This argument, of course, requires a slew of assumptions. “If Jesus commands that we love our enemies,” reasons Corey, “refuse to use violence, and that we actually do good to those who hate us, yet - eternally tortures his own enemies - he’s guilty of hypocrisy.” But the linchpin of his argument for annihilation is an intuition, not the text of the New Testament itself:
“When we look at the entire testimony of scripture, we most often see the disposition of those who refuse to enter into God’s love described as a ‘second death.’”įrom this premise, he reasons that God must simply extinguish the consciences of those who die in rebellion rather than subjecting them to unending punishment, which he views as “sadistic.” The concept Corey invokes here is called “Annihilationism,” an interpretation of Scripture that’s long been a staple of Anabaptist theology. “The assertion that God himself would not only torture people but take great pleasure in it,” asserts Corey, “is something that many of us in Christianity are finding utterly offensive.”Īrguing that everlasting misery is not only excessive punishment for sinners, but is inconsistent with God’s very character, Corey scours the Bible, hoping to explain where the traditional Protestant and Catholic view went wrong. And while Corey doesn’t appear to deny that some will finally and fully reject God, he follows Bell in rejecting the well-known image of unrepentant sinners perpetually burning in the Lake of Fire Many evangelicals quickly identified this teaching with its historic name, Universalism. Bell, who put flame to gasoline several years ago with his book Love Wins, argued that a loving God couldn’t send people to hell, and would never give up on rebellious sinners. Drawing on a lesser-known tradition popular among Reformation-era radicals, Corey challenges fellow believers to reconsider accepted beliefs about the eternal destiny of the damned, suggesting most Christians have gotten it wrong since the time of the Apostles.Īn Anabaptist author disillusioned with the idea of damnation, Corey explains to TIME readers why “more and more Christians are beginning to reject the traditional view of hell which states the unjust will experience ‘eternal, conscious torment.’” Author of the Letting Go of Hell series on, Corey hits many of the same notes as Rob Bell, a former emergent megachurch pastor now partnering with Oprah Winfrey and other New Age paragons. Corey offers an out-of-the-mainstream perspective on hell - the state or destination for those who die outside of Christ, as traditionally held by all Christians. A revolution in thinking about the hereafter may be sweeping the evangelical community, at least if one popular Christian blogger has his way.
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