Are Christians watering down hell to make God more palatable?
Rick Burgess addresses the growing rejection of eternal conscious torment in favor of softer annihilationism.
In our age of "love is love," "live your truth," and "don’t judge," many people, Christians included, are hesitant to speak the truth. We don’t want to upset people, make situations uncomfortable, or scare anyone, so we either dodge opportunities to speak the truth about God, or we soften biblical concepts in hopes that they will be more palatable.
There’s never been a subject Christians tend to temper more than hell. “It's becoming a little more trendy now to try to dumb down the severity of God's wrath on those who reject Him,” says Rick Burgess,BlazeTVhost of the biblical spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters.”
Sometimes “even people within the faith [think] that maybe somehow what scripture says about God's judgment on the unredeemed — maybe we have it wrong. Maybe he's even going to be gracious and merciful to the unredeemed, even though they've rejected the only way to to receive God's grace and mercy,” says Rick.
Others think that “maybe somehow hell isn't as bad as it sounds in the Bible. Sure, they're going to be punished, but it's not going to be an eternal punishment.”
When people try to soften scripture, they’re essentially believing that “God needs a PR agent” to say, "Hey, God, I really think people will get upset with you with this eternal conscious torment thing. You probably want to go with the annihilation of the soul and just kill these people because that'll make you look more merciful,” he says. “I got a real problem with that because I think that God has gone on record about his mercy and grace because of the cross.”
But “if you choose to reject God's grace and mercy, then all you're going to get is his wrath and judgment, and that judgment from Him, because He's perfect, will be correct.”
Five Doves, David Blackman(30 Dec 2025) "Reply to Gino: gap that separates the beginning and the end of the tribulation"
We know from the New Testament that it shows there will be peace before the rapture. In Thessalonians 5:3 where it says “saying peace and safety and then sudden destruction.” This means they are living in peace and safety, and sudden destruction would not be the result of war because Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of warsbut the end is not yet! So this sudden destruction is not a result of a war, but a result of the dead in Christ's resurrection. If it was a result of war, then it is not the END! It also talks about this time “as it was in the days of Noah”, two in bed one taken and the other left, two going to draw water, one will be taken and the other left. This shows business as usual, not a group that is at war! They may be wicked but not at war! Also Jesus’s words that “there will be wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet”, indicating that the end can only happen when there is peace and safety (no wars or even rumors of wars).
If Eze 38 is speaking of the rapture of the dead in Christ, then the New Testament must agree with Eze 38, The Lord will return in the air, not to the earth for dead in Christ to rise and then we who are alive will be transformed and meet the Lord together in the air. In Eze 38 it shows that all men will shake at His presence, not at His second coming. just as we see the dead in Christ rising first (sudden destruction). This says that every person on the planet will shake. I don’t believe there is enough firepower on the planet to shake every person without destroying the planet! The sudden destruction/resurection/world wide earth quake will be the result of rising of the dead in Christ.
The first part of Eze 38 seems to speak of a confrontation with Gog at the end after the 1000 year reign of the Lord. The end of Eze 38 seems to indicate that this confrontation with Gog will be at the beginning because verse 23 says:Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Why would He need to be known by many nations at the end when He is reigning for a thousand years?
I know it does not seem possible that there will be a time without wars or rumors of wars, but anything is possible with God!
