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Benjamin Franklin Wrong About Immortality

August 31, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Benjamin Franklin said, “Fear not Death; for the sooner we die, the longer shall we be immortal.”

He couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The Bible states clearly that human beings are mortal and no one will receive  immortality until the the time of the resurrection at the second coming of Christ (John 5:28, 29, 1Cor. 15:51-55).

Better that we follow the teaching of the Apostle Paul who said: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure [death]. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2Timothy 4:6-8).

“That day” is, of course, not the day of his death but the day of Christ’s appearing when all the faithful will receive their reward.

Filed Under: Immortality

The Exclusive Immortality of God and Our Conditional Immortality

August 30, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

Woody Allen didn’t preach the sermon at our church this week. I did however quote him on the subject of immortality.

Further to my last post, technology did cooperate and I am able to put up on this site the audio of my sermon on the exclusive immortality of God and our own conditional immortality.

The aspect of our present mortality will be developed in future weeks, beginning in two weeks (after Fathers Day, which is next Sunday).

Again I hope to make the audio available soon afterward.

Filed Under: Audio, Immortality

Eternal Life Now: “Yes” and No!”

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

This is a brief summary of a sermon I am preaching at my church on “Advent Christian distinctives” (Yes, I belong to the Advent Christian family of churches). God willing and technology cooperating I will make the audio available next week.

Does the believer in Jesus Christ have eternal life now? The biblical answer is both, “Yes” and “No!” In the matter of eternal life in immortality the Bible teaches the following:

1. God alone has underived immortality as his exclusive possession.

Paul spoke of human beings who “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rom. 1:23). To Timothy he exclaimed: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Tim. 1:17). He speaks of God “who alone is immortal” (1Tim. 6:16). Thus God’s exclusive underived immortality is explicitly contrasted with the mortality of humankind.

2. God has given the Son “life in himself”.

Christ Jesus has “destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2Tim. 1:10). Not just in word, but in deed. God has life in himself. He has given the Son to have “life in himself” (John 5:26) and to give that life to others.

3. Immortality is a prize we must seek after.

Jesus spoke of “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age [the age to come] and in the resurrection from the dead” (Luke 20:34-36). Only some, “those considered worthy”, will rise to life in the age to come.

Paul speaks of “those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality”. The promise is that “he [God] will give [them] eternal life“(Rom. 2:7). No one seeks what one already has. One cannot be given what one already has. Life in immortality is a prize we are still seeking.

4. Eternal life is ours now – as a promise through faith in Christ.

There are verses (particularly in John) that speak of eternal life as a present reality. So, “God has given us eternal life, and … He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11-12). How can this be?

Eternal life is literally “the life of the Age to come“. It is a promise we have from God (1John 2:25, Titus 1:2, 2Tim. 1:1). Christ has it now and we who possess him possess it in him (1 John 5:11-12, Col. 3:4). It will certainly be ours in the age to come (Mat. 25:46, Mark 10:30, John 12:25, Rom. 2:7, 16). In Scripture (particularly in John) future things that are certain are spoken of as though present (John 17:22 cf. 7:39).

5. Immortality will be “put on” – when Christ comes again.

Eternal life in immortality will be ours – as a personal possession – when Christ comes again. Thus Paul tells us: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then [and only then] the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1Cor. 15:54).

6. Our hope is in Jesus coming again!

For those who see immortality as the reward of the righteous when Jesus comes, we look to Jesus’ Coming as the climax of history. Our Saviour comes and he brings his reward – eternal life in immortality – with him (Isa. 62:11 c.f. Mat. 16:27, Rev. 22:12).


Filed Under: Immortality

Is Death Better By Far?

August 12, 2009 By admin 3 Comments

Does Paul’s desire “to depart and to be with Christ” show us that the believer goes immediately to “heaven” at death and thus that death is “better by far” than life? No way!

Once again we must ask, on the subject of the afterlife why was it that the only comfort Paul offered the Thessalonian Church was that the dead in Christ would be resurrected when Jesus comes again? (1Thess. 4:13-18). Likewise, in 1Corinthians 15, if Paul believed that the departed go straight to heavenly bliss why does he put forward no hope other than that of the resurrection?

Looking at Philippians 1:20-24 in context, we note the following:

1. It is in Paul’s body (not his “soul”) that he hopes Christ will be exalted, whether by life or death (20);

2. The “gain” Paul has in mind is first and foremost that to the cause of Christ through his dying a martyr’s death (20), then that which is to Paul personally from his martyrdom (21). He no doubt aspired to be like the many “others”, the unnamed heroes of the faith, who are mentioned in Hebrews 11, who “were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.” (See Heb. 11:35);

3. So elsewhere Paul speaks of his desire to share in Christ’s sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so at length to attain to the resurrection from the dead (3:10-11);

4. In 2Tim. 4:6-8 too Paul speaks of his imminent death as a “departure”: beyond death however it is the “Day” of Christ’s return that he (along with everyone else) looks to;

5. Throughout the book of Philippians it is clearly the resurrection of the dead at Christ’s return upon which Paul fastens his hope: It is only then that “our lowly bodies … will be like his glorious body” (3:20-21).

Paul speaks not of his “soul” departing but of his whole self. His use of the term, “depart”, suggests a journey in which the beginning is death and the end is being with Christ. It is this end which is “better by far.”

Paul will be with Christ after death, but Philippians 1:23 tells us nothing as to how or when he will be with Christ. Elsewhere Paul makes it clear: It is by resurrection.

Meanwhile either by the way he lives his life, or by the way he dies a martyr’s death, Paul aims to exalt Christ.

This should be our aim too!

(First published in “From Death To Life”, Issue 27, p3).

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, From Death To Life, Immortality, Resurrection Tagged With: ,

Conditional Immortality and Natural Immortality Compared (Part 2)

August 11, 2009 By admin 3 Comments

From, “What Is Conditional Immortality?” (Miscellaneous Comparisons with the Greek Doctrine of Natural Immortality) by Pastor Sidney A. Hatch, Brief Bible Studies: Vol. 20, No. 2, p.9-18.

Conditional Immortality recognises that only God has immortality (1 Tim. 6:16). It is an attribute of His essence or being. Any other creature or person that has immortality–or will have it–receives it from God. Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, received it at His resurrection from the dead.

Natural immortality opens the door to all sorts of vagaries, such as spiritualism, invocation of the saints, transmigration of souls, reincarnation, etc. If the dead are alive somewhere in the universe, perhaps man can communicate with them!

