I wish to offer now the annihilationist interpretation of 'eternal punishment'. Can this be understood in such a way which precludes conscious torment forever and forever?
Greg Boyd summarises this position well:
"Annihilationists maintain that the passages used to support the doctrine of eternal hell do not teach that hell is suffered eternally, only that its consequences are eternal. The damned suffer 'eternal punishment', 'eternal judgment' and 'eternal destruction' the same way the elect experience 'eternal redemption' (Heb 9:12, cf. 5:9). The elect do not undergo an eternal process of redemption. Their redemption is eternal in the sense that once the elect are redeemed, it is forever. Likewise, annihilationists teach, the damned do not undergo an eternal process of punishment or destruction, but once they are punished and destroyed, it is forever."
(Satan, p.328, italics in the original, bolded emphasis mine)
 Another way of stating this is to view eternal death as the ultimate contrast to eternal life, which requires in turn some modification on how we understand the former concept. P.Hughes writes:
"…because life and death are radically antithetical to each other, the qualifying adjective eternal or everlasting needs to be understood in a manner appropriate to each respectively. Everlasting life is existence that continues without end, and everlasting death is destruction without end, that is, destruction without recall, the destruction of obliteration. Both life and death hereafter will be everlasting in the sense that both will be irreversible; from that life there can be no relapse into death, and from that death there can be no return to life."
(True Image, p.405, italics in the original, bolded emphasis mine)
 
What all this means is that annihilationist view the 'eternal' in 'eternal punishment' in terms of the irreversibility and finality of the judgment. Eternal indeed are the consequences, but this doesn't necessarily require the damned to be consciously suffering for all time.
This is the annihilationist POSITION which is supported by the following (already noted) ARGUMENTS:
 
However, a friend of mine, DC, reminds us that:
"The same Greek words for 'eternal fire' (aion, aionios, aidios) are also used to express (1) the eternal existence of God (1 Timothy 1:17; Romans 1:20; 16:26); and (2) the eternal life of the saints (Matthew 25:46)"
The annihilationist would insist that, to understand eternal punishment/death, we need to pay more attention to death the concept (as the opposite of life) than 'eternal'(or 'everlasting') the word.
Put simply, if someone said "Long-term existence" we can easily conclude that he is talking about existing for a long time - what do you think someone would mean by "Long-term NON-existence"? That someone can 'un-exist' for months and months? How does one 'NOT exist' continually?
This is the challenge the annihilationist invites us to respond to. Often we merely look at the word 'eternal' and stop there. We need to examine - what is certainly the more pertinent issue! - the meaning of death in relation to life. If death can be understood as ANTI-LIFE, and if life inherently contains the notion of 'ever-lastingness', then why would we think 'everlasting death' necessarily involves on-going consciousness?
Isn't it more valid to first get our concept of death right, then only to focus on 'everlasting' death as an intensification or absolutisation of what death is all about?
DC continues with:
Matthew 25:46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
"We see a symmetry that the punishment of the wicked is 'eternal' just as the life of the righteous is 'eternal'. We can't exclude out the sense of 'quantitative duration' in eternal fire unless we're prepared to argue that the 'eternal life' for the righteous also excludes the sense of 'quantitative duration'".
I hope I've cleared this up with the above: Believers will enjoy life without end which, in 'specifics', means everlasting duration. The damned will face death without end which, in 'specifics', means the ultimate judgment of non-existence.
In fact, one could argue that BECAUSE eternal life is characterised by never-ending existence or immortality, THEREFORE eternal death will be the exact opposite - it will be annihilation.
 
Conclusion: We need - so the annihilationist would say - to firm up our view of life and death first prior to baptising both with eternity. If death involves all that is not life, then eternal death should best be understood as the annihilating consequence of not desiring life, regardless of the meaning of 'eternal' in other contexts.
 
Al

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