ANNIHILATION

The etymology of the word annihilation is Latin, originating from nihil,

"nothing‖. In general, annihilationists differ from traditionalists in that they
believe that some, if not all, human souls will cease to exist after death.
B.B. Warfield described three forms of annihilationism:
(1) Materialism: that all human beings inevitably cease to exist
altogether at death
(2) Conditionalism (conditional immortality): that, while human
beings are naturally mortal, God imparts to the redeemed the gift
of immortality and allows the rest of humanity to sink into
nothingness
(3) Annihilationism proper: that man, being created immortal, fulfills
his destiny in salvation, while the reprobates fall into nonexistence
either through a direct act of God or through the corrosive effect
of evil.1

Chapter I – Introduction = a key argument

 HELL AS A CONSEQUENCE IS A REALITY

―The Bible clearly teaches that those who persistently reject God‘s mercy throught this
life will one day face him in judgment and finally be cast into hell. Hell is real.‖2

 THE TRADITIONALIST VIEW IS DYING, AND WITH GOOD REASON

―Many advocates of the traditional view now say the fire is likely metaphorical…the real
agony will be the smitten conscience and the sense of loss.‖3

 RESPECTED CHURCH LEADERS WILL NOT ENDORSE THE TRADITIONALIST VIEW OF

HELL

―When it comes to a literal fire, I [Billy Graham] don‘t preach it because I‘m not sure
about it.‖4

1
Benjamin B. Warfield, "Annihilationism," in Studies in Theology (New York: Oxford University Press,
1932), 447-57.
2
Edward William Fudge, ―The Case for Conditionalism,‖ in Two Views of Hell: A Biblical & Theological
Dialogue (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 19.
3
Fudge, 20.
4
Ibid.

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  SCRIPTURE DOES NOT TEACH ETERNAL TORTURE OF THE DAMNED

―Scripture teaches instead that those who go to hell will experience ‗everlasting
destruction‘5 in ‗the second death,‘6 for God is able to ‗destroy both body and soul in
hell.‖7,8

 GOD IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE, PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL, AND APART FROM HIM
THERE IS NO LIFE

―Since humans did not exist until God formed them and gave them life, each moment of
life is God‘s immediate gift of grace. Eventually God reclaims the breath of life and we
return to the ground from which we were taken (Eccles 3:18-22). The Bible always
portrays human beings within this framework of God‘s creation. We cannot exist for
even one moment apart from God, who made us.‖9

 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL IS NOT TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE, BUT RATHER, IN

PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY

―The biblical view of humans as God‘s dependent creatures differs sharply from the view
taught by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. According to Plato, each human being has
a body that is mortal and will finally die. Plato taught that each person also has a soul
that is immortal and cannot die.‖10

“beyond question, the soul is immortal and imperishable” 11

T h e e n t i r e d i a l o g u e o f P h a e d o is dedicated to making the above
argument. To say that this was a cursory or unimportant belief held by Plato is absurd; it
can be seen as a foundational principle throughout his teaching and thought.

 SHEOL IS THE GRAVE

Everyone will go to Sheol, that is, everyone will go to the grave. So, it is naturally
correct to speak of it as a place of punishment, for some, it will be. For others, the grave
will simply be a door to everlasting fellowship with God.

5
2 Th. 1:9
6
Re. 21:8
7
Mt. 10:28
8
Fudge, 20-1.
9
Fudge, 22, emphasis mine.
10
Ibid.
11
Plato, Phaedo (trans. Benjamin Jowett; Grand Blanc, MI: NuVision Publications, 2004), 100.

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Chapter II – The Old Testament

Here are some of the happy verses

 Psalm 1:6

“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish.”

 Psalm 37:20

“But the wicked will perish: The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish-vanish like smoke.”

 Psalm 92:9

“For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be
scattered.”

 Psalm 2:12

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare
up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

 Psalm 9:5

“You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their
name for ever and ever.”

 Psalm 37:38

“But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked will be cut
off.”

The Hebrew word used here is dmX (shamad). It appears 88 times in the Old
Testament. It only EVER means to completely destroy or annihilate.
It has no other meaning.

 Psalm 92:7

“That when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did iniquity flourished, it was
only that they might be destroyed forevermore.”

