God alone is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16). I think most Christians agree with that statement. Fewer Christians recognize that the eternal torment view, then, involves God actually keeping people alive so as to punish them eternally. Many Christians throughout history, however, have taken another approach. They believe that, on Judgment Day, the wicked are annihilated.
The term 'annihilated' is actually too strong. According to this view, men simply aren't expected to exist beyond death. Men must seek immortality (Romans 2:7). It can only be found in Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Eternal life is the gift of God for believers (Romans 6:23), but the words used to describe the fate of the wicked are death, destruction, consumed & perish (Matt. 10:28/ Rom.2:12). Can you find any verse in Scripture that boldly asserts that the wicked live forever?
Could it be that the Greek philosophy of mankind's immortality creeped into some branches of early Christianity and was utilized by the Institutional church in history to keep people in line?
This view doesn't deny the existence of a place of suffering. It simply denies that the wicked continue to suffer beyond Judgment Day. At that point, according to Annihilationists, the wicked simply lose their God given gift of life and our left with their human mortality.
2 comments:
the only problem i have with that thought aside from it not being traditionalistic is that most of the points made in the post are based on the interpretation of the translator, whomever that may be. sorta seems like a technicallity rather than soild proof.
ps: i think hells going to suck no matter how long ur there lol
Depends on what era of 'tradition' you wanna go by. If more later tradition or Roman tradition is most important, then eternal torment is the way to go. If earlier tradition is more important, it seems universalism would be the suggested view. If I had only the Scriptures to look at, I have a feeling I'd just assume the wicked dead were gone after judgment day since men are mortal.
And I think all 3 views involve interpretation.
As for the ps, I don't think the differences derive from an attempt to soften the blow of hell, I think they come from honest disagreement about what the Scriptures teach.
Personally, I have too many years of being taught the eternal torment view to just give it up without a fight...but I am impressed with the common sense and seemingly biblical approach of the conditional immortality view.
I feel no pressure to make up my mind on these issues since the Bible doesn't seem to focus on them much at all.
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