Annihilationism | Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism

UNQUENCHABLE FIRE by W. Laing. Republished from The Bible Standard May 1878 pg 59-60

October 18, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

( Also of interest might be Fire and Flood by Glenn Andrew Peoples)

Man as a descendant of Adam is uniformly spoken of in the Bible as a mortal being, and as a sinner doomed to perish, for the wages of sin is death. (Rom. vi. 23.) On the other hand immortality or deathlessness is always spoken of as belonging to God, or to such as on certain specified conditions He has declared His purpose to confer it. It is by overlooking this truth and assuming that the Bible teaches, that all men converted or unconverted are born into the world immortal beings, that such statements as the following are used to support the belief of the eternal existence of the wicked in misery! “He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matt. iii. 12. “If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into Gehenna, into the fire that never shall be quenched.” Mark ix. 43.
The words “fire that never shall be quenched” in Mark ix. 43, are the same in the Greek as the unquenchable fire in Matt. iii. 12, and should have been similiarly rendered. Probably the reason for introducing the terms “never shall be quenched,” in translating Mark’s narrative was to render them more expressive of the idea of eternal torment, which the translators believed to be the final doom of impenitent sinners. Suppose however we use the rendering “unquenchable fire,” instead of “the fire that never shall be quenched,” it will still be thought by many expressive enough of the idea, that the unsaved shall be doomed to endure the most excruciating agonies throughout unending duration. If it could be demonstrated from the usage of the language, that the casting of a person into “unquenchable fire” necessarily implies the everlasting existence of that person, or that the words “unquenchable fire,” are in no other instance applied in Scripture to objects which we know do perish, then I confess we would be shut up to accept the doctrine of immortal misery, with all its weight of melancholy sadness unless it were elsewhere positively denied. If however on the other hand we find the same language applied to objects which we know have ceased to exist, then, surely we are bound to maintain in the absence of direct testimony to the immortality of impenitent men, that such language by no means expresses or implies the idea of unending being.
The phraseology which our Lord here employs was familiar to His auditors. From their childhood, we may presume they had frequented the synagogue on the Sabbath, where the Scriptures of the prophets were read in their hearing; and they must often have listened to these words of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, “If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. Jer. xvii. 27. No sane man will assert that these palaces and gates of Jerusalem are indestructible, because the fire that destroyed them is termed “unquenchable”, so far from that being the case, the figure is justly understood to represent their complete destruction. Jehovah kindled the flames and none could extinguish them, they would continue- to burn till their purpose was completely effected. Destruction, not preservation, is the idea meant to be conveyed, and why not also the same idea when the doom of the wicked is represented by the same language? Why affirm that they are indestructible because Jesus said, they shall be “burnt up like chaff in unquenchable fire”? The meaning of the words “unquenchable fire” may be further illustrated by the use which Eusebius the ecclesiastical historian, makes of them in recording the death of those who suffered at the stake, for their adherence to the Christ. In his History, Book VI Ch.41., he gives an account of those who suffered at Alexandria, “the first of these was Julian, a man afflicted with the gout and neither able to walk nor stand, who with two others that came with him, were arraigned. Of these the one immediately denied, but the other named Chronium,
suruamed Eunius and the aged Julian himself, having confessed the Lord were carried on camels throughout the city -a very large one as you know-and in this elevation were scourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire,” (puri asbesto,) the same term rendered “unquenchable fire” Matt, iii, 12 After these Epimuchius and Alexander, who continued for ‘” long time in prison from the scourges and scrapers were also destroyed in an immense fire (puri asbestos). These faithful witnesses by being cast into “unquenchable fire” were reduced to ashes, not tormented for ever and ever, and when Jesus uses the same terms to describe the fate of the incorrigible sinner, how can these terms be fairly understood to mean anything else? The language of Jesus no more expresses the indestructibility of sinners than does that of Eusebius express the deathlessness of those who for the truth’s sake were