(Arguing against Annhilationism)

Responding to Ronnie's latest above: I was speaking from a pagan's point of view. If there won't be a final accounting for my sins, why should I repent of them and be saved? Why not live it up, knowing that God will merely annihilate me, rather than make me suffer as I have made others suffer? From nothing into nothing? Most pagans believe that already. Are we to tell them that they're right, that all that religious talk about hellfire and eternal damnation is just rot, and that an eternity without God and Christ is no big deal? Are we not comforting them in their sins? A strange form of evangelism, to be sure.
And yes, I do believe in degrees of punishment in hell, just as I believe in degrees of reward in heaven (Rev. 20:11-25). The greatest torment will lie in being separated from the presence of God by one's own choice, forever.