In the following excerpts, Adventist teachers define their doctrine of the final destiny of the lost. Ellen White speaks first.

"The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon. ... But those who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression ... covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. ... There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved" (The Great Controversy, pp. 470,477).

"...sinners will not live forever. The plain doctrine of the Bible is that the devil and all his works will be destroyed, utterly destroyed" (When A Man Dies, p. 58).

Following are the major arguments that the SDA denomination uses to support this doctrine of annihilation:

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: Eternal torment of the wicked cannot be reconciled with God’s love and mercy.

"How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell" (The Great Controversy, p. 469).

"Is it not blasphemy of the character of God to suggest that the endless groans and shrieks of suffering creatures held in the flames of hell would be music to His ears? Could the justice of God ever be vindicated if He would consign Cain, the murderer of one man, to thousands of years more punishment than some modern murderer of thousands?" (Planet in Rebellion, p. 335).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES:

1. The Bible teaches that the lost must endure eternal conscious torment. This truth remains inscribed in the Scriptures, whether or not it rubs uncomfortably against human reason. Proof for this is found in Matthew 25:46, in which eternal life is compared to eternal punishment in duration and state. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto life eternal."

Revelation 14:10-11 says those who receive the mark of the Antichrist will not be annihilated, but will suffer eternal torment. "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Another passage that describes the eternal state of the wicked is Revelation 20:10-15. Here Satan, together with the beast and the false prophet, are "tormented day and night for ever and ever." If the Devil and Antichrist and the False Prophet of the Great Tribulation are tormented day and night forever in the lake of fire, this obviously will be the lot of all who are cast there.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught that the lost would suffer eternal torment. Three times in Mark 9 Christ spoke of hell as "the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched..." (Mk. 9:43-48). This is the language of eternal suffering.

Some have argued that though the fire is eternal, the punishment is not. This is an impossible interpretation, because Christ taught that the punishment of the lost would be worse than a violent destruction or loss of existence. Mark 9:42 warns that it is better for the wicked to hang a millstone about his neck and be cast into the sea than face God’s judgment. In verse 43, Jesus began to describe the horrors of Hell. In other words, Hell is going to be worse than any violent destruction. The suffering is eternal in duration. In Matthew 26:24, the Lord said Judas’ punishment will be worse than loss of existence. "...it had been good for that man if he had not been born."

None of these verses make sense unless interpreted to describe the eternal conscious torment of the unsaved. All the ramifications of this doctrine might be difficult for us to understand, but the truth remains that God has revealed it and our part is to accept it by faith. Hell is a place of fire, and it is a place where the suffering is eternal. These Scriptures should be a loud warning to every man, woman, and child that life is no game; salvation is not a thing to delay for even an hour. No time should be wasted in finding security in the Savior, whose blood "cleanseth us from all sin." No effort should be spared in reaching lost souls for Christ. Hell, indeed, is as eternal in state and in duration as is the believer’s Heaven.

2. God’s mercy does not erase His holy justice. God’s justice was satisfied in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, but those who reject this great salvation must suffer for their own sins. God has given His all—the precious Son of God on Calvary to redeem men from their sins. Perfect redemption was wrought in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through this atonement, God’s holy justice was satisfied (Isa. 53:11). God offers full pardon and eternal life to every man who will respond in repentance and faith.

For those who reject this means of salvation so freely offered, yet painfully purchased, there remains nothing but justice. Those who reject the Savior’s suffering must suffer personally for sin. Adventism claims that God would be unjust to make Christ- rejectors suffer eternally for their sins, but who are we to question God’s justice?

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: The doctrine of eternal torment originated in pagan Rome, not in the Bible. Ellen White taught this: "It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by THE HERESY OF ETERNAL TORMENT. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels. ... That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. They received it from Rome, as they received the false Sabbath" (The Great Controversy, p. 470).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: Mrs. White was wrong. Judaism got its doctrine of a fiery hell, not from paganism, but from the Old Testament Scriptures. Some pagans, it is true, do have concepts of a fiery hell beyond death, but this does not prove that the idea of eternal torment originated with them. Pagan religions are perversions of truth; they contain elements of truth intermingled with gross error. Many heathen religions have a doctrine of a great flood of some form, but this does not mean the Jewish or Christian doctrine of the Flood originated with the pagans. Quite the opposite. The same is true for the doctrine of eternal hell. The fact is that only a blind man or a false teacher would say the Bible contains no doctrine of eternal torment.