consumed at the stake. “Unquenchable fire” then, means fire that irresistibly destroys that which is committed to its action. Had the Saviour’s words been properly attended to, they would never have been used as an argument for the doctrine we are combating. Would any one who had not previously believed such a doctrine, even imagine that when Jesus alluding to the end of the wicked, said “He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” He taught His hearers that the wicked were unconsumable? Certainly not! It is the wicked who are like the chaff, and though the fire might never be quenched, in the most absolute literal sense the chaff would be consumed. Jesus positively asserts that it shall. The chaff He will burn up. What emblem more expressive of the complete destruction of the wicked? Dream not then, 0 impenitent sinner! that thou art an immortal. Unless thou yield thee to the love of God,and heartily believe the gospel of His Son, the Messiah, who loved thee and gave Himself for thee, perish thou must like chaff before quenchless flame. Ponder, I beseech thee, the love warning of Jesus. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Not less expressive of entire destruction is the Saviour’s language recorded by Mark, which has been already quoted. “It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.” The word here translated “hell” is in the Greek “Gehenna” or valley of Hinnom, a small valley at the southeast of Jerusalem. In this valley the idolatrous Israelites caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. After the captivity the place became an object of the greatest abhorrence on account of these abominations, and following the example of Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 10, they made it a receptacle for the filth of the city, the carcasses of animals and malefactors, and to prevent the deterious effects of the consequent putrefaction great fires were constantly kept burning; hence the valley was called Hennom’s valley of fire, or Gehenna of fire.” It was thus a noise some and hidious spot. Its lurid fires constantly burning and the loathsome worms feeding on the corpses, was indeed a fit and expressive picture of the most abhorrent and complete destruction. This view of the subject is confirmed by the closing sentences of Isaiah’s prophecy. Speaking of the future glory of the nation of Israel, and its capital Jerusalem, and the terrible overthrow of the opposing Gentiles, the prophet says, “Behold the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” chap. lxvi. 15.-16. “And it shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they.shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. v. 23 -24. Doubtless the scene here depicted is one of real carnage, yet the language, “their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,” is applied to the carcasses of dead men. Here we have a key to the language in Mark, which indeed is but a quotation from Isaiah, that would be familiar to the disciples of Jesus. So thinks Albert Barnes, though a believer in the immortality of the wicked. In his notes on
Mark ix. 44-46, he writes: ” This figure is clearly taken from Isaiah lxvi. 24. In describing the great prosperity of the kingdom of the Messiah, Isaiah says, that the people of God shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against God. Their enemies shall be overcome. They shall be slain. The people of God shall triumph. The figure is taken from the heaps of the dead, slain in battle, and the prophet says that the number of them shall be so great that their worm-the worm feeding on the dead-shall not die, shall live as long as there are carcasses to be devoured; and that the fire which was used to burn the bodies of the dead, shall continue long to burn, and shall not be extinguished till they are consumed.” “The word “their” in the phrase “their worm,” is used merely to keep up the image or figure. Dead bodies putrifying in the valley would be overrun with worms, while the fire would not be confined to them but spread to other objects, kindled by combustibles through all the valley.”
It is rather remarkable that this writer after such a correct exposition of the language, should affirm that the picture represents, dreadful and eternal sufferinqs. Putrid decaying carcasses, the image , of dreadful and eternal suffering! The worm luxuriating on a painless corpse, an image of the most painful anguish! The consumption of dead bodies in the devouring flame a symbol of deathless spirits, tormented by fire which pains but cannot kill them! Oh, the blinding effects of heathen philosophy on the minds of those who submit to its teaching!
The words of God in defiance of all the laws of rhetoric and common sense, must be made to sustain the baseless theories of human imagination, and thus poor mortals condemned to everlasting destruction inflate themselves with the vain conceit of their immortality, echoing with true filial earnestness and joy, the words of the old serpent, the Devil -” Ye shall not surely die.” – W. Laing.

