Everybody has assumptions. And in my opinion, after reading through lots of material written by conditionalists, I believe that many of them have gone to the Bible with preconceived ideas looking for justification to support them. I also believe many others, who were more open-minded, have been convinced that certain annihilationist ideas are biblical. I think that, for the most part, they are sincere people who want to understand God’s word accurately.

Nevertheless, I offer the following list of basic assumptions/beliefs that must be in place or are soon adopted by those who become conditionalists. I have produced this in outline form so that I can make brief comments after each one.

1. Destruction of a person means non-existence
   1. This is an assumption made by every conditionalist I’ve encountered. A biblical examination of the words used for destruction means that there is a wide variety of usages depending on the context.  Destruction does not necessitate a person’s nonexistence.
   2. What does the destruction of people mean according to the New Testament?
2. Natural mortality of the human soul
   1. We do not know whether God creates people with the inherent immortality of their souls, or that he sustains their existence by the exertion of his will, or that all people are naturally mortal in their souls so that when the physical body dies, the soul ceases to have existence and life. But, annihilationists assume that when God creates a person, his eternal existence is not a necessary part of his nature and that his existence must be sustained by God.
3. A person’s body and soul are united in such a way that when the body dies, the soul dies.
   1. This is closely related to the previous point. Conditionalists unite the body and soul very closely. They assume that when the physical life ceases the soul cannot continue.  Some see this as immediate annihilation while others adopt a soul-sleep position.  This is very problematic.
4. Soul sleep
   1. Soul Sleep is the position that a person’s essence continues in the afterlife but in a state of dormancy where no conscious activity occurs.  Other than this, there isn’t much clarification. This does not seem to be supported by Scripture since many scriptures speak of conscious existence after death such as 2 Cor. 5:18; 2 Cor. 12:2; Luke 16:19-31.
5. Immortality of the soul is a pagan concept
   1. I routinely encountered the belief that the natural immortality of the soul is pagan in origin. Saying it doesn’t make it so. The issue is whether or not Scripture teaches it. Furthermore, there are plenty of common ideas between pagan thought and Christian thought. The conditionalist needs to be careful with his assertion because the sword cuts both ways.  See the article, Is the immortal soul is a Greek concept adopted by the early church? for more information on this.  The fact is that there are lots of similarities between biblical events and ideas and paganism.  Why do the annihilationists only focus on one of those?  To make eternal conscious torment bad via guilt by association.
6. God’s eternal punishment is the wicked’s nonexistence
   1. Conditionalists equate God’s eternal judgment, His eternal punishment with a person’s nonexistence. They shift the definition from the action to the consequence. In other words, they define God’s eternal punishment as everlasting because the people don’t exist anymore, forever. But this is problematic.  How does something that does not exist undergo punishment?  It can’t.  It is nothing.  So, they conflate punishment with nothingness.  See the article Conditionalism and the challenge of conflating eternal punishment with non-existence
7. The word “forever,” based on the Greek aion which can mean for an age, a period of time
   1. The New Testament Greek uses the word aion (and its different forms) to mean “age,” or a “period of time,” or even “forever.” But, in the context of God and people, it seems that interpretations from conditionalists always lean in the favor of the presuppositions so that God himself is eternal (aionos), but man’s eternal (aionos) punishment is not.  After all, you can’t be punished forever, if you don’t exist.
8. Immortality must given bestowed upon a person upon belief in Christ
   1. This is one of the main arguments of conditionalists.  They believe that immortality belongs to God alone and he grants it only to those who believe in Christ. The rest are annihilated.  But, angels don’t die (Luke 20:36) but they are never said to be immortal.  See also, 1 Tim. 6:16, Annihilationism, and God alone has immortality
9. Infinite punishment is wrong for finite sins
   1. This is more of an emotional argument that is not really based on logic. But annihilationists typically argue about moral propriety in relationship to what God ought to do in relationship to our sin.  See Eternal Conscious Torment would mean that God is not just to punish finite sin infinitely
10. God’s love means he won’t punish people forever.
    1. This is another emotionally based argument that focuses on the love of God and reduces his majesty, holiness, and righteousness so that they can argue against eternal conscious torment.  See Eternal Conscious Torment makes God unloving

These 10 basic assumptions are woven throughout conditionalist writings.  Not all conditionalists hold to all points.  In fact, many disagree with each other on various issues.

Finally, I want to make it clear that I’m not judging their salvation.  I do not believe that adopting conditionalism means someone is not a Christian. I believe they are in error.  See, Does belief in annihilationism mean you are not a Christian?