Conditional immortality closes the door on all such vagaries. The dead are totally unconscious in their graves. They “know not anything” (Eccles. 9:5); their thoughts have perished (Ps. 146:4).

Nevertheless, we shall see our loved ones again some day. This is very much a part of the hope of conditional immortality. However, this reunion will not be effected by our dying and going to heaven. Rather, it will be when Jesus comes to earth again: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

Natural immortality is the very thing which the serpent in Eden offered to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die . . . ye shall be as gods (or God)” (Gen. 3:4-5). It is, essentially, that blindness with which “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Conditional immortality rejects the words of the serpent as a lie. By way of contrast, in the doctrine of conditional immortality, “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . hath shined in our hearts” (2 Cor. 4:4,6). The gospel of Christ — life and immortality only through faith in Him — is utterly irreconcilable with the lie of the devil.

Natural immortality says that a Christian has the light of the gospel in his “soul” or immaterial entity; his “soul” has been “saved.” It identifies a person with his “soul,” the “soul” is of eternal worth. It is that part of a man which, through the brain, thinks.

Conditional immortality recognizes that we are “earthen vessels.” It identifies a person with his body. Christ, when raising the dead, spoke to the body, not to an immaterial entity. Man thinks in his brain, for God can create an instrument that thinks.

Conditional immortality or life only in Christ is, therefore, the light of the gospel. It is “this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). We are the “earthen vessels”!

Natural immortality was the message of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They believed the Greek view of the immortality of the soul. Josephus tells us this.

Jesus believed and taught conditional immortality. He said that Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter were asleep (Jn. 11:11; Lk. 8:52). He said the dead are in the graves, whence they shall “come forth” (Jn. 5:28-29). He presented Himself as the only source of immortality (Jn. 11:25-26).

Natural immortality came into the western world, and eventually into Christendom, through the teachings of Greek philosophers, especially Plato and his successors. It was part of that original “modernism” (Greco-Roman philosophy) which corrupted early Christianity.

Plato believed and taught that men possessed a personal immortality. The human soul was both immortal and divine. In its disembodied state, it shared the life of the gods (article “Plato,” Encyclopaedia Britannica).

I have observed that believers in natural immortality sometimes have recourse to Plato when defending their views about “the soul.” They seem to be unaware of his personal life. The “Symposium,” which, we are told, is the key to Plato’s philosophy, is supposed to be about “love.” But it is all about homosexuality, especially pederasty (cf. John Jay Chapman, Lucian, Plato, and Greek Morals, pp. 121-36).

Conditional Immortality comes only from the Word of God. Its message may be found from Genesis to Revelation. It is the true “orthodoxy” or “fundamentalism” of Scripture. It is mindful of Paul’s warning, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit” (Col. 2:8).

Conditional immortality utterly rejects the views of Plato regarding the nature of man. It derives its views from pure and unquestionable sources: A holy God, His inspired Word, and a sinless Saviour.

Ironically, the views of natural immortality are sometimes described as “fundamentalism.” This is due to its emphasis on “soul salvation,” heaven or hell at death, eternal torment, etc. Actually, however, it is a contemporary version of that original modernism mentioned above.

Conditional immortality is called “heresy” by some, “liberalism” by others. This is because it takes the words of Scripture at face value, and does not impose on them a philosophical meaning. The gospel issue is really “life” or “death,” not better housing in eternity! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Conditional immortality, then, is the true and original orthodoxy. It is an effort to lay aside those aspects of philosophy which have corrupted Christianity, and return to the simple truths of the Bible.

A fervent preaching of the doctrines of natural immortality can make a preacher or religious leader very popular. It may seem strange, but it is not to be unexpected. people like to be told that there is no death, it is only, as the poet Longfellow once wrote, “transition.” The naivete of Eve has never died away (1 Tim. 2:14).

In times of grief, natural immortality offers a momentary comfort. Death is portrayed as a “friend,” and the grave as the portal to glory. But in doing so, it forfeits the triumph of the Christian hope of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:57).

Conditional immortality, on the other hand, can produce a mixed response. In my own experience, no other message has provoked such varied reactions, from enthusiastic interest to open hostility.

After all, the devil hates this message. It contradicts his false but soothing doctrine, “Ye shall not surely die.” Opposition, as in Jesus’ day, can arise from those in position of leadership who are anxious to maintain the traditions of the elders.

Also, the preacher of conditionalism may expect to be misrepresented as a “soul sleeper” and annihilationist.” But the Scriptures simply say that the wicked will “perish” or be destroyed. And a “soul” or “ghost” does not sleep in death, people sleep! “Lazarus sleepeth,” Jesus said.

But there are great consolations, even moments of excitement, in presenting life and immortality only in Christ. It can be true today, as in Jesus’ day: “The common people heard him gladly” Mk. 12: 37). There will be those who prove to be “good ground.” They will hear the word, receive it, and bring forth fruit (Mk. 4:20).

The conditionalist pastor can look at his flock, and say, as Paul to the Ephesian elders, “I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” Acts 20:26-27). Conditional immortality is the gospel for the strong, not the fearful.

Conditional immortality recognises the truth of Paul’s words, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). John wrote that in the new heavens and new earth “there shall be no more death.” God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain (Rev. 21:4).

Conditional immortality is the only true Scriptural comfort in time of death. The dead are “asleep” and know nothing of the passage of time. Therefore, to die, and someday be in the resurrection, is like going to bed at night, and waking up in the morning. “Joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).

There is another contrast between the doctrines of natural immortality and those of conditional immortality which should be mentioned: Natural immortality has two hopes, conditional immortality has one.

Natural immortality’s first hope is to go to heaven at death. Its second hope is to be re-embodied later at the return of Christ. Thus natural immortality tries to combine the Greek hope of immortal souls going somewhere at death with the Christian hope of resurrection.

Conditional immortality’s one hope is the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. This is in keeping with the principle established by Paul: “There is . . . one hope of your calling” (Eph. 4:4). Jesus said, “I will come again” (Jn. 14:3). The conditionalist waits patiently for Him.

There is “a great gulf fixed” between conditional immortality and  natural immortality. They are actually two different religions. Yet there are those who lamely excuse themselves by asking. “Is it really important?” To this argument, we ask, “What communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).

For the first few years of my ministry, I vigorously preached the doctrines of the  natural immortality of man. But, through personal study of the Scriptures, God changed my heart and mind. It was then that someone informed me that my new faith was “conditional immortality.” The term was new to me, but I knew its message was true!