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*Major note*

On page 35 Fudge lists Judith as his only example of near-Biblical literature (because there are no
canonical texts) mentioning continual torture. Fudge actually didn‘t give himself (or the book of
Judith) enough credit. I don‘t know what translation he was using, but it‘s incorrect. Not bad.
Not, ―Well, it‘s alright, but it would have been better…‖ No. IT‘S WRONG. Like translating
tag (which is German for ―day‖) as ―dog‖. It isn‘t a bad translation, the translation is WRONG.
I know my Greek pretty well, and lo and behold, I actually have a copy of the Septuagint in the
original Greek (lucky thing), and here‘s what it really says (any of you Greek boys or girls out
there feel free to check me):

Judith 16:17

καί κλαύσονται / ἐν αἰσθήσει / ἕως αἰῶνος

and they will weep / in understanding / until eternity

The implication here is acknowledgment of wrongdoing and regret before annihilation, not
torture. There are only five nouns in Greek that could EVER even possibly be translated as
“pain”—and not one of them ever appears in this clause. What is more, the
noun αἴσθησις is quite distinct from the verb πάσχω, which means to feel physical pain or
experience physical suffering, or its nounal derivative, πάθημα,which are the sufferings
themselves. Neither of these last two words appears in the text. Only αἴσθησις, which is
something entirely different. In the Greek New Testament it is translated but one way, and
that is perception of the mind, not sensation of the body. In the NAS, it is translated
“discernment”, in the KJV, “judgment”, as in good judgment or prudence.
Conclusion? Even in Judith, one cannot find good exegetical evidence for the
doctrine of endless torture or affliction.

1. sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, affliction

λύπη
a. of persons mourning
1. to test (metals) by the touchstone, which is a black siliceous stone used to test the purity
of gold or silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either
metal
2. to question by applying torture
βασανίζω
3. to torture
4. to vex with grievous pains (of body or mind), to torment
5. to be harassed, distressed
a. of those who at sea are struggling with a head wind
1. great trouble, intense desire
πόνος
2. pain
1. to feel the pains of travail with, be in travail together
συνωδίνω
2. metaph. to undergo agony (like a woman in childbirth) along with
1. the pain of childbirth, travail pain, birth pangs
ὠδίν 2. intolerable anguish, in reference to the dire calamities that precede the advent of the
Messiah

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Chapter III – Teachings of Jesus

Though there are many important verses, mentioned, the major contention of traditionalists
revolves around one phrase in Matthew, that of ―weeping and gnashing of teeth‖…

 Matthew 13:40-43
40
”As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom
everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery
furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will
shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Jesus loves the Psalms. He quoted them and alluded to them all the time. He quoted them on the
cross. The verse 42 is clearly an allusion to Psalm 112:10. Let‘s take a look:

 Psalm 112:10

The wicked will see it and be grieved;

He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

If you threw me into a fiery furnace, there would definitely be weeping and gnashing of teeth, but
eventually, I would perish. I would be destroyed. Burned up. Annihilated. Is this making any
sense? Because it wasn‘t ambiguous to the original recipients of Psalms, and it wasn‘t ambiguous
to Christ‘s audience either. Things that burn are destroyed. If hell is a ―burning place,‖ which is
what Gehenna means, than whatever goes there, will be destroyed. This isn‘t heavy math here.

Chapter IV – Writings of Paul

ὄλεθρος – it means ―destruction.‖ That‘s it.

ὀλοθρεύω – it means ―to destroy.‖ That‘s it.

So what. Who cares. Well, it‘s pretty important, considering Paul uses them here, in 2
Thessalonians…

 2 Thessalonians 1:9

“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power.”

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…and here in Hebrews about the Destroyer in Egypt just prior to Israel‘s exodus…

 Hebrews 11:28

“By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed
the firstborn would not touch them.”

…and 3 other places in the New Testament.

Did the firstborn‘ of Egypt continue somehow? Or was the question of whether or not they
would ever breath air again up for debate? Here in Hebrews, as in 1 Thessolonians, as in every
other place in scripture where destructionn or annihilation is mentioned or noted, it denotes
finality; inevitability; conclusiveness; irrevocability.

ἀπόλλυμι – it means, ―to destroy‖, or, more literally, ―to destroy in a separating way,‖ as in 2
Thessolonians 1:9.

…and it appears 22 times in Pauline literature.

Not convinced it‘s talking about the spirit? Consider 2 Corinthians 4:

 2 Corinthians 4:3,4

“3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4in whose case
the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Both the lost and the saved are being destroyed physically. But apparently, only the lost are
being destroyed (perishing is kind; the Greek is ἀπόλλυμι, which is, ―to destroy‖) in some other
way mentioned here in 2 Corinthians. Hmm. If not physical, I wonder in what way it could be.

*Editorial*

It is more than clear that men—for centuries—have come to the words of Christ and Paul with a
Platonic assumption: that the soul IS immortal. Like the giant IS tall. We have come for too long
to the scriptures conferring non-scriptural characteristics to the soul, and it has affected how we
hear what God is trying to say to us. This must end here. Today.

Now.