Does Hell Have to Last Forever? | Enoch 2-5

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Forever is a long time. 

It’s especially a long time if you’re in hell.

And so we need to make sure we’ve got this doctrine right.

Revelation 14:11 says of the people in hell

the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever

Jude 7 says Sodom and Gomorrah 

serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire

One of the traditional Christian teachings is that hell is (1) eternal, (2) conscious, and (3) torment. 

This is probably the mainline Christian teaching in most denominations, but yet, there are a number of Christians who don’t believe hell can last forever. Or if it does, that the people there couldn’t possibly be conscious. And if they are, then it must not be all torment.

And so they come up with alternative doctrines like annihilationism or purgatory- which may not be technically biblical, but they sound a whole lot more palatable to our modern 21st Century mindsets than the uncomfortable view of God sending people to an eternal wrath. 

That sounds a bit over-the-top. Would God really do that? Why would a finite amount of sins deserve an infinite amount of punishment. We gotta figure this out.

Because eternity is way too long to get this hell thing wrong.

I find this doctrine of eternal conscious torment be weird, and I’d like to explore whether it’s in the Bible. 

And also, whether the Book of Enoch might help us to shed a little more light on it.

Turn to Revelation 14, and let’s get weird.



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0:00 - Introduction
2:00 - Eternity is Too Long to be Wrong
6:15 - Objection 1, Annihilationism
10:40 - Objection 2, Hell isn’t Loving
14:10 - Enoch 2-5
19:05 - Objection 3, Infinite Punishment for Finite Sins
24:15 - Next Time
25:20 - Closing Thoughts

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Does Hell Have to Last Forever? | Enoch 2-5
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