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and Salvation, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection

Conditional Immortality and Natural Immortality Compared (Part 1)

August 10, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

From, “What Is Conditional Immortality?” (Miscellaneous Comparisons with the Greek Doctrine of Natural Immortality) by Pastor Sidney A. Hatch, Brief Bible Studies: Vol. 20, No. 2, p.9-18.

Many times, over the years, I have remarked to people that I believe in conditional immortality. However, oftentimes, the response has simply been, “What is conditional immortality?” Perhaps, then, a few words of explanation will be in order.

There are, essentially, only two views of man’s nature, the primitive Biblical view, and the ancient philosophical view. The primitive Biblical view is the foundation of the doctrine of conditional immortality. The ancient philosophical view may be called natural or innate immortality.

Natural or innate immortality says that man is born with something immortal in him. Conditional immortality says just the opposite, there is nothing in man that is immortal.

Natural immortality says that this something in man lives on after death. It may be called “soul, spirit, ghost,” or something else, but it lives on as a conscious, thinking, immaterial entity.

Conditional immortality says that nothing lives on after death. The body returns to dust, and the “spirit” or “breath of life” returns to God who gave it (Eccles. 12:7). This spirit or breath of life is not a person or conscious entity. Rather, it is simply the life-force in man.

Natural immortality says that after death, during the so-called intermediate state, man’s “soul” or “immaterial entity” goes somewhere. Christians who profess faith in natural immortality say the soul goes to heaven, hell, or purgatory.

Others suggest various places (and here the doctrine of natural immortality fragments into many pieces): Elysium, Valhalla, the underworld of hades, a happy hunting ground, etc., etc.

Still other believers in natural immortality solve the problem by saying that the soul is reincarnated in another living creature, a human being, or one of the lower animals.

Conditional immortality says that a “soul” is a person. During the immediate state, his resting place is the grave, and, as God Himself says, he returns to dust (Gen. 3:19). But the Scriptures also describe this immediate state as “sleep” (Jn. 11:11: Lk. 8:52; I Thess. 4:13). This is because it will be interrupted someday by the return of Christ and the resurrection (awakening) of the dead.

Natural immortality claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. But, in reality, its resurrection is simply the reincarnation someday of a man’s “soul” or “ghost” in a body.

According to conditional immortality, resurrection is that great moment when a re-creation takes place. The individual is brought back from the dust and “formed alive” again (Jn. 5:21; Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:22).

Natural immortality says that in the eternal state “lost souls” live (burn) in the fires of hell forever. This idea is so incomprehensibly horrible that some believers in natural immortality tone it down to “eternal separation” from God.

Conditional immortality says that “death” means death, the loss and deprivation of all life (Rom. 6:23). Since there is no such thing as “an immortal soul,” there is no such thing as eternal torment. In the judgment, the lost person is simply destroyed. This is the meaning of “perish” in John 3:16. This is the “second death” (Rev. 20:14).

Conditional immortality recognises that such a thing as the eternal torment of humans never entered the mind of God (Jer. 7:31). It is contrary to His holiness which includes a perfect justice (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 7:9; Rom. 2:5; I Pet. 1:16).

Natural immortality says that “hell” is a spirit-world of the dammed. “Sheol” and “hades” are regions of sorrow where the wicked are fully conscious. Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom where the refuse of Jerusalem was burned, denotes or signifies the place of eternal torment. Eternal torment, we are told, is the second death.

Conditional immortality says that “hell,” that is “sheol” and “hades,” are the grave. The grave– not a spirit-world– is the realm of the dead. Gehenna represents the destruction of the wicked, not their eternal torment.

Natural immortality creates a problem for itself when it says that the second death is eternal torment or eternal separation from God. Christ died for our sins, but He did not endure eternal torment. Who, then, has fully paid the penalty for sin? No one, according to natural immortality.

Conditional immortality has no such problems. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), and “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). Full atonement has been made! The blood [=death] of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin (I Jn. 1:7).

Throughout history, natural immortality has had a tragic effect on society, organized Christianity, and even the human psyche. Traditionally, believers in natural immortality have persecuted those who rejected their doctrines.

Queen Mary of England (“Bloody Mary,” 1516-1558) burned heretics at the stake. She argued that the “souls” of heretics are hereafter to be eternally burning in hell. Hence, she added, there can be nothing more proper than for her to imitate the divine vengeance by burning them on earth (J.H.Petingell, The Unspeakable Gift, p. 278).

Even today, I have observed, believers in natural immortality can become very upset, even angry, when told that there is no such thing as eternal torment. Why, we may ask, this inexplicable loyalty to such a horrible doctrine? Certainly Satan would rejoice in the eternal torment of a victim, but not God, or a child of God.

The doctrines of conditional immortality are conducive to a Christian life that is kind, loving, and tolerant. The God of the conditionalist is both just and merciful, not a monster or fiend operating a torture chamber for all eternity somewhere in the universe.

The conditionalist often finds himself in a “minority status.” He recognises the practical need for tolerance, that men may live together in peace, and have liberty to study the Scriptures.

Natural immortality says that a person’s eternal destiny is settled and begins at death. He therefore begins his punishment before he appears before God to be judged. Obviously, a judgment day has been reduced to a judicial farce. (Theories of a purgatory only serve to complicate this!)

Conditional Immortality says that future judgment for all men takes place after a resurrection from the dead. While there may be different judgments, they all take place after one is raised from the dead (I Cor. 15:21-28; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:4-6, 11-15).

Natural immortality says that salvation is by faith in Christ. However, by this it means that at death a Christian’s “soul” will go to heaven and not to hell. Christ is, therefore, the umpire or director of a great host of “immortal souls” which must, at death, travel through the invisible world, en route to heaven or hell.

Conditional immortality believes in salvation by faith in Christ. Christ alone is the worker of resurrection and the giver of immortal resurrection life (Jn. 11:25). At Christ’s return the believer is raised from the dead and given immortality. Conditional immortality is based on 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory [over death and the grave] through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Natural immortality does not know when a person receives his “immortal soul” or natural immortality. Is it handed down from generation to generation (“traducianism”)? Or is it created in the individual at conception, during pregnacy, or at birth (“creationism”)?

Conditional immortality knows exactly when a person receives immortality: It will be in the resurrection at the second coming of Christ– and not before. At that moment, this mortal will “put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:54).

Natural immortality cancels out the need for Christ’s return and the resurrection of the dead. If there is no return of Christ and resurrection of the dead, it will still be all right, for the “soul” is enjoying the bliss of heaven!

