christian", I knew that it didn't matter whether or not it made sense to me, or if I liked it. God's ways are higher than our ways. So I just believed what I was told by those who should know, and if I witnessed about Christ to someone, and if the subject of final judgment came up, I would regretfully repeat what I had been told - that if you reject God's offer of salvation, you will suffer in Hell for all eternity. And if I was questioned on how a loving and merciful God could do such a thing, I answered with the common answers. I either told people that He is sovereign and can do as He likes, or I told them that His mercy was shown in the sacrifice of Christ, but that His mercy does not extend beyond that. But overall, I can honestly say that the doctrine of eternal suffering stifled my willingness to share Christ very much at all. I've never been ashamed of the gospel, but I was ashamed to tell people that the same Person who would pray to the Father for those who were spitting on Him and pulling His beard out of His face would also cause, or at least allow, the eternal torment of the same people He was praying for (and billions of others). I was ashamed to tell people that the One who put the stars in place, yet humbled Himself and washed our dirty feet and then humbled Himself to the point of death, also created a place where those who never found God's grace will burn eternally. This is a horrendous teaching, and thankfully, it cannot be supported Biblically, as I will give more than ample evidence for in Biblical Judgment.
Late in 2005, during one of my many periods of mentally wrestling with doctrinal questions, I stumbled onto a website that presented a view of hell that I had never heard. They were teaching that verses such as "The wages of sin is death" and "...that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life" actually mean what they say. This was fascinating and refreshing to me. God putting an end to those who reject His mercy (rather than tormenting them forever) not only seems right and just, it is actually what the Bible says in multiple places. It is one of the clearest themes in Scripture. And while I wholeheartedly stand behind those verses and countless others that teach the same thing, later research showed that some of the non-traditional ideas I read on that website, like many traditionalist ideas, could not be substantiated in Scripture, but it had started the ball rolling for me, and I'm thankful for that. But I want to assure the reader that I am not promoting the Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witness, Church of God, or Universalist views of final judgment. I am promoting what I have personally found as I have, in much pleading for God's wisdom, delved into the study of little else other than final judgment for over three years. I do not belong to a cult, sect, or even a denomination. I currently attend a non-denominational Bible church, but constitutionally, they actually hold a traditional view of Hell and immortality, very contrary to mine. The pastor has read some of my research and said to me, "I have no problem with your conclusions", yet he continues to hold and teach the traditional view for his own personal reasons. I hope that he will take another look at my research when it is complete, and reconsider. I gave the same abbreviated research to two of the elders at the church I attend and neither of them has come to me to give me any correction or confirmation of my research. One never responded. It is as if I never gave it to him. Either he has not read it (even though it has been months) or it legitimately challenged his traditional viewpoint and he does not know how to react, or he found me to be in total error and doesn't know how to break the bad news to me gently. The fact is however, no one to whom I've shown my research has challenged it with Scripture, although some have certainly disagreed with it, including the other elder to whom I showed the research. Another pastor I presented it to, one who also previously held a traditional view, believes that I have found Biblical truth on the matter, and has been a great encouragement to me, telling me I've opened a door to something that he had never seen before, something he believes will help many people. I do not say any of this to personally boast. I prayed my way through this entire process, and have accomplished nothing without the help of the Lord. But even with the Lord's leading, it has been the challenge of my life, digging this truth out against what I can only interpret as satanic opposition (I'm not referring to those who disagree with my viewpoint, by the way, but to the mental wrestling and the numerous seemingly unrelated problems that constantly interrupted my research). I wanted to give up many times. Upsetting the applecart is not pleasant. And the enemy does not want the truth to come out, especially when it reveals a more merciful and loving God than what has been portrayed for centuries.
