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Annihilationism

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Annihilationism is the minority Christian doctrine that sinners are destroyed rather than tormented forever in "hell" or the lake of fire. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life. Annihilationism asserts that God will eventually destroy or annihilate the wicked, leaving only the righteous to live on in immortality. Some annihilationists believe the wicked will be punished for their sins in the lake of fire before being annihilated, others that hell is a false doctrine of pagan origin.

Annihilationist denominations include the Seventh-day Adventists, Bible Students, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians and the various Advent Christian churches. Some Protestant and Anglican writers have also proposed annihilationist doctrines. Annihilationists base the doctrine on their exegesis of scripture, some early church writing, historical criticism of the doctrine of hell, and the concept of God as too loving to punish his creations forever.

History

Bible references

Those who support annihilationism generally refer to the Old Testament. The ancient Hebrews, according to some modern scholars, had no concept of the eternal soul. The afterlife was simply sheol, the abode of the dead, a bleak end to existence akin to the Greek hades.

Those who oppose annihilationism generally refer to the New Testament, especially the story of Lazarus and Dives. By the time of Christ, the Jews largely believed in a future resurrection. They portrayed the wicked as suffering in sheol while awaiting the resurrection. Some annihilationists take these references to portray the temporary suffering of those who will be destroyed.

Historical Support

The vast majority of Christian writers, from Tertullian to Luther, have held to traditional notions of hell. However, the annihilationist position is not without some historical warrant. Early forms of conditional immortality can be found in the writing of Justin Martyr (d. 165), although Arnobius (d. 330) was the first to defend annihilationism explicitly. One quote in particular stands out in Arnobius' second book of Against the Heathen:
Your interests are in jeopardy,-the salvation, I mean, of your souls; and unless you give yourselves to seek to know the Supreme God, a cruel death awaits you when freed from the bonds of body, not bringing sudden annihilation, but destroying by the bitterness of its grievous and long-protracted punishment.
Additionally, at least one of John Wesley's recorded sermons speaks of sinners being "destroyed body and soul in hell", although the denominations that arose through his influence do not share this viewpoint.

Recent Views

Since the 1960s, Annihilationism seems to be gaining as a legitimate minority opinion within modern, conservative Protestant theology. It has found support and acceptance among some British evangelicals, although viewed with greater suspicion by their American counterparts.

Recently the doctrine has been most often associated with groups descended from William Miller and the Adventist movement of the mid-1800s (see Millerites), including Seventh-day Adventists, Bible Students, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians and the various Advent Christian churches. Le Roy Froom's 1965 work The Conditionalist Faith of our Fathers is considered a classic. It is also held by some liberal Christians within mainstream denominations. Basil Atkinson and others from the University of Cambridge have been influential in supporting the annihilationist position. He led John Wenham to this view. C. S. Lewis rejected traditional pictures of the "tortures" of hell. Recently, a handful of evangelical theologians, including the prominent evangelical Anglican author John Stott, have offered at least tentative support for the doctrine, touching off a heated debate within mainstream evangelical Christianity. John Wenham's autobiography Facing Hell, An Autobiography 1913-1996 explores the doctrine through an autobiographical approach.

Stott first publicly commented on the issue of whether hell is eternal in the 1988 book Essentials: A liberal-evangelical dialogue with liberal David Edwards. However in 1993 he said he had held this view for around fifty years. Stott wrote, "Well, emotionally, I find the concept intolerable and do not understand how people can live with it without either cauterising their feelings or cracking under the strain. Yet he considers emotions unreliable, and affords supreme authority to the Bible. Stott supports annihilation, yet cautions, "I do not dogmatise about the position to which I have come. I hold it tentatively... I believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.

F. F. Bruce wrote, "annihilation is certainly an acceptable interpretation of the relevant New Testament passages ... For myself, I remain agnostic. Eternal conscious torment is incompatible with the revealed character of God.

The Church of England's Doctrine Commission reported in February 1995 that Hell is not eternal torment. The report, entitled "The Mystery of Salvation" states, "Christians have professed appalling theologies which made God into a sadistic monster. ... Hell is not eternal torment, but it is the final and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God so completely and so absolutely that the only end is total non-being." (pg 199)

Conditional Immortality

The doctrine is often, although not always, bound up with the notion of "conditional immortality", a belief that the soul is not innately immortal. They are related yet distinct. At death, both the wicked and righteous will pass into non-existence, only to be resurrected (or more precisely re-created) at the final judgment. God, who alone is immortal, passes on the gift of immortality to the righteous, who will live forever in heaven or on an idyllic earth, while the wicked will ultimately face a second death.