Conditional immortality makes the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead an absolute imperative. It agrees with Paul that if the dead rise not, “then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Cor. 15:16-18).

Natural immortality says that man is worth saving because he has an “immortal soul” or he is an “eternal spirit.” He offers to God his “immortal soul” as a head-start on immortality and eternal life. Thus natural immortality compromises the grace of God.

Conditional immortality says that man is made of the soil of the earth and is a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7), not an “immortal soul.” As Abraham said, man is “but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). He has nothing in himself to offer to God; he is utterly unworthy, both as to person and works (Isa. 64:6). He is completely dependent on Christ’s work on the cross, and God’s love and grace, to save him. Conditional immortality, therefore, is a message of pure grace.

Natural immortality exalts man to the point of blasphemy. The Scripture says that “[God] only hath immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16). Thus natural immortality claims for man a divine attribute. It comes close to the sin of Lucifer who said, “I will be like the most High” (Isai. 14:14).

Natural immortality cannot claim that man received his immortality at creation. The Hebrew term for “living soul” is also used of all the other animals at creation. According to the Hebrew text, they too are “living souls” (Gen. 1:20-21, 24, 30; 2:19). They too have the same “breath of life” or “spirit” that was breathed into man (Gen. 7:22).

Nor can natural immortality claim that “image of God” means that man is, in some way, immortal. In Genesis 1:26, the Hebrew words for “image” and “likeness” (tzelem and demuth) refer to form, shape, or physical likeness, not to some spiritual or moral attribute in man. Compare also such passages as 1 Corithians 11:7 and James 3:9.

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and Salvation, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection

Answers To “A surprising Quiz” by Edward Fudge

August 8, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Yesterday I posted Edward Fudge’s  ”Q and A” style summary of what the Bible really says about the end of the wicked. Click here to read the questions. What follows below are the answers – with Scripture verses to justify the answers given.

1.   I hope you marked (c).  According to the Bible, the human being is a perishable creature wholly dependent on God for existence.

The notion that your mortal body houses some kind of immortal soul sprang from the pagan Greeks and was popularized by the philosophers Socrates and Plato. The “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury” line originated with Shakespeare’s fictional Lady MacBeth, not with the Word of God.

Genesis 2:7; Psalms 103:14-16; Romans 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:16.

2.   Again the correct answer is (c).  Biblical writers point back to the Flood and to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to illustrate the fate awaiting the lost.

Adam and Eve walked away alive after their expulsion from Eden, something no one cast into hell will ever do, and the Bible does not say the Tower of Babel collapsed.  Jerusalem’s fall and the defeat of Spain’s navy armada don’t qualify here, either.

On the Flood, see Genesis 6-9 and 2 Peter 3:5-7.  Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, see Genesis 19:24-29 and 2 Peter 2:6 and Jude 7.

3.   In the Bible, the expression “eternal fire” signifies choice (a), fire that destroys forever, as with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Popular tradition says hell will be like Moses’ Burning Bush which never went out, or like the non-consuming furnace into which their enemies threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  However, the Bible warns that hell is a consuming fire which destroys both body and soul.

Jude 7; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 10:28.

4.   This time (b) is biblical.  The “brimstone” in the expression “fire and brimstone” is burning sulfur that suffocates and destroys.

The figure comes from the destruction of Sodom, which was incinerated without a trace. God is love, not an eternal torturer. The Bible really means it when it says the wages of sin is death!

Genesis 19:24-25, 29; Deuteronomy 29:22-23; Psalms 11:6; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 14:10; Romans 6:23.

5.   Surprise!  Throughout the Bible, “gnashing of teeth” denotes (c) extreme anger and hostility.

The picture of people grinding their teeth in unending torment owes more to Dante’s Inferno than it does to the Bible.  We learn about gingivitis, of course, from a television commercial for a brand of mouthwash.

Job 16:9; Psalms 35:16; Psalms 37:12; Psalms 112:10; Lamentations 2:16; Acts 7:54; Matthew 13:43, 49-50; Matthew 22:13-14; Matthew 24:50-51; Matthew 25:30; Luke 13:28.

6.   Again (b) is biblical.  Smoke rising symbolizes a completed desolation or annihilation, if we let Scripture interpret itself.

This figure of speech also originates with the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah, and appears in both the Old and New Testaments afterward.  Hell might well involve conscious pain, but conscious suffering will be according to God’s perfect justice and will stop with the death of both body and soul in hell.  (You didn’t guess the one about cigarettes anyway, did you?)

Genesis 19:27-28; Isaiah 34:10-15; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 18:17-18; Malachi 4:1-3.

7.   See for yourself!  When Scripture speaks of smoke rising “forever,” it signifies (a) destruction that will be irreversible.

That battery-powered rabbit came from the television commercials — it is no more biblical than the other choice, the notion of unending conscious torment.

Isaiah 34:10-15; Revelation 14:11.

8.   Another big surprise for most folks!  The “worm” in the expression “worm that dies not” is (a) a maggot that feeds on something dead until there is nothing left on which to feed.

The idea of everlasting agony in torment originated with former pagan Greek philosophers who also thought human beings had a “soul” which will never die.  More tender-hearted traditionalists later defined the “worm” as a pained conscience.  If they had read Isaiah 66:24 in context, they could have avoided the confusion to start with.

Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:47-48.

9.   This time (c) is correct.  The expression “unquenchable fire” in the Bible always signifies fire which cannot be resisted and which therefore consumes entirely.

Long after Christ, certain church fathers invented the doctrine of hell as a fire which burns forever but never burns up what is put in it.

Isaiah 1:31; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:47-48; Amos 5:5-6; Matthew 3:12.  Contrast human fire which can be quenched or put out, mentioned in Hebrews 11:34.

10.   No surprise here if you chose (b).  The Old Testament’s final book describes the end of sinners as ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous.

Long after Malachi, the apocryphal book of Judith introduced the non-scriptural idea that God will put fire and worms in people’s flesh so they will feel pain forever.

Malachi 4:1-3.

11.   John the Baptist warned of “unquenchable fire,” by which Jesus would (a) burn up the “chaff”.  Not surprising, since fire that cannot be extinguished (quenched) does exactly what we expect fire to do!

Missing this biblical truth, some later theologians claimed that God will torment the lost forever and never let them die, while others theorized that God will purge sinners of all evil and then send them to heaven.  Both theories have modern advocates, but neither of them reflects the Bible’s teaching.

Matthew 3:12.

