I just finished reading Rubel Shelly’s book on hell and it is similar to yours, although you present all three sides a bit more considerately. One question that hit me as I was reviewing the book deals with Revelation 20:10. We read “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” You reference this verse in Q&A 1720, but just saying that the scripture is figurative seems a bit of a non-explanation, especially since this is the one verse that actually says “they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Shelly doesn't even mention this verse in his book, which seems like a gap. (I wrote a summary of his book—I do this with most books that I am trying to understand—and felt he failed to address it directly. Any thoughts? — B.K.
Let me open with an excerpt from my Terminal Punishment paper (1991):
Revelation 20.10: And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Since 20.15 says the lost will be thrown into the lake of fire, it is argued, their torment must also last for ever and ever. But can we safely move from the destruction of a Beast and a False Prophet and the Devil to the destruction of sinners in hell, and take for granted they are analogous? The Beast and the False Prophet are corporate entities, representing Rome the civil power and Rome the religious power. Can a government or a religion be tortured in fire? Not literally. Again, 20.15 doesn't explicitly say that sinners' torment is for ever and ever. Yet even if it did, such a figurative book as Revelation I doubt would be able to settle the fundamental question conclusively. Death and Hades will also be destroyed in the fire, according to Revelation 20.14, but what does that mean except that they will come to an end? As in the case of the Beast and the False Prophet, it's difficult to conclude anything definite about the fate of sinners from this.
Surely the lake of fire is a horrifying image, intended to shock us into sobriety, yet that hardly means the vision must be interpreted literally. (How are “outer darkness” and fire compatible? Did the Lord mean for us to chop the offending hand?) Further, the second century church seems to have been quick to envision a hell of incessant torment—non-stop torture—going beyond the teaching of the apostles.
At any rate, in the Apocalypse the smoke of the burning city goes up forever and ever (Rev 18; Isa 34). The worms devouring the corpses of God’s enemies never die (Isa 66). There are numerous strong reasons for terminal, as opposed to infinite, punishment.
