God has been given a bad rap through misrepresentation by extremists and those teaching false doctrines such as eternally burning hellfire. God is moderate and loving. Nevertheless, it's because he loves us that he judges evil (otherwise known as things that are hurtful). It's for the same reason a surgeon cuts out dead, cancerous, or infected tissue, to keep it from taking over the whole body.
During this life we all have some parts of our spirits that are diseased, in this way, but as we draw closer to Christ, he will help us cleanse those out a little at a time. Those who refuse to be cleansed by his Grace and his healing love will eventually come to be so identified with spiritual disease that when God, who is a consuming fire, is revealed on the day of judgment they will be burned up and simply cease to exist. Then all the universe will be free of any murderers or hurtful people who scare us in this life.
As mentioned in the article, "Is God loving?," According to the principle of cultural revelations of Christ, a visual example that helps make sense of God’s judgment can be seen in the movie “Pale Rider,” starring Clint Eastwood. The film hints that “Preacher” might be dead, and Eastwood said the character is “a ghost,” but scripture clarifies that the dead are not aware and are just resting in the grave until the resurrection. His likeness is a better match to the likeness of Christ, who was dead and then resurrected.
The Preacher first came in answer to prayer and when he arrives on a pale horse as the family is reading Revelation 6 about the pale horse whose rider is death. He has 6 bullet hole scars on his back, which would have been lethal. Jesus also has scars to prove he was dead. And he appeared and disappeared in different places after his resurrection, like the Preacher disappears and only his hat was still there.
After helping those he calls his “friends,” as Jesus called his followers, Preacher goes to settle an “old score.” This seems to imply judgment of those who killed him and who are persecuting his friends. On the way to face them, he throws dynamite sticks at their work camp. When he gets to the town, he wreaks havoc on them and they can’t kill him no matter how many times they try.
These themes connect with global themes of Christ’s judgment through the four horsemen prophecy of Revelation. And it makes sense when you see the characters and how some of them are corrupt and intent on persecuting innocent people. The example is basically what God is doing anytime he judges the earth.
But even in his judgment, God is fair. Scripture is clear in many verses that hell will not burn for eternity and that the judgment will take place on the surface of the earth sometime in the future (2 Peter 3:10). From the biblical descriptions, it will probably involve a lot of volcanic activity. The volcano scenes showing the death of Jurassic Park in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” 2018, seem to provide an idea of what that could be like.
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise…, and the elements will dissolve with burning heat…, and the earth and the works in it will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10
The burden of biblical evidence indicates that no one goes straight to Heaven or hell at death. It’s good news that many verses confirm the final judgment will simply cleanse the earth and those who do not choose to follow God. After the Resurrection is when these things will take place (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and until that day, death remains but a dreamless sleep (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).
How could a loving God burn his children forever? Such teachings make God into a vengeful monster, worse than Molech of old. If people wouldn’t do such a thing to their own children, why would God? As it says in Job 4:17, “Can mortal man be more just than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”
The real sources of such ideas are pagan mythology and the writings of Greek philosophers. Looking at all the verses on this subject throughout the Bible, compared with a few confusing verses spoken in symbolic language, the meaning becomes clear. It also helps to understand that the Greek word “eon,” translated in some verses as “forever,” can refer to a finite period, such as a lifetime.
Isaiah 34:8-11 provides a useful comparison with confusing verses like Revelation 14:10-11 for clarity. It uses many of the same descriptive words as verses that are used to support the doctrine of eternal hellfire, including references to brimstone and fire that won’t be quenched. It also speaks of smoke going up forever. But then the passage describes the area lying waste with no one dwelling in it except desert creatures:
It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will ascend forever; from generation to generation it will lie waste; no one will pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it; and the owl and the raven will dwell in it…. Isaiah 34:10, 11
Unquenchable fire simply means fire that is not extinguished before completely burning something up. It means nobody sprayed it with a fire hose before it completely turned something to ashes. But that the fire doesn’t keep burning forever is evident in how the verse says creatures will live there afterward.
Another cultural example that shows what hell is like, matching scripture verses about it, is the opening of the Ark scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The island represents planet Earth. The religious, political people who open the ark represent corrupt world leaders persecuting Christ and mad scientists trying to look into the secrets of God throughout Earth’s history (warning: graphic scene).
The doctrine of eternal torment only makes sense in the context of where it came from, long centuries of clergies seeking to control people for financial gain. The emotional torture such teachings have caused, among many who believe it, is its own form of purgatory. But it causes many others to regard the Bible as mythical.
God doesn’t want people to serve him out of fear. Nothing about the life of Jesus demonstrated tyrannical or oppressive principles, and he came to reveal the Father. He often asked questions appealing to people’s powers of reason (Matthew 22:42). He showed humble kindness and love, referring to his followers as friends and family, and portraying himself as giving his life for those who weren’t even following him (such as through the lost sheep parable). And he said, “He that has seen me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9b).
Ezekiel 28:19 says of Satan, “you will nevermore have any being.” Not even Satan himself, the chief instigator in the rebellion against God, will burn in hell forever. Second Peter 2:17 and Jude 1:13 say the ultimate penalty for doing evil is the “blackness of darkness... forever.” That is simply a description of death, or nonexistence. And Malachi 4:1 speaks of the complete cleansing that will happen on judgment day, saying in verse 3 that everything will be burned to ashes. As sad as that is, it’s necessary to bring an end to corruption:
Behold, the day is coming, burning as a furnace, when all the proud and all who work wickedness will be stubble; that day will burn them up, says HWHY captain of armies. It will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1
After the fire cleanses the earth, all will be at peace and God will recreate the earth anew:
I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth: for the first Heaven and the first Earth are passed away; and the sea was no more…. 4 And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. Revelation 21:1, 4