12.   Jesus compared the end of the wicked to someone burning chaff, dead trees or weeds, and also said it will be like a house destroyed by a hurricane or someone crushed under falling rock.  Check (c) here to be correct.

Matthew 3:12; Matthew 7:19; Matthew 13:30, 40; Matthew 7:27; Luke 20:17-18.

13.   Choice (a) is accurate on this one.  Jesus personally described Gehenna (hell) as a place where God can destroy both soul and body — the entire person.

The just and loving God of the Bible who loved sinners all the way to the Cross will certainly not perpetuate the soul in everlasting agony.  On the other hand, if you pictured Satan reigning over his evil subjects and torturing damned humans, you might be watching too much late-night television!

Matthew 10:28.

14.   If you selected choice (d), you are right on target.  By describing hell’s punishment as “eternal,” the Bible tells us that it is a punishment which occurs in the Age to Come rather than during this life, and also that its results will be everlasting.

You’ll find nothing in Scripture about eternal life in horrible agony and pain. Jesus warns of everlasting punishment — which Paul further explains as everlasting destruction.

Matthew 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

15.   The context and “punch line” of the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus concern (b) the urgency of responding to God while there is opportunity.

When they read this passage carefully, most people are surprised to find that the context of Jesus’ parable has nothing to do with what happens to the wicked after resurrection and judgment, or even about a so-called “intermediate state” (which is not necessarily the same as what happens after resurrection and final judgment).

See Luke 16:9-16 for the context, and Luke 16:31 for the “punch line.”

16.   It’s choice (b) again.  Throughout his writings, Paul says that the lost will:  (b) die, perish, and be punished with eternal destruction.

If you picked choice (a) “go to hell and burn alive forever,” you will really be surprised when you look for anything like that in Paul’s writings.  Choice (c) is wrong, since all who finally inhabit God’s eternal kingdom will enjoy every “minute” of unending eternity!

Romans 6:23; Romans 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 3:17; Philippians 1:28; Philippians 3:19.

17.   The New Testament uses the adjective “immortal” to describe (b) the resurrection bodies of the saved but not of the lost.

Some philosophers in Paul’s day taught that every person has an immortal soul — a doctrine which later crept into the Christian church but is now increasingly rejected as unbiblical. Still others said no one will ever be “immortal” or deathless. Scripture rejects both those errors, when it declares that there is life only in Christ but promises that all who truly trust him will live forever!  You will always be correct to remember that the Bible always ascribes immortality to the saved, never to the lost; always in the resurrection, never now; and always in a glorified body, never as a disembodied “soul” or “spirit.”

1 Corinthians 15:54-57; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 5:11-13.

18.   Did you choose (b)?  Good for you!  The Jewish-Christian books of Hebrews and James do indeed contrast salvation with inescapable destruction.

Read every word and you’ll never find a hint of unending conscious pain.  Going “gently into that good night” is poetic but comes from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas rather than the Bible.

Hebrews 10:27, 39; Hebrews 12:25, 29; James 4:12; James 5:3, 5, 20.

19.   Choice (c) is correct.  Peter’s epistles clearly say that the lost will be burned to ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah and will perish like brute beasts.

2 Peter 2:6, 12; 2 Peter 3:6-9.

20.   John is careful to define the “lake of fire” in Revelation as (c) the second death.

Read from Genesis to Revelation and you’ll never find a picture of indescribable, everlasting torture.  Does that come as a surprise?

Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8.

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection

A Surprising Quiz by Edward Fudge

August 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Edward Fudge presents this “Q and A” style summary of what the Bible really says about the end of the wicked.

The Bible warns that those who reject God’s mercy now will face him in judgment one day and be banished into hell.  But did you know that many popular ideas about hell actually sprang from ancient pagan myths and not from the Word of God?

In the following quiz, see if you can spot the biblical truth and the traditions of men. After the quiz, you’ll find the correct answers — and references to appropriate biblical passages for further study.

____________________________________________________

1. According to the Bible, the human being is:

a. a mortal body housing an immortal soul;

b. a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury;

c. a perishable creature wholly dependent on God for existence.

____________________________________________________

2. Two historical events which biblical writers use most often to illustrate God’s final judgment against the wicked are:

a.   expulsion from Eden and the collapse of the Tower of Babel;

b.   the fall of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Spanish Armada;

c.   the Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

____________________________________________________________

3. Based on an actual event, the Bible uses the expression “eternal fire” to signify:

a.   fire that destroys forever (Sodom and Gomorrah);

b.   fire that cannot destroy what is put in it (Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego);

c.   fire that continues to burn indefinitely (the Burning Bush of Moses).

____________________________________________________________

4. The “brimstone” in “fire and brimstone” is:

a.   a symbol of terrible torture;

b.   burning sulfur that suffocates and destroys;

c.   a preserving agent that keeps someone alive forever.

____________________________________________________________

5. Throughout the Bible, “gnashing of teeth” denotes:

a. excruciating pain and agony;

b. gingivitis;

c. extreme anger and hostility.

____________________________________________________________

6. When the Bible portrays “smoke rising” to warn of judgment, we should think of:

a. people suffering horrible pain;

b. a completed desolation or annihilation;

c. a closed arena when cigarettes were still allowed.

____________________________________________________________

7. When Scripture speaks of smoke rising “forever,” it signifies:

a. a destruction that will be irreversible;

b. conscious torment that never ends;

c. a battery-powered rabbit that short circuited.

_______________________________________________________

8. The “worm” in the expression “worm that dies not” is:

a. a maggot that feeds on something dead;

b. a symbol for a pained conscience;

c. a figure of speech standing for everlasting agony in torment.

____________________________________________________________

9. Throughout the Bible, the expression “unquenchable fire” always signifies:

a. fire which burns forever but never burns up what is put in it;

b. fire which comes from a volcano;

c. fire which is irresistible and therefore consumes entirely.

____________________________________________________________

10. The Old Testament’s final description of the end of sinners states that:

a. God will put fire and worms in their flesh and they will feel their pain forever;

b. they will be ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous;

c. neither of the above.

____________________________________________________________

11. John the Baptist warned of “unquenchable fire,” by which Jesus would:

a. burn up the “chaff”;

b. torment the lost forever and never let them die;

c. purge sinners of all evil and then send them to heaven.

____________________________________________________________

12. Jesus compared the end of the wicked to:

a. someone burning chaff, dead trees or weeds;

b. a house destroyed by a hurricane or someone crushed under a boulder;

c. all the above.