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Conditional Immortality Around the Web October

October 8, 2010 By admin 1 Comment

http://atheolous.blogspot.com/2010/10/correction-for-mr-camping-on-1st-thess.html

Lu 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

Being with the thief in Paradise is not “remembering” him. Jesus was correcting the thief by letting him know that He was remembering him that very day.

The false teaching of souls in heaven started a very long time ago. When the entire Bible is studied for truth, there is no doubt whatsover that there is a punctuation flaw in our Bibles in Luke 23:42. How ridiculous to think that Jesus walked this earth before His ascension in just His bodily form. And if He was not only in bodily form when He was resurrected, then, like Lazarus before Him, His soul must have made a trip to heaven, back to earth and then back to heaven again.

you might also be interested in The Penitent Thief | The Thief on the Cross

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The Rich Man and Lazarus by Geo. A. Brown

October 7, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

From Bible Standard April 1878 pages 51-56

THE imagery of the parable is borrowed from the opinions of the heathen concerning Hades, or the invisible world, the state of the dead-which the Jews, in the time of the Saviour’s ministry had in part imbibed. There is sufficient evidence, both internal and external, to prove that the passage is a parable.

Dr. Whitby argues conclusively that the passage is a parable, and states that it was not original with Jesus, but was quoted by him from some Jewish writings.

“That this is only a parable, and not a real history of what was actually done, is evident, 1st, because we find this very parable in the Gemara Babylonicum, whence it is cited by Mr. Sheringham, in the preface to his Joma; 2nd, from the circumstances of it, viz., the rich man’s lifting up his eyes in Hades, and seeing Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom his discourse with Abraham, his complaint of being tormented with flames, and his desire that Lazarus might be sent to cool his tongue ; and if all this be confessedly a parable why should the rest, which is the very parable in the Gemara, be accounted history?” (Whitby, Note on Luke xvi. 29.) [Read more...]

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Historical Antecedents to “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (Part One)

July 13, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Scholars have noted many parallels to “the Rich Man and Lazarus” found in ancient literature. Accordingly, David B. Gowler, in “The Contexts of Jesus’ Parables” (Copyright © 2006 Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University), p. 16-17, states:

“Some scholars have suggested that the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31) derives from an Egyptian folktale about the journey of Setme Chamois (led by his son Si-osire) through the realm of the dead. They believe Jesus adapted this Egyptian story for his own purposes and created the second half of the parable (16:27–31).

A closer examination of the evidence, however, calls for a broader, Greco-Roman comparative framework for reading the parable. Ronald Hock, for example, provides an apt comparison from the Lucian texts, Gallus and Cataplus, where a poor, marginalized artisan named Micyllus goes hungry from early morning to evening and must bear the slights, insults, and beatings of the powerful. When Micyllus and a rich tyrant named Megapenthes die, they both make the trip to Hades.

Megapenthes, like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, tries to strike a bargain to alter his situation, but to no avail. Finally, Micyllus and Megapenthes face Rhadamanthus, the judge of the underworld. Micyllus is judged to be pure and goes to the Isle of the Blessed. Megapenthes’s soul, however, is stained with corruption, and he will be appropriately punished. In Hock’s opinion, both this story and the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus betray the ancient Cynic philosophers’ views on the problems with wealth and the virtues of poverty.”

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“The Rich Man and Lazarus”

July 13, 2009 By admin 5 Comments

From Life, Death and Destiny by Warren Prestidge

In Luke 16:19-31, we find Jesus’ famous story about a rich man who went to torment after death, while Lazarus, a poor man who had passed a miserable existence outside the rich man’s gate, went to “Abraham’s bosom”. Does not this passage, then, teach that the wicked pass at death to torment in hell, while the righteous go immediately to bliss? My answer, and that of most reputable scholars today, is: no.

First, there is no doubt that this is a parable, not a report of actual events. It begins the same way many parables do: “There was a (rich) man…” (verse 19; compare Lk 16:1, 15:11, 14:16). As Craig Blomberg puts it, therefore, this is undoubtedly “a fictitious narrative.”¹

As with any parable, it is essential to distinguish between what it says and what it teaches. For example, the parable in the first half of this same chapter of Luke speaks of a steward cheating his master and says: good on him! But Jesus is not teaching that we should cheat our bosses. What He is teaching that we should give to the poor, in view of God’s coming reckoning. That, also, is what the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is teaching. The story is simply a vehicle for this teaching.