Those who believe in this doctrine may not like to use "annihilationist" to define themselves. In his book The Fire that Consumes, Edward Fudge coined the term "conditionalist." Moreover, he limits "annihilationism" to refer to that subset of people who believe that the wicked do not rise to face the final judgment. In this sense, the term would refer to Jehovah's Witnesses, but not to Seventh-day Adventists and other conditionalist Evangelicals.

Justifications of the doctrine

Different View of Scripture

Annihilationists defend their beliefs by stating that those who believe in the eternal torture theory have misunderstood particular verses of the Bible. They claim the verses in Revelation only refer to the eternal suffering of the devil, the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 20:10), as well as those who received the mark of the beast or worshiped his name (Rev. 14:9-11) and not all sinners. They continue to say that descriptive terms like "eternal fire" (Matt. 18:8, 25:41) and "unquenchable fire" (Matt. 3:12, Luke 3:17) do not necessary imply that all sinners are eternally present in the fire; rather, sinners are thrown into the same fire which is eternally burning because of the devil and his followers. Some annihilationists take it a step further by believing the torment of these is limited in duration or metaphorical in meaning, as shown Jude 1:7 in reference to the eternal fire and burning of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as in many other texts.

The foundation of the annihilationist view is based on passages that speak of the unsaved as perishing (John 3:16) or being destroyed (Matthew 10:28). Annihilationists believe that verses speaking of the second death refer to ceasing to exist. Opponents of this view argue that the second death is the spiritual death (separation from God) that occurs after physical death (separation of soul and body). Annihilationists are quick to point out that spiritual death happens the moment one sins and that it is illogical to believe further separation from God can take place. In addition, annihilationists claim that complete separation from God conflicts the doctrine of omnipresence in which God is present everywhere, including hell. Some annihilationists accept the position that hell is a separation from God by taking the position that God sustains the life of his creations: when separated from God, one simply ceases to exist.

Opponents of annihilationism often argue that ceasing to exist is not eternal punishment and therefore conflicts with passages such as Matthew 25:46 This argument uses a narrow definition of the word "punishment" that must include some form of suffering. In common usage, punishment might be described as "an authorized imposition of deprivations -- of freedom or privacy or other goods to which the person otherwise has a right, or the imposition of special burdens -- because the person has been found guilty of some criminal violation, typically (though not invariably) involving harm to the innocent" (according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). By this definition, annihilationism is a form of punishment in which deprivation of existence occurs, and the punishment is eternal.

Scriptural Texts Cited to Defend Annihilationism

  • We came from dust and to dust we will return.
  • Our thoughts/plans perish and spirit departs upon death.
  • The soul who sins is the one who will die.
  • In the grave, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
  • Burning one's offspring in the Valley of Ben Hinnom (which is where concept of Gehenna or Hell comes from) is NOT a commandment of God nor did it even enter His Mind.
  • Both body and soul are destroyed in hell. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
  • People who don't believe in Jesus shall perish and not receive eternal life.
  • Everlasting destruction is being forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power.
  • The wicked will suffer a second death, the death of the soul.

Incompatibility with God's Love

Inherent in the annihilationist stance are notions of divine justice and love(). Some Annihilationists claim that the idea of an eternal place of torment is morally repugnant, and an unfair punishment for finite sins. How can this accurately reflect God’s ultimate victory over suffering and evil, they argue, when it permanently installs a place of suffering in the final, eternal order? Likewise, how can the saved live in blissful joy knowing that some of their loved ones suffer forever in hell? Opponents of this view retort that only God is qualified to determine divine justice, and raise suspicions that Annihilationists may be succumbing to modern cultural pressures.

Hellenic Origins

Many annihilationists believe that the concept of an immortal soul separate from the body comes from Greek philosophy, particularly from Plato. For example, in Plato's Myth of Er depicts disembodied souls being sent underground to be punished after death. Hellenic culture had a significant influence on the early Christian church. By this scenario, the soul does not appear in the Bible and is seen there only by those taught to assume that the soul exists in the first place.

Popular advocates

"I believe that endless torment is a hideous and unscriptural doctrine which as been a terrible burden on the mind of the church for many centuries and a terrible blot on her presentation of the Gospel. I should indeed be happy, if before I die, I could help in sweeping it away.

Also N. T. Wright displays an openness to the issue.

Agnostics

Others have remained "agnostic", not taking a stand on the issue of hell:

"annihilation is certainly an acceptable interpretation of the relevant New Testament passages ... For myself, I remain agnostic. Eternal conscious torment is incompatible with the revealed character of God.

See also

References

External links

Positive

www.robertwr.com The Resurrection and Immortality, by Wiliam West

The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent by Clark H. Pinnock McMaster Divinity College Hamilton, Ontario, Canada http://grcog.homestead.com/destruction_of_the_finally_impen.htm

Critical



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