____________________________________________________________

13. Jesus personally described Gehenna (hell) as a place where:

a. God is able to destroy both soul and body;

b. God will perpetuate the soul in everlasting agony;

c. Satan reigns over his evil subjects and tortures damned humans.

____________________________________________________________

14. The phrase “eternal punishment” signifies:

a. punishment which occurs in the Age to Come rather than during this life;

b. eternal life in horrible agony and pain;

c. punishment which has everlasting results;

d. (a) and (c) but not (b).

____________________________________________________________

15. The context and “punch line” of the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus talk about:

a. what happens to the wicked after resurrection and judgment;

b. the urgency of responding to God while there is opportunity;

c. details about the “intermediate state” between death and resurrection.

____________________________________________________________

16. Throughout his writings, Paul says that the lost will:

a. go to hell and burn alive forever;

b. die, perish, and be punished with eternal destruction;

c. go to heaven but hate every minute of it.

____________________________________________________________

17. The New Testament uses the adjective “immortal” to describe:

a. the soul of every person, good or evil;

b. the resurrection bodies of the saved but not of the lost;

c. no human being now or hereafter.

____________________________________________________________

18. The Jewish-Christian books of Hebrews and James contrast salvation with:

a. unending conscious pain;

b. inescapable destruction;

c. going “gently into that good night.”

____________________________________________________________

19. Peter’s epistles say that the lost will:

a. be burned to ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah;

b. perish like brute beasts;

c. both the above.

____________________________________________________________

20. John interprets his vision in Revelation of a “lake of fire” as:

a. a picture of indescribable, everlasting torture;

b. a place Eskimos might like to visit;

c. the second death.


Check out the answers tomorrow or if you can’t wait go to Edward Fudge’s website and scroll down to the bottom of the page

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection

Destroyed Forever

August 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

In an article entitled Destroyed For Ever: An Examination of the Debates Concerning Annihilation and Conditional Immortality (Themelios, 1996) Tony Gray did an excellent job of summarising recent scholarly debate over conditional immortality.

He concludes “that the torrent of books and articles against annihilationism may have left some of its arguments ignored or in the background” and that “annihilationism is at the very least an option that ought to be considered fairly and honestly”. At the same time he suggests that “there remain major problems which proponents of the doctrine [annihilationism] must tackle.” Chief among these he suggests “hermeneutics, concepts of justice and assumptions about immortality.” He suggests that “much is left for future discussion and debate” and echoes John Stott’s plea for “frank dialogue among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture.”

The article is well worth reading in full.

(Note. The cover shown here is not that of the issue in which the article referred to appears).

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and Salvation, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection

Archdeacon Blackburn Said …

August 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

[Bible Standard, No. 3, December, 1877, p. 19.]

“The more any man is convinced of the Immortality of the Soul form the principles of Aristotle or Descartes, the less he will concern himself about the gospel account of futurity … All those fine open notions about the Immortality of the Soul, and all the artificial deductions from that principle, teaching nothing but the art of blowing scholastic bubbles, which will certainly go peacefully to their rest, without the least detriment either to sound learning or true religion.”

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Immortality Tagged With:

A Complex and Totally Mortal Monism

July 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

E. Earle Ellis, in “Let the Reader Understand: Temple and Eschatology in Mark,” in Kent E. Browner and Mark W. Elliot, ed. Eschatology in the Bible and Theology: Evangelical Essays at the Dawn of the New Millennium  (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP, 1997), 211 says:

“The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, represent individual personality as a complex and totally mortal monism, a unity that can be viewed from different perspectives, but that cannot be broken into separate parts. The Biblical view is compatible with an outer/inner distinction or even matter/ thought or matter/ will distinction, as long as both aspects are recognized as mortal and as a part of the present fallen creation thus subject to the natural death process.”

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Is Man Immortal?

July 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

By A.A. Phelps, A.M. Late Free Methodist Minister, U.S.A.

[Bible Standard, No. 2, November, 1877, pp12-14.]

For many years I tenaciously clung to the dogma of natural immortality. At length I so far laid aside my prejudice as to give the whole subject a thorough investigation. I became intensely in earnest to know the truth, whatever might befall my preconceived opinions. This investigated resulted in a radical revolution of sentiment in regard to man’s nature and the sinner’s destiny. I have been compelled by an overwhelming array of Scripture evidence, to reject and repudiate the current doctrine of natural immortality. I subjoin a few reasons, very briefly stated for this rejection.

1. The doctrine of natural immortality has a very unfavourable origin.   It can be traced back through the Romish Church to the Pharisees, and from them to the heathen philosophers and idolatrous Egyptians! Who advocated it. They probably received it by a sort of Satanic mesmerism; for the old Serpent first published the doctrine amid the lovely bowers of Eden in these words: “Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4). A dogma that was invented by the devil, received by Pagans, nurtured by Papists, and adopted by Protestants, ought to be looked upon with some suspicion.

2. It is at variance with the inspired record of man’s creation. His origin is succinctly stated thus: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7.) There is not the faintest intimation here of an invisible intangible, imponderable, immaterial, immortal conscious entity, without length, breadth, or thickness, without exterior or interior, capable of thinking, knowing, and feeling, independent of the body, and destined to live through all the years of God.

3. It clashes with the Bible account of man’s fall. Adam was placed on probation. A simple test was applied. Obedience would have brought immortality, while disobedience would as certainly result in mortality. The penalty was thus briefly stated: “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17,) or , “dying thou shalt die.” Whn a term is used for the first time, it ought to be used in a plain, natural, literal sense. It was so used in Eden. If the penalty in Eden was moral death, then the doctrine of Universalism is true; “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22.)  Adam sinned. He at once became a dying man. He was driven out of paradise, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” (Gen. 3:22.) O, it was the hand of love that pushed fallen and sinful man aside; that shut him away from the tree of life, and thus cut off all possibility of his becoming immortal in sin and misery!

4.   It renders the execution of the sinner’s penalty impossible. God allowed the race to be propagated under the malediction of physical death, yet coupled with provisions for the future. Adam’s disobedience lands all his progeny in the grave; but Christ’s obedience lifts them all out of it. The whole human family share so fully in the atonement of Jesus as to have secured to them an unconditional resurrection from the Adamic death. Every man must now stand or fall for himself. Whoever will come into the glorious plan will be eternally saved. Whoever refuses must die for his own sins. This awful doom awaits the impenitent, after the judgement verdicts shall have been pronounced. In various phrases do the Scriptures teach the final extermination of the wicked in the “lake of fire.” They shall “die.” They shall “perish.” They shall be “destroyed.” They shall be “consumed.” They shall be “burnt up, root and branch.”  Such a destiny would be impossible, if man possessed an immortal soul.