And a very effective vehicle, too. Why? Because, second, here Jesus is making ironical use of popular and Pharisaic lore. This is not a story which Jesus has made up “from scratch”. He is using a story the Pharisees themselves might have used, but turning it against them. There is a consensus about this amongst scholars. “In this parable Jesus is using a familiar folk-tale and adapting it to a new purpose by adding an unfamiliar twist to the end of it. The story of the wicked rich man and the pious poor man, whose fortunes were reversed in the afterlife, seems to have come originally from Egypt, and was popular among Jewish teachers. The picture of the fate in store for the good and the evil after death is also drawn from traditional Jewish sources…”² “The general motif of this story found its way into Jewish lore, and it is attested in some seven versions.”³ “Probably…a parable which made use of current Jewish thinking and is not intended to teach anything about the state of the dead.”⁴

Third, as it stands the story is simply irreconcilable with biblical teaching elsewhere. (a) This is the only place in the Bible where the dead are depicted as suffering in “hades” (or “sheol”, the Old Testament equivalent). Everywhere else, the word “hades” (verse 23) “has its Old Testament meaning, Sheol. It simply means death or the realm of death.”⁵ It is a place or state of “corruption” (Acts 2:27). “In the Bible, the ‘underworld’ is never hell but the place of the dead awaiting judgment.”⁶ (b) Elsewhere in the Bible, punishment or reward occurs only at the second coming of Christ, the “day of the Lord” (II Thess. 5:1-3), “at the resurrection of the just” (Lk. 14:14).⁷ Yet this parable is certainly set prior to that day, for the brothers of the rich man are still alive on earth (verse 28). No resurrection or Last Judgment has occurred yet!

No, Jesus is not endorsing the story’s paraphernalia. He is using it simply to meet his opponents, the Pharisees, on their own ground: using a story familiar to them, in order to convict them out of their own mouths, as it were, for both their indifference to the poor and their contemptuous dismissal of His own teaching and mission. Luke 16:14 says, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money…ridiculed him.” Now, Jesus turns the tables. But all that He actually endorses here is “Moses and the prophets” (verse 29). So then, “…it was not the intention of Jesus…to give a topographical guide to the underworld.”⁸ “…he does not intend here to give a preview of life after death. On this almost all commentators agree.”⁹

To conclude, this from Craig Blomberg:

One of the most misinterpreted of Jesus’ parables is the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), which has been used repeatedly to provide in great detail a realistic description of life after death. In fact, the picture of the rich man in Sheol and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom separated by a chasm but able to call to each other across it is paralleled by popular Jewish and Egyptian folk-tales. Jesus may have simply adopted well-known imagery but then adapted it in a new and surprising way to warn the godless wealthy about their need for repentance in this life before their fate is sealed….¹⁰

1 Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1987, p.23.

2 G. B. Caird, Saint Luke, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd, 1968, p.191.

3 I H Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1979, p.633.

4 G. E. Ladd, “Eschatology”, in The New Bible Dictionary, 1963, p.388.

5 E. E. Ellis, The Gospel of Luke, Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1981, p.157.

6 E. Schweizer, The Good News According to Luke, London: S.P.C.K., E.T.1984, p.261.

7 Compare, e.g., Matt. 10:15, 25:31-46; Lk. 9:23-26; John 5:28-29; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16; II Tim. 4:8; Rev. 20:13.

8 G. B. Caird, Saint Luke, p.191.

9 E. E. Ellis, The Gospel of Luke, p.202.

10 Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, pp.22-23.

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As In The Days of Noah

November 4, 2008 By david 1 Comment

The Bible uses both the Flood in Noah’s day and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to illustrate the coming judgment. Jesus said, “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:38-39). The flood drowned the wicked. What ever torment may have accompanied their drowning the end result of the Flood was death not life in torment.

Peter says, concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, ”he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:6). What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? They were burnt to ashes. They are an example of what will happen to the wicked. What then will happen to the wicked? They will be burnt to ashes. As Jude says, “They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” (Verse 7). They too will be burnt to ashes.

