Mrs. White tells us that those who believe in the clear statement of Scripture as to eternal punishment " ... are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself... The theory of eternal punishment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon... They received it from Rome as they received the false Sabbath."
Mrs. White admits there are " strong expressions in Scripture " on the subject. Let her hold to their true and evident meaning, and her theory will go to the winds.
For instance, when Scripture speaks of the Creator's " Eternal power and Godhead," surely all will admit in that case that eternal means eternal, yet that is the very word used when we read of the angels " reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." And further, the word used in these two instances is employed nowhere else. Then it is significant that the only other word translated eternal or everlasting in the new Testament is always used in a literal sense. In Rom. 16:26, it is used referring to God Himself-" according to the commandment of the everlasting God "-thus proving the force of the word beyond all question.
It is used interchangeably in reference to eternal life and eternal punishment: " And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal " (Matt. 25:46). If the argument is that eternal punishment does not mean eternal in the plain English meaning of the word, then it follows that eternal life is not eternal. But this would prove too much. The lack of principle in attacking the doctrine of eternal punishment, whilst calmly receiving the testimony of Scripture as to eternal blessedness, shows the bias in the mind of the reasoner, if such we may call him. Moreover, the effect of the denial of the doctrine of eternal punishment is to weaken the whole of Christianity. It enfeebles the whole force of atonement, and is like removing one of the stones of the arch of a bridge, imperiling the whole structure.
I remember in Jamaica some years ago talking on this subject to two black men, Seventh-Day Adventists. Their appeal was not to Scripture, or even reason, but to sophistry and sentiment. They argued that eternal punishment did not mean eternal punishing. I replied, "If that be so, then three months' imprisonment does not mean three months' imprisoning." They looked foolish as this simple remark knocked the bottom out of their sophistry.
Further, Scripture tells us the fire of hell shall never be quenched. Granted that fire is a symbol of God's judgment upon sin, the fact that it is never quenched proves that it is never exhausted, yet Mrs. White calmly tells us the day is coming when the sinner will be burned up in a literal sea of fire, and that finally Satan, having performed the closing work of atonement, will be likewise annihilated, and that the fire will be quenched, because there will be no fuel to feed it. From such grossly materialistic and unscriptural teaching we can turn away, and abide by the plain teaching of Scripture on the subject.