5. Immortality is never ascribed to man. In our common version [the KJV] the term “immortal” occurs only once, and is then applied to God. (1 Tim. 1:17.) The term “immortality” is found five times; from which we learn: (1) that God only possesses it (1 Tim. 6:16); (2) that Christ brought it to light in the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10); (3) that we are to seek for it (Rom. 2:7); and (4 and 5) that Christians are to put it on at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:53, 54). Such terms as “undying soul,” “deathless soul,” “never dying spirit,” though so common in theology are nowhere to be found in the Bible. So far from teaching that immortality is a birthright possession, the Scriptures everywhere hold it up as a priceless boon to besought – a blessing for which we are entirely dependent upon Jesus Christ, the great Life-giver.

6. The doctrine of natural immortality supersedes the necessity of a resurrection. The difference between Church theology and Bible theology is this: the former predicates a future life upon the assumed fact of inherent immortality; the latter predicates it upon a resurrection from the dead. There is a natural antagonism between the two positions. Hence it is that the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, so conspicuous in the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, has fallen into disrepute. Many popular divines utterly repudiate it. Others habitually ignore it. In the Churches generally, very little stress is laid upon it. Indeed, why should there be if the prevailing notions are correct? If death is a grand emancipation, coming with a friendly hand to open our prison and let us go free, if “death is the gate to endless joys,” if the dead are not really dead, but more fully alive than ever; then a resurrection is entirely superfluous, and ought to be rejected.

7. It reduces the judgement scene to a nullity. If the current view is correct, that the real man is immortal, “shuffling off this mortal coil” and entering upon his reward at death, surely a judgement day would be entirely useless. Consistency demands that we should either give up the idea of a coming tribunal, or cease to believe that man can be rewarded before he is judged. Popular theology would have us believe that Christians are continually flying up to heaven, and sinners sinking down to hell! That the one class are already crowned with glory, and the other class already cursed with the pangs of their merited doom, but that there is still a day of judgement, when the saints are to be rallied from their abode of blessedness, and sinners are to be brought out of prison of despair; that they are to receive their formal sentence, and then be sent back to their former abodes of blackness or bliss! Can anyone seriously believe that God’s administration will ever be so absurd?

8. It subverts the doctrine of Christ’s second coming. If men are rewarded and punished in a “disembodied” state, there is no need of Christ’s coming to raise the dead. If the destinies of men can be adjusted at death, there is no need of Christ’s coming to judge the world. If the saints are to live forever in heaven, there is no need of Christ’s coming to renew the earth and to set up His kingdom upon it; for it would be a lovely reign with every saint in heaven, and every sinner removed to a distant hell. Surely there is no adequate reason why Christ should ever return to earth if the prevalent ideas of man’s nature and destiny are correct. Is it any wonder that so little stress is laid upon the doctrine of Christ’s personal coming? The traditions of men have displaced this glorious truth, and turned the whole system of revealed religion into a terrible moral chaos!

9. The dogma of natural immortality is the fruitful source of dangerous error. It has given birth to a hateful progeny. It is the foundation of the worst religious developments that have ever cursed the earth. The intelligent reader will hardly venture to deny that Mormonism, Mahometanism, Swedenborgianism, Shakerism, and Spiritualism are built upon the assumed fact that man is immortal.  It is the boasted mission of Spiritualism, indeed, to teach that “man has an immortal soul.” The whole system depends upon it. And yet it is but a natural and logical outgrowth from what the Churches generally advocate as “orthodoxy.” Spiritualism is “orthodoxy” gone to seed. Nor can we with any consistency pour out denunciations upon a class religionists for having travelled legitimately to certain conclusions from the premises we have so generously granted them. Who does not know that Mariolatry and Purgatory are based upon the assumption that dead folks are alive? Let the Scripture fact that “the dead know not anything” be established; and there will be no more money paid to have departed friends prayed through the pains of Purgatory! Let the whole Catholic Church be convinced that the virgin Mary is now dead and she will cease to be an object of worship. The horrid doctrine of eternal torment would never have found a place in the Church of God but for the antecedent notion of natural immortality. This granted, the other is a logical necessity, unless it can be shown that all men are to be saved. But the doctrine of endless misery is so foul a slander on God’s character that many have been compelled to repudiate it. Assuming that man is immortal the only alternative is eternal torment or universalism. The latter is a natural rebound from the former. If men are to exist eternally, they must exist in a state of happiness or misery. The one being rejected, the other must be accepted. The consequence is, that the dogma of unending agony is making men universalists and infidels on a large scale. Universalism and endless misery are both built upon the foundation of inherent immortality. They are the dangerous extremes. The truth lies between them. But enough. The bitterness of the fruit attests the badness of the tree.

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and Salvation, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection Tagged With:

Plato versus Christ

July 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

“The Son quickeneth whom he will.” - John 5:21

Sidney Hatch; Brief Bible Studies, Vol. 21, No.1, p. 21.

The Greek philosopher Plato has been called “the prophet of the doctrine of immortality.” By this, of course, is meant the immortality of a human soul.

It was Plato’s earnest undertaking to prove the eternal existence of the soul – its pre-existence, its present existence, and its continued  existence after death. Thus, to Plato, death was the medium to a blissful future, for it meant the release of the soul from the body (cf. Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew, I, 336).

By way of contrast, Jesus of Nazareth may be called the prophet of the resurrection of the dead. Not only did He teach a resurrection from the dead, He also claimed the power and authority to perform that resurrection.

He told Peter and the disciples that “the gates of hell” would not prevail against His “church” or “congregation” (Mt. 16:18). The power of the grave could not keep them. Someday, in resurrection, they would come forth.

He told the Jews that as the Father raises up the dead, and forms them alive, so He, the Son, forms them alive. Resurrection power has been committed to the Son of God (Jn. 5:21).

Finally, Jesus said that some day the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God — and those who hear that voice will come to life again (Jn. 5:25). They will live again in resurrection.

Jesus of Nazareth proved His claims. He brought the widow’s son back to life (Lk. 7:15). He raised the little maid, Jairus’ daughter (Lk. 8:55). And finally, He raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:44).

The philosopher Plato never really proved his claims as to “the immortality of the human soul.” One of his so-called proofs was to accept as a certain fact the pre-existence of the soul (cf. Dollinger, op. cit., p. 337)!

