”Annihilationism
Main article:
Annihilationism
As with other Jewish writings of the
Second Temple period, the New Testament text distinguishes two words, both translated "Hell" in older English Bibles:
Hades, "the grave", and
Gehenna where God "can destroy both body and soul". A minority of Christians read this to mean that neither
Hades nor
Gehenna are eternal but refer to the ultimate destruction of the wicked in the
Lake of Fire in a consuming fire, but which because of the Greek words used in translating from the Hebrew text has become confused with Greek myths and ideas. From the sixth century BC onward, the Greeks developed pagan ideas for the dead, and of reincarnation and even transmigration of souls. Christians picked up these pagan beliefs inferred by the Greek of immortality of the soul, or spirit being of a mortal individual, which survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, which is at odds and in contrast to the scriptural teaching that the dead go to the grave and know nothing and then at the end, an eternal oblivion of the wicked and an eternal life for the saints. Scripture makes clear that the dead are awaiting resurrection at the last judgment, when Christ comes and also when each person will receive his reward or are part of those lost with the wicked.
The Greek words used for those Bibles written in Greek, came loaded with ideas not in line with the original Hebrew, but since at the time, Greek was used as basically English is used today to communicate between people across the world, it was translated into these Greek words, and giving an incorrect understanding of the penalty of sin. In the Hebrew text when people died they went to
Sheol, the grave and the wicked ultimately went to Gehenna which is the consuming by fire. So when the grave or the eternal oblivion of the wicked was translated into Greek, the word Hades was sometimes used, which is a Greek term for the realm of the dead. Nevertheless, the meaning depending on context was the grave, death, or the end of the wicked in which they are ultimately destroyed or perish. So we see where the grave or death or eventual destruction of the wicked, was translated using Greek words that since they had no exact ones to use, became a mix of mistranslation, pagan influence, and Greek myth associated with the word, but its original meaning was simple death or the destruction of the wicked at the end.
Christian mortalism is the doctrine that all men and women, including Christians, must die, and do not continue and are not conscious after death. Therefore,
annihilationism includes the doctrine that "the wicked" are also destroyed rather than
tormented forever in traditional "Hell" or the
lake of fire. Christian mortalism and annihilationism are directly related to the doctrine of
conditional immortality, the idea that a human
soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life at the
Second Coming of Christ and the
resurrection of the dead. Such a belief is based on the many texts which state that the wicked perish:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16 (KJV)."For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been."
Obadiah 1:15–16(KJV).
Annihilationism asserts that God will eventually destroy or annihilate the wicked when they are consumed in the
Lake of Fire at the end, leaving only the righteous to live on in
immortality.
Conditional immortality asserts that souls are naturally mortal, and those who reject Christ are separated from the sustaining power of God, thus dying off on their own.
This is seen in the texts making clear the alternatives at the end are to perish or to have eternal, everlasting life:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 6:23 (KJV)
And that the consequence for sin at the day of judgment when God will judge both the living and the dead when He appears is death, not burning forever. God's gift is eternal life, very different from the penalty of sin:
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."
2 Peter 2:9. (KJV)."As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world."
Matthew 13:40 (KJV)."So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
Matthew 13:49–50 (KJV).
The mortality of the soul has been held throughout the history of both Judaism and Christianity,
[32][33] with many biblical scholars looking at the issue through the Hebrew text, have denied the teaching of innate immortality.
[34][35] Rejection of the
immortality of the soul, and advocacy of
Christian mortalism, was a feature of Protestantism since the early days of the
Reformation with
Martin Luther himself rejecting the traditional idea, though his view did not carry into orthodox
Lutheranism. One of the most notable English opponents of the immortality of the soul was
Thomas Hobbes who describes the idea as a Greek "contagion" in Christian doctrine.
[36] Modern proponents of conditional immortality include as denominations the
Seventh-day Adventists,
Bible Students,
Jehovah's Witnesses,
Christadelphians, and some other
Protestant Christians.
