Hell: Conditional Immortality/Annihilation

Dr. Will Ryan, Pastor Matt, and Jana examine the Conditional
Immortality/Annihilation view of hell. We look at the Biblical and
philosophical arguments and then the strengths and weaknesses.
Conditional immortality states that immortality is not the default
position of humans in this view. Adam and Eve’s life depended upon
eating from the tree of life the eternal life of humanity is in
eating from the true tree of Life – Jesus.  • Conditional
Immortality has an extremely strong case biblically. It connects
the punishment for sin and the rejection of God from beginning to
end in the Bible.    Conditionalists (CI) don’t have to
reinterpret death, second death, destruction, perish, and more to
mean separation or torment. They let words mean what they normally
mean.    Jesus’ death on the cross actually makes sense in a
substitutionary atonement model with CI VS ECT. Jesus actually
experiences and overcomes the wages of sin… DEATH (Not eternal
torment).    In the conditionalist view God actually conquers
sin and eliminates it from the cosmos.    Conditionalist do
not fall into the platonic views of the soul being immortal that
many in the early church fell into but stick to the Hebrew view
that goes back to the beginning.  If we are immortal by nature
then Hell is not really a punishment but a choice of location,
instead of the continual biblical motif of choosing life or death.
   In the apostolic writings there is never a mention of Hell
as eternal torment. In the gospel presentations in Acts, Hell is
never mentioned. Judgement and the one who judges is. When the
Apostles refer to this judgement it is never eternal torment.
   In CI the punishment fits the crime and God says that he
values proper scales when it comes to justice. CI seems to be more
just in this way than traditionalism.    CI’s version of
final judgement is both just and merciful. Unending torment seems
to go against the character of God who says over and over that “His
anger only last for a moment, but favor lasts for a lifetime”. The
traditional view has God’s wrath lasting forever which is nowhere
in scripture.    CI fits more with the character of God than
ECT overall. A God who respects free will, is merciful, but will
let people have what they desire and if that is their own will then
God is saddened but obliged to remove his sustaining hand and let
them cease to exist.