Plato and his followers have never captured a so-called “soul” and put it on display. They have always had much help from the doctrines and practices of spiritualism, and from demons that impersonate “departed souls.” But the evidence is rejected, both by careful students of Scripture, and by reasonable men.

In view of these facts, is it not reasonable that we reject Plato’s doctrine, and accept that of Christ? One excludes the other. If we have immortal souls, then we really do not need a resurrection from the dead — in fact, we do not really die!

But God’s Word tells us that death is conquered, not by Plato’s philosophy, but by Christ’s resurrection from the dead, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory [over death and the grave] through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).

Filed Under: Body/Soul, Immortality, Resurrection Tagged With: , , , ,

Immortality:When?

October 28, 2008 By david Leave a Comment

The fact is that according to Scripture, God alone has immortality as a present possession:

Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God (1Tim. 1:17);
Who alone is immortal, and lives in unapproachable light. (1Tim. 6:16);
They  exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man … (Rom. 1:23).
Immortality is a prize we are to seek after. Jesus tells us it will be granted only to  those who are considered worthy (Luke 20:34-36). Paul says, To those who seek  glory, honour and immortality he [God] will give eternal life(Rom. 2:6-9). In this latter case, we might ask, who seeks what one already has?

Eternal life in immortality is a gift given to the believer alone, and that gift is given only when Jesus returns (1Cor. 15:42-54).

Filed Under: Conditional Immortality | Key Passages, Immortality Tagged With:

Athanasius, Atonement and Annihilation

October 10, 2008 By david Leave a Comment


Recently Glenn Peoples posted a podcast on his blog that basically consists of the paper he presented at our Association Conference in 2007. The podcast can be found at http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/. The entry that contains the audio clip is entitled Episode 018: Athanasius, Atonement and Annihilation. It was posted on the 5th of October. You can listen online, or right click on the “download” link to download the mp3 file. Thanks Glenn.

Filed Under: Annihilationism, Audio, Immortality

Conditional Immortality? A Brief Summary

October 25, 2007 By david 7 Comments

1. ONLY GOD IS IMMORTAL BY NATURE. IMMORTALITY IS A GIFT OF GOD TO CREATURES.

The Bible affirms that God alone has immortality as a present possession (1Tim. 1:17 c.f. 6:16). The “glory of the immortal God” is contrasted with that of “mortal man” (Rom. 1:23). For humanity, immortality is still a prize to be sought after (Rom. 2:7). It will be granted only to “those who are considered worthy” (Luke 20:34-36), to the believer in Christ alone, and then only when Jesus returns (1Cor. 15:42-54).

2. A “SOUL” IS SOMETHING WE ARE, NOT SOMETHING WE HAVE.

Meanwhile, human beings are creatures of dust (Gen. 2:7 c.f. 3:19, 18:27; Ps. 103:14). We do not have souls, we are “living souls” (Gen. 2:7), as are the animals (Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 30, 2:19).

3. SPIRIT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE GIVEN TO BOTH HUMANS AND ANIMALS BY GOD.

The spirit of God inbreathed is what gives life; the outgoing of the spirit returning to God who gave it, is death for human and animal alike (Gen. 1:30, 6:17, 7:15, 22; Job 34:14-15; Psa. 104:29-30; Eccl. 3:18-21, 12:7).

4. IN DEATH ALL OF US DIES, NOT JUST PART OF US.

People are buried, not bodies. Abraham was buried (Gen. 25:8,10), as were David (1Kgs. 2:10), Stephen (Acts 8:2), even Jesus (John 19:42). The risen Christ told Mary, “I have not yet returned to the Father” (John 20:17). The committal of his spirit (Luke 23:46) was not his return to the Father. The spirit apart from the body is not the “real” you! At death the real you returns to the

dust (Reread Gen. 3:19!).

5. IN DEATH THERE IS NO CONSCIOUSNESS.

In the state of death there is no remembering (Ps. 6:5); no praising (Ps. 6:5, 115:17, Is. 38:18); no thinking (Ps. 146:4, Eccl. 9:4); no hoping (Eccl. 9:4, Is. 38:18); only silence (Ps. 115:17). The dead, good and bad alike, are said to”asleep” (Dan. 12:1-2, 1Thess. 4:13-18). Wicked Jeroboam slept with his fathers (1Kgs 14:20), as did evil Ahab (1Kgs 22:40). Faithful Job expected to “sleep in the dust” (Job 7:21). Jesus’ friend Lazarus fell asleep (John 11:11) as did the martyr, Stephen (Acts 7:60).

6. THE ONLY HOPE OF THE DEAD IS PERSONAL RESURRECTION TO LIFE.

The Bible puts forward no hope other than that of resurrection. Isaiah says, “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust; wake up and shout for joy.” (Is. 26:19). Daniel too makes this point: “Many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Dan. 12:2). Paul too, puts forth the resurrection to eternal life as the only hope for the believer (1Cor. 15; 1Th. 4:13-18).

7. THE RESURECTION OF THE UNSAVED WILL BE TO JUDGEMENT AND DESTRUCTION.

The wicked will be raised, judged and condemned (Dan. 12:2, John 5:29, Acts 24:15) to die a “second death” (Rev. 2:11, 20:14). They will “consume away”; they will “be cut off”; they will

“perish”; “be burned up” and “be no more”. They “will be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Mal. 4:1, 3). The “undying worm” and “unquenchable fire” consume their corpses (Is. 66:24 c.f. Mark 9:48).

8. THE NEW ORDER OF CREATION WILL CONTAIN NO REMNANT OF SIN OR WICKEDNESS.

Ultimately, heaven and earth will be made new (Isa. 65:17, 66:22, Rom. 8:19-21, 2Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21 &22). “The earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Num. 14:21, Isa. 11:9, Hab. 2:14) and “God will be all in all.” (1Cor. 15:28). There will be no corner of this universe where sinners exist forever in rebellion against him!

CONCLUSION:

Conditional Immortality takes Scripture at face value: life means life; death means death. This affects how we understand the atonement, sin and its penalty, human nature, death, resurrection, and life in immortality. It puts the hope of the Second Coming and the Kingdom of God into proper perspective: at centre stage. It makes Judgment Day, the climax of history. It affirms the reality of “hell” without impugning God’s character. It affirms God’s final victory over sin and evil. “Life Only In Christ” gives full honour to Christ as “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

Filed Under: Annihilationism, Body/Soul, Conditional Immortality and Salvation, Conditional Immortality and the Inbetween State, Conditional Immortality | Key Passages, Featured, Heaven | Afterlife, Immortality, Resurrection