Sigh. I agree with Mitspa. People will see it as hell is temporary and you go poof. It's so sad that the church is so divided. I think God wants us to know if people suffer in hell permanently or just cease to exist. Sighs... but with all these bible translations.
Truth by Consequences?
Well, you don't determine truth or what scripture says based on people's reactions to it, though that might be a good indicator of how well your ideas match reality. I could make the same argument against ECT, whose perceived injustice has launched a thousand atheists into unbelief.
Truth by Level of Extremity?
There is another problem with the approach of guessing that people will suddenly not see hell as much of a motivator. The underlying assumption seems to be "we must make hell as horrific as possible in order to contrast it to the gospel, this makes God seem more appealing, and of course, we need the biggest stick possible." The problem here is that TRUTH is what the Holy Spirit will support - remember that in Jesus' day, the Pharisees had the harshness view, and Jesus bitch-slapped them with the concept of God the Father.
I am not arguing for a syrupy God here, just to say that the idea that the harshest understanding must be correct, and any other is a slippery slope has a strong, negative precedent in scripture.
The harshest version is not the truest. And we do not need to maximize the gap between God's wrath and his goodness to make evangelism work. Truth is what we need - the balanced, biblical truth. ECT is a misrepresentation of the text and the nature of God, imo.
Actual Effects on Evangelism
While CI (Conditional Immortality) may lessen people's fears of Hell, that may be a problem created by the traditional position, which has been so extreme. But that does not mean that people will not feel fear or anguish over losing eternity. Just like people fear death, they may equally fear the punishment of God AND the loss of eternal life - trust me, the closer you get to death, the more such a loss would seem horrific.
Let me give an example. ECT is like saying "if you don't repent, I will torture you forever." CI is like saying "you have used up your one short life, but you can live forever without pain or sin if you repent and believe." The loss felt in the latter is something like how we feel when a child dies - they had their whole life to live, and it was tragically lost. Imagine how tragic the loss of ETERNITY will feel in the light of soon destruction. Having been steeped in ECT, that seems so much less powerful. But perhaps ECT has merely desensitized us to truth with its violence and injustice. I think that is so, and with diminishing returns (driving more people away than awakening them).
So many people are turned away from Christianity by this doctrine, I would wager the net effect on evangelism (esp. if the Holy Spirit is confirming the CI message) would be hugely positive.
Justice and Mercy
Let's not forget that, while Universalism in some ways denies God's justice and promises of loss and punishment for some, CI maintains the personal responsibility and justice of God (and the fires of Hell), while also supporting the idea of finite, proportional justice, which ECT just aborts.
The Church Divided
The Church should divide over serious matters of truth. The Reformers knew this, so did the Anabaptists. We count ourselves with those who are restoring the Church to a Biblical view of God. No less, no more.
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