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The Second Death

November 1, 2008 By david 2 Comments

In thinking about the “second death” consider the following:

Were the Old Testament sacrifices a picture of God’s wrath against sin? And were the sacrifices tormented or killed?

Does the Law reveal God’s standard of justice? There are many crimes in the Law for which the punishment is death, are there any crimes for which the penalty is perpetual imprisonment under torture?

If the penalty of sin is eternal conscious torment where is this first spelled out in Scripture? If it is not clearly spelled out right from the beginning how does this reflect upon the justice of God?

Is it not true that from beginning to end the Bible puts forth the question of eternal destiny as a question of life and death, not a question of life in one place as opposed to life in another?

Sober reflection will lead one to the conclusion that the penalty for sin was only ever death as shown by the fate of the sacrifices, by the fact that the death penalty was the most extreme punishment and by the fact that the Bible does not from the very beginning put forth the idea of a life in perpetual torment as the penalty for sin. The question of eternal destiny is indeed a question of life or death.

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A Resurrection of the Wicked

October 29, 2008 By david 1 Comment

The wicked will be raised to face judgement. Daniel says, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Paul said, ” there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (Acts 24:15) Paul is saying nothing more or less than what Jesus said, that is that those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:29).
So far this is not controversial. The problem is that the nature of that”condemnation” has not been defined biblically in traditional Christianity. The Bible says that the final fate of the wicked will be complete destruction. They will in fact die a second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:14) In Scriptures too numerous to list it is said of the wicked that

They shall die and consume away;
They shall be cut off;
They shall perish and be destroyed;
They shall be burned up and be no more.

Further clarity is achieving in reaching a biblical definition of the fate of the wicked when we realise that Malachi says, the wicked will be ashes under the soles of your feet and that the oft mentioned undying worm and unquenchable fire do not torment lost souls, but consume the corpses of the wicked (Look at Isa. 66:24 then Mark 9:48 not the other way around).

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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.

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Conditional Immortality and Salvation

September 11, 2008 By david Leave a Comment

We believe that God alone has immortality. Human beings are mortal because of sin: John Brown lies a-moulding in the grave, lock stock and barrel, his soul does not go marching on.

We reject the notion that some part of the human being is immortal and will live on forever by nature.

We believe that salvation from sin and death comes only by accepting Christ as our Sin bearer, Saviour, and Sovereign. He is the Resurrection and the Life. Upon him and his coming depends the establishment of his kingdom, the resurrection, the reward of the righteous, the abolition of sin and its consequences, as well as the renewal and perfection of the earth.

We reject the notion that Christ as anything less than the Giver of Life. He is not only some kind of spiritual referee, a mere sorter of innately immortal souls, sending some “up” and some “down”.

We believe that death, as “the last enemy”, will be defeated only when Christ comes again.

We reject the unrealistic notion the death is a “friend”, a “doorway to a better place” or an immediate “promotion to glory”.

We are looking for a literal, physical coming of Jesus Christ to the earth as the climax of human history.

We reject all tendencies to see our death as the climax of history.

We believe hell is a Divine garbage dump. It is an incinerator in which all that is sinful or imperfect about this world and all who are in rebellion against God – will be finally destroyed when this world is made new.

We reject the idea that hell is a cosmic torture chamber where the wicked will kept alive in an eternity of pain and suffering.

We believe that believers will live forever with God and Christ in a whole new and improved universe in which only righteousness will dwell.

We do not believe that God will save only those people who believe as we do. We do however believe that these perspectives form part of “the big picture” necessary for a full understanding of who God is and what salvation is all about.

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“Hell” In Revelation

September 9, 2008 By admin 2 Comments

The Book of Revelation has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted in support of the doctrine of eternal conscious torment

For a discussion of Revelation 14:9-11 click here. This article is not on our website but is well worth reading.
For a discussion of Revelation 6:9-11 click here. This article too is not on our website but is well worth reading.
For a discussion of Revelation 20:10 visit Edward Fudge’s web site or click here.

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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).

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