Kirk Cameron’s doctrinal growing pains are a real problem
Kirk Cameron is rethinking hell. He just told us so in a podcast of The Kirk Cameron Show, recorded with his son, James. In the podcast, both father and son express grave doubts about the traditional doctrine of hell, and particular doubt about the fate of the wicked as eternal conscious torment.
Cameron is not a theologian or New Testament scholar, but he has been a prominent evangelical celebrity, based in his winsome personality and Hollywood experience, most famously as a teen actor in the series Growing Pains. As an adult, he has identified as an evangelical Christian and has participated in evangelistic ministries and media efforts.
Alas, it appears that he has now developed doctrinal growing pains, and it’s not a pretty picture. Kirk and James are naturals at the podcasting mic, and it’s good to see a father and son talk openly about spiritual matters. Neither is vitriolic or agitated, and both seek to discuss the doctrine of hell calmly. They affirm their intention to be biblical, and they don’t lean into emotionalism. Nevertheless, emotion is part of their problem, as is so often the case when we witness doctrinal accommodation—in this case packaged as less important than it really is.
Father and son banter a bit, but they get to the heart of the matter when they ponder the meaning of eternal conscious torment in hell. Kirk responds to James: “After 10,000 years of anguish and pain and torment and darkness, you’re not one day closer to finding relief. You’re not even one second closer after a billion years. You’re not one second closer to the end.”
They reason together that we are finite creatures, so our sin is finite—even if we sin every second of life, James offers—and so God’s righteous judgment should also be finite. “We think of God as a just God, he is a just God and we believe that the punishment should fit the crime. Exactly, and so, if the punishment was cruel and unusual punishment that went far beyond the severity of the crime, that would no longer be just.”
The formula Kirk and James Cameron present is simple—a infinite punishment is not just if the offense is finite and limited.
They also argued that Scripture does not have to be interpreted in terms of hell as eternal conscious torment and they raise the issue of fairness and theological public relations. Their argument that eternal conscious punishment is unjust and disproportionate gives “ammunition to the enemies of God.”
They exchanged some banter about word studies—not particularly helpful—and they really tip their hand when they cite Edward Fudge and the concept of God’s just punishment of the wicked as the annihilation of their souls—they simply cease to exist, forever.
Theologically and biblically, there is nothing new here. It’s old hat and worn-out arguments. What makes this podcast noteworthy is the fact that it is the Kirk Cameron Show and many evangelicals have looked to Kirk as a celebrity, a family man, an evangelist, and what we now call an “influencer.” In this case, the influence is not good, very not good, and it needs to be addressed.
Hell is not a passage into non-existence, but the torment of the wicked. The truth is horrible, so the warnings are stark.
Historians of American theology point to the rejection or radical modification of the traditional doctrine of hell as a signal of the emergence of liberal theology in early America, organized as a movement by the end of the 19th century. The Congregationalist pastor Washington Gladden serves as a good example. He declared: “To teach such a doctrine about God is to inflict on religion a terrible injury and to subvert the very foundations of morality.”
In other words, Pastor Gladden declared his moral vision to be superior to the doctrinal understanding of classical Christianity and just came out and said that if God really sends the wicked and unregenerate to hell, where they suffer eternal conscious torment, God is Himself unjust. The traditional doctrine of hell “subverts the very foundations of morality” and is beneath the liberal vision of divine justice.
The New Testament evidence for hell as eternal conscious punishment is clear, as Jesus declared in Matthew 25:46: “And these will go away unto eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Note carefully that eternal punishment and eternal life are presented as parallel destinies—both are eternal and both are final. The wicked, without Christ, go to eternal conscious torment, described in the Bible with graphic intensity. The redeemed, bearing the imputed righteousness of Christ Himself, enter into eternal life.
Annihilation is not part of the picture. Hell is not a passage into non-existence, but the torment of the wicked. The truth is horrible, so the warnings are stark.
Furthermore, the argument about finite sin and the injustice of eternal punishment fails to recognize the fact that sin—every sin and the very fact of sin—is an infinite offense against God’s infinite holiness. Eternal conscious torment is not disproportionate, much less unjust. It is the revelation of God’s perfect righteousness and justice.
One should pause before presenting a podcast like this—or after hearing a podcast like this—and ponder the arrogance of trying to correct what has for so long been the faith upheld by the faithful. More importantly, trying to correct what is so clearly revealed in the Bible.
Kirk and James Cameron are right about one thing—there certainly are evangelistic ramifications of our testimony about hell. The gospel call is to turn to Christ and be saved, and escape the fires of hell. The admonition to confess Christ or risk non-existence just doesn’t pass the New Testament test, and there is a good reason it doesn’t work in a sermon, either. The stakes are just too low, and the fires of hell hold no eternal consequence.
This podcast was really sad, and I genuinely hope Kirk Cameron and his son will soon be convinced of the importance and truthfulness of the biblical doctrine of hell. Even if that doesn’t happen, hell will not conform to their preferences. Just consider the power of Jesus’s words in Matthew 25:46. Could the truth be clearer? It is truly horrible to deny the true horror of hell.
R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Albert Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College and editor of WORLD Opinions. He is also the host of The Briefing and Thinking in Public. He is the author of several books, including The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church. He is the seminary’s Centennial Professor of Christian Thought and a minister, having served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches.
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