First, a quick intro. The basic tenets of the annihilationist view of hell (or 'conditional immortality') are:

• The ultimate fate of the 'unsaved' will be - surprise surprise - annihilation i.e. their souls/consciousness will cease to exist. This is why the view is also named 'conditional immortality' i.e. immortality is only for the 'saved'.
• There is no place (naturally) in this view for eternal (as in 'never-ending') suffering.
• There MAY be punishment involving conscious suffering, but this is at best temporary. Their final destruction represents judgment in its finality.

The Traditional view, however, can be summarized simply be saying that the 'unsaved' will go to 'hell' where they will be experience everlasting conscious suffering.

- On hell, it really doesn't matter 'where' this place is; the firmest idea in Scripture about it is that it is AWAY FROM GOD.

- On the suffering involved, now THIS is a tricky ball of wax. I do NOT believe that people will be experiencing 'mind-numbing' / excruciating / super-torturous pain in hell for all time. This is sadly the picture of hell many Christians today have: that it will consist of horrifying levels of torture/agony forever. (A friend even told me that he had a dream in which people in hell were having their cuts chopped off, put back on, chopped off again, then put back again, and so on - for eternity. I can only hope he gets more Biblical dreams, smile).

Fortunately, many evangelical scholars do not hold to this idea at all. Hell's suffering will be more RELATIONAL in nature, the internal caving-in of a Self completely rejecting God, a result of knowing that the reality they desire is a NEGATED one.

But I'm jumping ahead here, on to the case for annihilationism:

1. Biblical Data - verses which, prima facie, suggest the annihilationist view
2. Theological Arguments - integration between Scriptural 'themes' and how they may support the view
3. Misc. Issues / Responses

Below are some 'raw data' supporting annihilationism which, IMO, need to be held 'on par' with those verses suggesting the traditionalist view. The are many many more passages in Scripture relating to fate of the damned, but the below should suffice to suggest total and utter destruction (e.g. the 'consuming fire' burning away wood and chaff until only 'dry stubble' is left, dashing to pieces like pottery, vanishing, etc.)

Annihilationist would argue, with good reason, that these images are not easily reconciled with the traditional picture of endless conscious torment. Check 'em out:

• Obad 16, "...they shall drink and drink and be as if they had never been."
• Dan 2:35, "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace."
• Nahum 1;10, "They will be entangled among thorns and drunk from their wine; they will be consumed like dry stubble."
• Mal 4:1, "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble and that day that is coming will set them on fire."
• Psa 1:4, "(the wicked) are like chaff that the wind blows away..."
• Psa 2:9, "You will dash them to pieces like pottery"
• Psa 37:10, 20, 36, "A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found...but the wicked will perish; The Lord's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish - vanish like smoke...I have seen a wicked and ruthless man (but) he soon passed away and was no more..."
• Isa 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are terrified...'Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?', 'Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?'" (interpretation: people CANNOT dwell in the burning, they are destroyed!)
• Matt 3:12, "...He will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
• Matt 7:19, "Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
• Heb 6:8, "Land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned."
• Heb 10:27, "...only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
• Phil 3:18-19, "...Their (the enemies of Christ) destiny is destruction." (cf. 1:28, "...they will be destroyed.")
• 1Cor 3:17, "If anyone destroy God's temple, God will destroy him..."

Whatever non-annihilationist view we adopt (be it purgatory or traditional), we MUST take into account the above verses (only a sampling, remember) and the undeniable feature of DESTRUCTION.

How do we 'fit' this into the traditional picture of people existing forever and forever in torment? If hell's residents are as yet CONSCIOUS, how does this square with them being burnt like dry stubble, 'dashed to pieces', utterly consumed by a raging fire, etc.? How, in a word, could one say that they have been destroyed?

Before moving on to the theological arguments, here's a quote by a proponent of the view, P. Hughes:

"It would be hard to imagine a concept more confusing than that of death which means existing endlessly without the power to die" (True Image).

The key verse is 1Cor 15:52,

This, however, does not imply that the soul will cease to exist upon physical death, or at least not necessarily so. 'Conditional' immortality, as I understand it, can refer to the conditional endurance of the soul forever, not the short-term disembodied lingering whilst awaiting judgment.

By drawing on the historical example of S&G, the NT writers - so argue annihilationists - meant to highlight the element of complete and utter destruction.

The judgment, punishment and suffering in S&G was fast, total and final (i.e. irreversible), resulting in total destruction (hey, there was almost NO 'SUFFERING' AT ALL!).

I hope to continue later with some annihilationist responses to texts supporting the traditional view - can the pro-trad. verses be (re)interpreted WITHOUT annihilating (pun intended) their clear meaning?

Rgds,

Alwyn