The view of Hell and immortality that I advance in Biblical Judgment happens to fall in the middle ground, where I believe the truth probably is on many issues. I'm in the uncomfortable position of being at odds with both traditionalists and with many non-traditionalists. I'm at odds with traditionalists in that I completely disagree that the Bible teaches the eternal existence and suffering of the lost. I'm at odds with most non-traditionalists (also called conditionalists) because I do not believe in soul sleep (at least not for the entire time from death until final judgment), but rather believe there is a strong Biblical case to be made that Hades(Hell) is a real place of suffering for the lost(temporary though it is). So because I'm not promoting an idea that has any traditional or denominational support or even support from sects or cults, and because I have no theological degrees, the reader may be wondering just exactly what my credentials are, and why they should read a book written by someone in this position. The answer is: I have no formal credentials, and if I claimed any, it would only weaken my plea that you consider my research. I am relying completely on God's Word for truth. It alone is sufficient, although I have found it necessary to look beyond the English to the original Greek and Hebrew languages at times to get to the original meaning of a number of passages.
The book I'm writing is a tour through Scripture on this topic. You will find some speculation and theorizing at times in the book, and I believe it will be obvious when I am doing that. But the vast majority of the volume is simply pointing to what the Bible clearly says about these topics. And I assure you that you will not find misused verses, pulled out of their context, only to make a point. With that method, one could use Scripture to prove almost anything. The traditional view in fact relies on such methods on several of its points. Rather, the study I present will show, from the beginning to the end of Scripture, the consistency of the clear teaching that no unsaved soul has immortality, and that no human soul will suffer for all eternity. The study will also give a clear explanation of all of the words translated as 'Hell', and it will offer a solid, scriptural rebuttal to every traditional argument for eternal hell and innate immortality that I am aware of. I will also show how our weak traditional doctrines on this matter can be traced all the way back to Satan's initial lie to humanity, and I will expose a number of other ideas that we traditionally teach in error, as they relate to the account of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man. As a related topic, we will address the problem of evil, and find that Scripture solves it sufficiently. And there is much more content not mentioned here.
Ultimately, I hope that I am only lifting up Christ, and the truth of Scripture. I certainly do not desire to undermine the countless Bible teachers, well-known and unknown, who have given their lives to proclaiming what they believe is Biblical truth. Many of these, even those I challenge directly on particular issues, have spoken God's Word into my life many times in the past and will continue to in the future, and I'm thankful for it. But there is a precedent in Scripture for bringing fellow believers back in line with the Bible when they have gone astray, especially into "traditions of men." And this is what I'm attempting to do as it relates to Hell, immortality, and other related issues. It is my hope that the mainstream Christian church will one day begin to teach and believe these concepts Biblically rather than traditionally, and that we will unite around sound doctrine. I believe this book has the potential to go a long way toward bringing people together on these matters, so I hope that many will read and consider it, especially those who teach. But if you do not wish to take on the book at this time, please browse around the site. There is enough here to get started. There is certainly enough here to bring tradition into question. And in case you think this is a bad thing, remember that Jesus and Paul were both very critical of the traditions of men. Tradition has its place, but it should never undermine truth. The truth will set us free, and the Biblical truth about Hell certainly set me free, free to love God as I never could while I tried to reconcile Him as a merciless eternal tormentor of souls and somehow simultaneously the wonderful Savior that Scripture reveals Him to be. After studying the Word extensively, and praying to God to reveal truth to me, I no longer wonder about these things, but know Him more intimately than ever, now seeing Him as the One who sacrificed His own life to save us from death, and as the One who provided a way of escape so that we might live forever, and who desires all to come to Him in faith, but who also desires that we do so by our own free will, not under compulsion, with the rejection of eternal life only leaving one alternative: eternal death (not endless torment) as the ultimate consequence for rejecting God's call.
There was a time not so long ago when you and I did not exist. God brought each of us into existence for this brief earthly life, and has given us the opportunity to go on living forever beyond this life and beyond the confines of time. If we reject it, ultimately we will return to the state we began in, non-existence; Scripture is clear about this. And while such death is a horrible end for a soul that had the potential to live forever, it is just, fair, and merciful, nonetheless.
I hope the information presented in Biblical Judgment: A Scriptural challenge to the traditional view of Hell and Immortality and on this website reveals a Biblically-solid picture of a more loving and merciful Creator and Savior than many have ever known. The chapter menus above will provide some chapter summaries and some excerpts from the book.
Sincerely,
Scott McAliley
