After arguing that hell doesn’t involve “conscious eternal torment,” actor and evangelist Kirk Cameron is receiving pushback for supporting annihilationism. In the Dec. 3 episode of “The Kirk Cameron Show,” the conservative author spoke with son James Cameron about views on divine wrath. The pair focused on God’s merciful nature and a supposed lack of evidence that the human soul is always eternal.
Annihilationism, which dates to early church fathers, holds that unbelievers are destroyed and that the human soul is immortal only if a person receives eternal life and goes to heaven. Kirk Cameron said:
Eternal judgment or eternal punishment doesn’t necessarily mean that we are being tormented and punished forever and every moment for eternity. It means that the punishment we deserve is irreversible. It’s permanent. It’s eternal. You’re dead. You’ve been destroyed. You have perished. You’re gone. And…you’re never coming back.
Annihilationism is a “great relief” to him, Cameron admitted, because “I don’t want to believe in conscious eternal torment for anybody, no matter how wicked they are.” He said, “If the Scriptures taught it, I would believe it, because this is the Word of God. But if it doesn’t teach that, we are severely misrepresenting the character of God.”
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Kirk Cameron: Eternal Punishment Isn’t Just
While talking with his 22-year-old son James last week, outspoken Christian Kirk Cameron, 55, said it’s difficult to imagine eternal torment. Punishment that is “far beyond the severity of the crime” is cruel and unusual, Kirk said, “so is that really just, an eternity of conscious torment for a limited lifetime of sin?”
James agreed, saying, “God is not some megalomaniacal person in the sky who all he wants to do is punish those who sin against him.” He added, “It does not make sense that a good, just, merciful God who was also righteous would sentence a sinner who was born into sin and has no chance of not sinning to an eternity of punishment for that.”
Kirk noted that annihilationism “fits the character of God” but “doesn’t leave judgment out.” He said, “It is just, but it also fits with the Old Testament picture of the fate of the wicked, which is to be destroyed. It is to die, and it is to perish, not live forever in an eternal barbecue.”
After arguing that hell doesn’t involve “conscious eternal torment,” actor Kirk Cameron is receiving pushback for supporting annihilationism.Click to Post“I would have joy in correcting somebody who says the reason that they’re not a Christian is because of this merciless God who tortures people forever,” Kirk said. “And I could say that’s not what the Bible teaches.” He emphasized that Christians still need to preach the gospel so people can be “saved and rescued” from the destruction of their souls.
