With all of the tools available today, I am shocked that many still believe in a primitive Roman myth designed to frighten the laity into believing God will send most of His offspring to a place of torment without end. A simple Concordance or Lexicon will put the pagan mythology to rest within minutes. And the detailed history of how this heathen lore crept its way into the Church hundreds of years AFTER Christ is extensive and available for all to see. Besides, what kind of people would serve such a god? My guess; terrified people who do not wish to provoke the cruel, savage deity to anger.
If the wages of sin is eternal torment, then we must re-write the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We must force the the Bible to say that, if that is indeed what God meant. We must make the Bible say, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely SUFFER ETERNAL TORMENT IN HELL" (Genesis 2:16-17). We must correct the Word of God so that it says, "The soul that sins, it shall be eternally tormented in hell" (Ezekiel 18:4). John 3:16 must be made to correctly read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not be eternally tormented, but spend eternity in heaven." If the wages of sin is eternal torment then Romans 5:12 must be made to say, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and eternal torment by sin; and so eternal torment passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." You will have to re-write literally hundreds (even thousands) of passages if you say that the wages of sin is eternal torment.
"The wages of sin is death," says the Lord, even though the majority of men still think that the wages of sin is eternal torment, one of the most abominable and notorious lies ever told, a product of religious fraud, deception and greed. The wages of sin is actually death. And Jesus died! He met the full demands of law. He paid the debt of sin in full so none of us have to. Praise His Holy Name!
Besides, if ETERNAL TORMENT were the wages of sin, then JESUS NEVER ATONED FOR SIN. HE DID NOT SUFFER ETERNAL TORMENT. And if that is the price God demands as punishment for sin, THEN JESUS PAID NOTHING AT ALL. If my punishment were eternal torment, and Jesus took my place, receiving the full judgment for my sin, then it should be clear to any thinking person that He would have had to suffer eternally in hell. That is the only way the debt could be paid!
The same deductive logic can be used for annihilationism. Jesus was not annihilated! He did not stay dead for ever! If annihilation is the penalty for sin, then every son of Adam, saved or lost, must yet suffer his own penalty and be annihilated forever. The Bible nowhere speaks of "eternal death." God did not say to Adam, "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely eternally die." The record does not state that "the wages of sin is eternal death." It does not say that "the soul that sins, it shall die forever." To the contrary, it points to the END of death for "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is DEATH."
God bless and peace. :peace