WHAT ADVENTISM TEACHES: Everlasting punishment means that the Devil and the false prophet will be tormented as long as they live—not eternally.

Another text that has caused perplexity in many minds is Revelation 20:10 ... Here we read that Satan, guiltiest of all, will ‘be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’ Yet in the twenty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel, God, speaking to Satan and describing his future punishment, concludes in verse 19, ‘Never shalt thou be any more.’

Here we have an apparent contradiction of Scripture. But please know that God’s Word never contradicts itself. Sometimes our preconceived ideas, our misunderstanding of its terms, may lead us to feel that it does. But the difficulty is in our own understanding. Just as we go to the dictionary for the meaning of English words, we must let the Bible explain its own terms.

For instance, in 1 Samuel 1:22 we find that Hannah lent Samuel to the Lord ‘for ever.’ Yet verse 28 explains, ‘As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord.’

Does this not explain the meaning of the word? As long as the wicked live, as long as consciousness lasts, they will be tormented. For some it may be only a few moments. For Satan it will be longest of all... (Planet in Rebellion, pp. 336-337).

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: The SDA explanation of Revelation 20:10 is an obvious perversion. Adventists use Ezekiel 28:19 to "prove" that Satan shall be utterly annihilated, then "explain" Revelation 20:10 to fit this interpretation. The prophecy of Ezekiel 28 has a double reference. It speaks of the historical city of Tyre and its king, and it also looks beyond Tyre’s king to Satan, the god of this world. Every detail of the prophecy cannot be made to fit the Devil. Verse 18, for example, says, "I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee." Does the Bible elsewhere say that the Devil will be brought to ashes upon the earth? No, this would contradict the plain teaching of Revelation as to Satan’s end. When verse 19 says, "never shalt thou be any more," it is referring to the city of Tyre as well as to the Devil’s influence on the earth. After he is judged, he will not be any more in this world, no longer active to carry out his nefarious deeds.

Such an obscure passage must never be used to overthrow the doctrines of clear passages such as Revelation 20:10. Here is another example of the way false teachers abuse the Bible, even though they profess to honor it. This is a very important principle of Bible interpretation frequently ignored by the cultists.

Similarly, to use 1 Samuel 1:22 as the "key" to explain away the clear intent of doctrinal passages is pure folly. 1 Samuel 1:22 is not intended as a commentary on Revelation 20:10. 1 Samuel chapter one is not speaking of the eternal state of the wicked. How then could this be a key for interpreting this doctrine! By the way, there is no reason to believe that Hannah did not mean "forever" when she spoke of lending Samuel to the Lord. The one passage which says Samuel would be lent to the Lord "as long as he liveth" does not require us to re-interpret the plain meaning of the passage which says Hannah lent Samuel to the Lord "forever." Both passages can mean exactly what they say without any contradiction.

Revelation 20:10 is the primary verse in the Bible expressly written to reveal Satan’s eternal state. He "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." The context of Revelation 20 is eternal judgment. Revelation 20:10 is specifically speaking of the eternal judgment of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet, and the testimony of this verse cannot be overthrown by other verses (such as Ezekiel 28:19 and 1 Samuel 1:22) which were not written to reveal the eternal state.

False teachers refuse to treat the Bible honestly. They delight to build doctrines upon obscure foundations such as the parables and the book of Ecclesiastes; or upon pivotal books such as Acts; or they will view the New Testament through the Old Testament. They refuse to build doctrine from clear doctrinal passages, to carefully follow the inspired doctrinal arguments of Romans or Galatians or Colossians, then to let the doctrines so developed control the interpretation of less clear passages.