In these two passages, the Greek word gehenna means a place of punishment for the lost. Gehenna was originally associated with the Valley of Chimmon, a garbage dump near Jerusalem that was in constant smoldering. The Jewish priests believed that the punishment after death could be related to this place and often frightened the people with a future punishment after death. The Lord Jesus Christ, however, told Jews who did not believe in Him that those who rejected Him could inherit eternal hell. In Matthew 10:28, the Lord connects the words gehenna and apolesai, which the Greek dictionary defines as "to be sent to eternal torment." Gehenna, therefore, symbolizes the eternal division and conscious punishment of the spiritual essence of the untransformed person. The Old Testament also teaches about this eternal punishment in the Book of Isaiah 66:24: "For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched."

2. 2 Thess. 1:8-9: "In flaming fire he who takes vengeance on those who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished, eternal destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might."

From the context of this passage, especially in verse 8 about "eternal perdition," it is clear that the "flaming fire" is prepared for all who "do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." The key point in the consideration of this problem is the problem of understanding the phrase "eternal perdition", which, according to Adventists, means a lowering of the state of non-existence ("Questions on Doctrine", p. 14). It is known that the Greek word olethros is used in this case to mean "destruction". (As a more detailed study of this and the following passages from the Holy Scriptures, you can take any of the dictionaries or grammar guides on the Greek version of the New Testament and make sure that it indicates exactly the meanings of the words that we give in this work). Thus we see that "eternal destruction" or "destruction" is the fate of those who do not know God. Many of those who are not very familiar with the Greek language try to assume that the phrase "eternal perdition" is synonymous with the word "annihilation." This violates the order of the Greek version of the New Testament, which does not support such a concept. A multifaceted examination of the Holy Scriptures will show the inconsistency of this assumption.

Suppose that a housewife decided to replace the light bulbs in the apartment and in the course of this work, one of the light bulbs fell to the floor and broke. Of course, the light bulb was "destroyed", but no one can say that it was "destroyed". This can serve as a clear example of the difference between the function of an object and its nature. The functional purpose of a light bulb is to provide light. In the case when the bulb is broken, its function is impaired, but glass, albeit in the form of fragments, and metal parts remain. Therefore, although the light bulb was "destroyed," it was certainly not "destroyed to a state of absolute non-existence."

The Bible teaches that unregenerate people will suffer God's eternal wrath and will be subject to "eternal destruction" and the "destruction" of their basic and natural function of "glorifying God and eternally enjoying His presence." However, the human spirit, created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), remains the intact, spiritual essence of eternal existence, capable of enduring eternal and righteous condemnation.

3. Revelation 20:10: "But the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever" (literal translation).

The basic meaning of the Greek word basanizo is "to be tormented, to be tortured, to suffer unbearable pain" and is used throughout the text of the New Testament to refer to the great and conscious pain and unhappiness that never goes away or leaves the consciousness. The reader who wishes to examine the meaning of this word in more detail may refer to the following passages from the Holy Scriptures: Matt. 8, 6; Mrk. 5, 7; Lux. 8, 26; Open. 14, 10-11. In each of these passages, the word "dasanizo" means deliberate torture. Revelation 14:10, when speaking of those who worship the beast, clearly refers to torment or punishment that never subsides or passes.

In Revelation 20:10, the devil, the beast and the false prophet are described as being tormented (basanis thesontai) "day and night forever and ever". Thus, if language means anything at all, in these contexts, the Adventist theory of annihilation destroys itself.

4. Jn. 3:36: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him."

Our fourth and final point in the grammatical study of the "doctrine of annihilation" will be to combine the passages of Romans 2:8 and Revelation 14:10 with the Gospel of John 3:36. Jesus tells us that he who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ already has eternal life (grammat. present tense), and he who is "not a believer in the Son," He says, "will not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him." The Greek word menei, translated here as abide, occurs several times in the New Testament. It defines an action that continues in time (cf. John 1:33; 2:12; 8:31; 15:9). Thus, in John 3:36, the Holy Spirit says that the wrath of God will be the eternal lot of "those who do not believe in the Son." Compared with Romans 2:8-9, we can see that those who do not heed the Truth and do evil are the objects of God's wrath, which is defined in Revelation 14:10-11 as eternal. "He shall drink the wine of the wrath of God... and the smoke of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever, and shall have no rest day or night."

The word orges, translated "wrath (wrath)," appears in each of these verses, and this leaves no doubt that the subject is being discussed. It is obvious that such a state of perception of God's wrath cannot be compared with the relatively "blessed" prospect of the total destruction of those who "have neither the Son of God nor have life".30 and "the wrath of God is upon him".31 The wrath of God hangs like a sword of Damocles over those who deny Jesus Christ. This sword will come into action when the soul departs into eternity and stands before the reality of the Eternal Judgment of God.

Seventh-day Adventists should not be ostracized from society just because they hold their view on the matter, because they believe that in an indefinite period of punishment will expire before the final destruction of sinners along with Satan and his spirits.

Dr. Francis Pieper, the famous Lutheran theologian and author of the monumental Christian Dogmatics, made my point when he wrote: "The Scriptures teach the truth of eternal damnation so clearly and powerfully that no one can deny this dogma without denying the authority of Scripture itself. The Bible draws a parallel between the eternal salvation of believers and the eternal damnation of unbelievers. Whoever denies one is obliged, in order to be consistent, to deny the other (Matt. 25:46). We have found the same comparison and antithesis in other places of Scripture as well. This parallelism proves that the term "eternity" in the sense of limited duration is not acceptable in this context. We must accept the concept of eternity in its direct and true meaning, a meaning traceable throughout the Holy Scriptures, which is used to describe the duration of the punishment of sinners in the future life (see 2 Thess. 1:9; Matt. 18:8; Mk. 3:29)... The objections to this dogma, which have taken place at all times, are quite understandable. The thought of the endless agony of intelligent beings conscious of their plight is so horrific as to exceed the capacity of human imagination. However, all these objections are based on an erroneous principle of representing God and His providence as analogous to our human sentiments and judgments.

In this case, this misconception refers to those who hold that the eternal punishment of a part of mankind is inconsistent with the unity of the divine plan of the universe, or that it is incompatible with either divine love or divine justice; who, accordingly, replaces eternal damnation with the possibility of salvation by gradual improvement in the next life or by the instant destruction of sinners. In response to these hypotheses, we must adhere to the fundamental principle of the divine essence, his attributes, and providence, which transcends human conception, and which we therefore cannot know except by divine revelations given to us in his Word, and showing what is in accord and what is contrary to the divine essence and attributes. The nature of eternal damnation consists in eternal exile from the Face of God and, in other words, in a state of constant rejection from union with God... In order to illustrate the terrible agony that is accompanied by eternal exile from the face of God, theologians point to the torment of fish pulled out of their habitual habitat. But there is one essential difference here: a fish without water will soon die, while a person expelled from union with God must, according to Divine judgment, continue to exist consciously ("but he is subject to eternal damnation" Mark 3:29)."32