Conditional Immortality or Annihilationism
John W. Loftus
John's website is Debunking Christianity
Since I was able to question my Christian faith for the first time once I believed in Conditional Immortality or Annihilationism as the best Biblical description of hell, see here, I thought I'd offer a few brief notes on that view, from a Biblical perspective. I know there is a debate about this going on among Christian circles, but here are some of the things that those who dispute it must deal with:
We should not confuse the reality of hell with its images. The images of hell are of: 1) “everlasting punishment” (Matt. 25:46); 2) “eternal destruction” (Matt. 10:28); and 3) banishment into the “darkness” (Matt. 22:13; 25:30). How we interpret these images depends on other Bible verses. In the O.T. the wicked will cease to exist (Psalm 37, Mal.4: 1-2). Jesus in the N.T. shows us that the purpose of fire in punishment is to destroy or burn up the wicked (Matt.3:10-12; 13:30,42,49-50). According to John R.W. Stott: “The main function of fire is not to cause pain, but to secure destruction.” [Evangelical Essentials, (p. 316)]. Paul likewise emphasized destruction (2 Thess 1: 9; I Cor. 3:17; Phil. 1:28; 3:19). Peter likewise stressed the sinners’ fate as that of destruction (2 Pet. 2:1,3, 6; 3:6-7). Even in John’s book of Revelation, the lake of fire will consume the wicked (Rev. 20:14-15). G.B. Caird: “John believed that, if at the end there should be any who remained impervious to the grace and love of God, they should be thrown, with Death and Hades, into the lake of fire which is the second death, i.e., extinction and total oblivion.” [Commentary on Revelation, (p. 186)].
“The Bible uses language of death and destruction, of ruin and perishing, when it speaks of the fate of the impenitent wicked. It uses the imagery of fire that consumes whatever is thrown into it.” But “linking together images of fire and destruction suggests annihilation. One receives the impression that ‘eternal punishment’ refers to a divine judgment whose results cannot be reversed rather than to the experience of endless torment (i.e. eternal punishing).” [Pinnock, Four Views of Hell, p. 144].
L.E.
Froom
claims
that
conditional
immortality
was
generally
accepted
in
the
early
church
until
its
thinkers
tried
to
wed
Plato’s
doctrine
of
the
immortality
of
the
soul
to
the
teaching
of
the
Bible.”
[The
Conditionalist
Faith
of
Our
Fathers,
Herald
Pub.,
1966].
Biblically
speaking,
human
beings
are
not
immortal.
God
alone
has
immortality
(I
Tim.
6:16);
well
doers
seek
immortality
(Rom.
2:7);
immortality
is
brought
to
light
through
the
gospel
(2
Tim.
1:10);
those
in
Christ
will
put
on
immortality
(I
Cor.
15:54),
so
that
they
now
partake
of
the
divine
nature
(2
Pet.
1:4).
If
human
beings
don't
have
immortality
until
they
die
in
Christ
when
God
grants
it
to
them,
then
according
to
the
Bible
we
cease
to
exist
after
we
die.
We
are
annihilated,
and
that's
our
punishment.
And
since
according
to
the
Bible
God
is
judging
us
all
along
the
way,
there's
no
need
to
believe
that
the
figurative
pictures
of
a
great
white
throne
judgement
are
literal
events
one
can
expect
to
experience,
either.
posted
by
Brian
Worley Ex-Minister.org
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rights reserved