After sparking controversy by discussing the “final fate of the wicked,” Kirk Cameron filmed a response to clarify his beliefs and to bemoan the “public shaming” he’s experienced. In the Dec. 17 episode of “The Kirk Cameron Show,” the actor and evangelist addressed a conversation with his young-adult son James from earlier this month.
While discussing judgment and hell, the Camerons both said they lean toward annihilationism or conditionalism. Those doctrines hold, respectively, that unbelievers will cease to exist or will not gain immortality, rather than suffer eternal torment. A key argument, according to the Camerons, is that a just God wouldn’t subject finite humans to infinite punishment.
Backlash to that Dec. 3 podcast was swift, with numerous high-profile church leaders calling annihilationism unbiblical and dangerous. Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said revising the doctrine of hell is akin to “tampering with the gospel.” Apologist Wesley Huff, meanwhile, called Kirk Cameron’s stance “unorthodox” but not heretical.
RELATED: Albert Mohler Calls Kirk Cameron’s Annihilationist View on Hell a ‘Fatal Error’
Kirk Cameron: Don’t Discourage Honest Questions
In his latest podcast episode—titled “Did I Change My Mind?”—Kirk Cameron said he was simply answering his son’s question, “What do you believe the Scriptures actually teach?”
Cameron said he sought counsel beforehand, wanted to be careful and faithful, and aimed to honor “the traditions of my faith and be accountable before opening a discussion with my son publicly.” One spiritual adviser warned that people would misunderstand his statements about hell—and “he was right,” Cameron noted.
Despite receiving some “thoughtful” and “supportive” reactions, Cameron said he was disheartened to be accused of “denying the faith”—especially “from [people] within the church itself, from my own brothers and sisters in Christ, and even some very influential prominent leaders within the church who either did not watch the full episode in context or…decided to totally mischaracterize what my son and I actually said.”
RELATED: Kirk Cameron Takes Heat for His Annihilationist View on Hell
Cameron blamed modern-day culture, short attention spans, and clickbait editing. “There have been exponentially more views on reaction videos about my conversation with my son than there have been views of people who actually watched the full episode in context,” he said.
Cameron also emphasized that he didn’t make any final pronouncements, issue any declarations, or draw hard lines. He said:
What I’ve done is acknowledge uncertainty and invite careful, prayerful study because Scripture deserves that kind of attention. But when honest questions, your questions, my questions, our children’s questions are met with public shaming, the church should pause. When certain questions may not be asked, Scripture quietly becomes secondary to tradition, and that should concern every believer.
Kirk Cameron filmed a response to clarify his beliefs on hell and encouraged Christians to have good faith discussions. Click to Post
