Scripture's Argument For The Existence Of Hell

For most of Christian history, the existence of Hell has been accepted, as a place for the eternal punishment of the wicked. Scripture gives an account of a rich man visiting Hell (Luke 16:19-31). Others claim they have visited Hell, the following is an excerpt from a personal account of Bill Davis when he was a solider. “Conscious awareness began slipping away as I screamed. Dizziness and wooziness took over, much like one feels when he is running short of oxygen. Everything went black. I felt untold terror! It was a horrible feeling of being completely abandoned. I knew at that point I had tasted the first level of Hell.” In cults and recent church history, however the very existence of Hell is questioned, notwithstanding, Hell as a place of eternal punishment is also questioned. There are three major views of Hell, the classical view, which states Hell is a real place where the eternal punishment of the wicked occurs, the universalist view, which states if Hell exists no one will go …show more content…
Theologians have rejected it because of moral, theological, cultural, and conceptual considerations, or they have substantially altered it. Richard Bauckham states “Since 1800…no traditional Christian doctrine has so widely been abandoned as that of eternal torment.” It seems society has chosen to twist the Holy Scripture, rather than bend to the will of God. The idea that a loving God would not condemn His creation to such a place as Hell, as described in Scripture has been romanticized, to suit those who find the reality of the teaching to be too harsh. Two alternate views to the classical doctrine of Hell have gained some acceptance in the evangelical church, they were once remanded to cults and paganism. These views are universalism and annihilationism. We will address the seemly opposite view of the classical view of the doctrine of Hell first,