Kirk Cameron has made a name after his “Growing Pains” days as a solid defender of the Christian faith, with a focus on creating faith-based content. Recent comments he made on the Kirk Cameron Show with his son, James, however, have raised concerns over his theological accuracy. Cameron and James broached the “uncomfortable subject” of Hell while discussing references in the Bible to Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna. “Jesus died so that we could have eternal life. But do the wicked have eternal life in Hell? And if they do, why does the Old Testament describe the fate of the wicked in the opposite terms?” asked Cameron. “The soul that sins, it shall die,” he said from the book Ezekiel. “It will perish. It will be destroyed, which is like the ending of life, not the ongoing life forever in punishment.”

Cameron cited other examples of God’s judgment on the wicked to support his argument. “When you look at God’s judgment upon individuals or on nations, cities, empires, He says they’re gone … The symbolism is scorched earth, destroyed, gone, and their name is remembered no more,” he said. “… And they’re not coming back. It’s like forever. Which really is a better description of dying, of perishing. Not being granted eternal life so that you can be tormented forever. That doesn’t seem to fit.”

Cameron cited the 1982 book The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment by Edward Fudge. “He says that that concept was imported by early Christians who would read the readings of ancient philosophers like Plato, who weren’t Christians and talked about the soul being immortal, eternal. And so, you’re going to go to one of two places forever,” said Cameron. “You’re going to go to Heaven forever or you’re going to go to the bad place, Hell, or you know, whatever it is, forever. And that they imported that and just considered it a given and then brought that into Christianity.”

Cameron’s statement support a theological position known as “annihilationism,” a belief that the souls of the wicked will be completely annihilated in the Final Judgment of God, rather than going on living in eternal torment in Hell, what is better known as Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). It’s a minority view, but with a strong following amongst some Christians and is the adopted belief of Seventh Day Adventists. Several of Cameron’s usual supporters, however, pushed back. Ray Comfort of Living Waters ministries has worked with Cameron in the past and addressed his statements directly. “While we believe Kirk is sincere, we believe that conditional mortality and annihilationism are erroneous views, and that the Bible’s clear teaching on hell is known as eternal conscious torment. We firmly believe that this is the only correct, biblical view,” said Comfort. He also said he had spoken to Cameron personally an that Cameron had said he “is not settled on the matter and has asked for further discussion.”

Biblical scholar Wes Huff also offered a gracious critique. “With @KirkCameron announcing his position on conditionalism, I’m seeing a lot of people attempting to critique it. I hold to ECT (eternal, conscious torment), but I do understand the topic of conditional immortality, and I have yet to see anyone actually give a rebuttal that shows me they’ve interacted with the arguments and biblical reasoning from the other side,” he wrote on X. “To condemn conditionalism/annihilationism as heresy is to say that John Stott, Edward Fudge, F.F. Bruce, potentially even Athanasius of Alexandria, are all heretics. This is, with all due respect, ridiculous. While the position might be unorthodox it is not heresy.”

Some, however, offered more strongly worded rebukes. “Kirk Cameron is dangerously wrong,” wrote Christian commentor Samuel Sey. “The Bible is very clear that hell is eternal punishment. His belief in annihilationism is terrible. But what is even more concerning is that he suggests that the biblical view of hell makes God merciless.”