Ray Comfort's View on Hell: Eternal Conscious Torment


  Ray Comfort, founder of Living Waters ministry and a prominent figure in evangelical street evangelism through "The Way of the Master" (formerly co-hosted with Kirk Cameron), unequivocally defends the **traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment** (ECT). He views hell not merely as a place of physical suffering but, most profoundly, as **eternal separation from God**—the ultimate horror for any created being. Comfort teaches that God's presence is the source of all goodness, beauty, joy, peace, and life itself (Psalm 16:11: "In your presence there is fullness of joy"). To be eternally banished from that presence means existing forever in a state of utter deprivation, where every trace of divine common grace—restraint of evil, glimpses of beauty, relational comfort—is permanently withdrawn.


 The Essence of Eternal Separation in Comfort's Teaching

Comfort emphasizes that the greatest torment in hell is not primarily flames or worms (though he affirms those biblical images), but the **conscious, irreversible alienation from the God who sustains all things**. Key aspects he highlights:


- Total Absence of Good: Without God's presence, there is no light (only outer darkness, Matthew 22:13), no hope, no love, no relief—only the full manifestation of sin's consequences: hatred, regret, loneliness, and despair. Sinners in hell will forever know what they rejected: the infinite goodness of God in Christ.


- Everlasting Regret and Awareness: Drawing from Luke 16 (the rich man in Hades), Comfort stresses conscious torment includes memory and longing—the rich man remembers his life, pleads for his family, and feels anguish acutely. Eternally separated souls remain aware of God's glory (seen in Revelation 14:10: tormented "in the presence of the Lamb"), heightening their misery through contrast.


- Biblical Foundation for Eternal Separation:

  - 2 Thessalonians 1:9: "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might." Comfort interprets "eternal destruction" not as cessation but as everlasting ruin—ongoing existence in a destroyed state, defined by separation from God's life-giving presence.

  - Matthew 25:41: The wicked depart into the fire "prepared for the devil and his angels"—implying companionship only with evil, forever cut off from the righteous and God.

  - Revelation 14:10-11 & 20:10: No rest "day or night," with smoke ascending "forever"—conscious endurance of separation's consequences.


Comfort argues this doctrine upholds God's perfect justice (sin against an infinite God demands infinite consequence) and fuels evangelistic urgency: knowing "the terror of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:11), believers must warn others of this unimaginable loss.


Counterpoint to Kirk Cameron's Recent Views


In a December 2025 podcast episode ("Are We Wrong About Hell?" on *The Kirk Cameron Show*), Kirk Cameron expressed doubts about ECT, shifting toward **conditional immortality/annihilationism**. He suggested the traditional view may overemphasize endless suffering due to extrabiblical influences (e.g., Platonic ideas of innate immortality) and finds annihilation more consistent with God's character: finite beings commit finite sins warranting severe but finite punishment, culminating in cessation of existence rather than eternal conscious misery.


Ray Comfort responded directly (in a Living Waters YouTube video titled something along the lines of addressing Cameron's views), reaffirming ECT while expressing continued respect for his former partner. Comfort's counterpoints sharply contrast on the meaning of **eternal separation**:


- Conscious vs. Non-Conscious Separation:

  - Cameron/annihilationists interpret separation (2 Thess. 1:9) as leading to final destruction—souls cease to exist, so there is no ongoing experience of loss. "Eternal destruction" means permanent non-existence, like ashes (Malachi 4:3) or perishing (John 3:16).

  - Comfort counters that Scripture portrays separation as eternally *experienced*: "no rest day or night," conscious torment before the Lamb, undying worms. Annihilation, he argues, diminishes the warning—sinners face not mere "lights out" but awake forever to the reality of what they've lost: God's presence. He sees this conscious separation as the core biblical horror, not a temporary phase before oblivion.


- Justice and God's Character:

  - Cameron views endless conscious torment as potentially incompatible with a loving God, preferring separation that ends in merciful extinction.

  - Comfort insists true love warns clearly: eternal conscious separation magnifies God's holiness (unapproachable without Christ) and justice (unrepented sin fully exposed). It also exalts grace—believers escape this fate only through Christ's substitution.


- Evangelistic and Practical Implications:

  - Comfort warns annihilationism risks reducing urgency: if hell is temporary suffering or sleep-like non-existence, sinners might delay repentance. ECT, with its emphasis on eternal conscious separation, drives compassionate pleading ("pull them from the fire," Jude 23).

  - He rejects claims of philosophical influence, grounding ECT in Jesus' own words (e.g., Mark 9's unquenchable fire).


Both agree hell is real, avoidable only through repentance and faith in Christ, and separation from God is catastrophic. Yet Comfort maintains the biblical portrait is one of **eternal, conscious separation**—the worst imaginable fate—while Cameron leans toward separation resulting in final annihilation. This disagreement underscores a vital intra-evangelical discussion: the nature of judgment profoundly shapes how we understand God's justice, love, and the gospel's call.


DMMC 

12-13-25

Location: Peru, IN 46970, USA

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