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Why write about annihilationism?

by | Oct 11, 2018 | Annihilationism, Minor Groups & Issues

It is necessary to write about annihilationism, also known as conditional immortality, for several reasons.

  1. It is gaining ground within Christianity.
  2. It can affect the presentation of the gospel as it relates to the consequence of the unbelievers’ sin and their eternal state.
  3. We want to represent God properly, so is it true or not?
  4. We want to know the true state of the unbeliever regarding eternity.
  5. We want to understand God’s holiness, love, and righteousness, as they relate to His judgment of people.
  6. We want to avoid the trap of traditionalism that potentially might not be scriptural.

The Bible is the final authority in everything it addresses. So, is the doctrine of conditional immortality false teaching according to the Bible or is it true? After people die, do they suffer in hell forever or are they annihilated? The answers to these questions are very important because they can affect our evangelism, our presentation of the gospel, how we view God, how we present God, what we think of the nature of humanity, etc. In turn, these answers affect other areas of Scripture. The Bible says, a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Galatians 5:9), and we don’t want to have even a little error in our theological beliefs.

However, I think the primary reason that we need to examine annihilationism is to see if it’s true. If it is true, then it means that the majority of the Christian church throughout its entire history has misunderstood the nature of God’s judgment upon the unbelievers. Both annihilationists and traditionalists agree that Christians will enjoy eternal bliss with God. The disagreement is whether or not the unbelievers will experience the traditional view of eternal conscious torment, or be annihilated and have no existence. So, which is true?

As I’ve mentioned above, we all have assumptions about what we believe. As a Christian apologist, mine are constantly cross-examined by Christians and non-Christians alike. For the most part, this has been very healthy because I am routinely forced to refine my positions and seek to support them with Scripture – or have them changed by Scripture. That should be your attitude as well.

So, is annihilationism true? That’s what the series of articles is about.

 

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