Annihilation? Will unbelievers face everlasting torment, or simply cease to exist?
What really happens to those who die without a saving relationship with Christ? Traditional theology has always affirmed, for the most part, that unbelievers face not only banishment from any hope of heaven, but conscious torment in a locality called "hell." Indeed, the traditional belief in an eternal state of suffering has fallen out of vogue in society, if it ever existed, and even among some evangelicals. Bibletruth sees this drift as inherently dangerous, significant, and necessarily injurious in both its subtlety and long-term effects.
Arguments in favor of annihilationism:
1. How could a God of love send people to such a horrifying place as hell?
This sort of argument enjoys widespread sentiment today, and usually relies on those clusters of verses that describe or depict God's compassion, concern, and willingness to forgive (1 John 4:8, 16; Eph. 2:4-7; Ezk. 33:11; many other places).
ANSWER: The Bible equally employs terms that describe other attributes of God, such as His justice, anger, and holiness. Indeed, this same God of love is also called "a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29), "holy" (1 Pet. 1:16), and even "jealous" (Exod. 34:14). Taking a few verses in isolation cannot do the biblical teaching on divine retribution justice, any more than lumping together verses on His wrath and claiming God has no mercy. Once again, we must take the full teaching of Scripture into consideration prior to formulating our conclusions.
Furthermore, other acts of God that depict His judgment are not called into question by evangelicals. For example, God overthrew the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their sin (Gen. 19:23-25), sent an angel to destroy 185,000 Assyrians (Isa. 37:36), and drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea (Exod. 14:10-31). Many more instances could be cited of God displaying His judgment in ways that portray His full attributes, such as justice, holiness and divine vindication.
2. Many verses describe judgment in terms of "destruction," implying it does not endure.
ANSWER: In Matthew 3:12 we read:
"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
Some annihilationists argue that the language here requires the chaff to be consumed not tormented. Yet they cannot seem to explain why Matthew describes the fire as "unquenchable." If the chaff gets consumed by the fire, why use the term "unquenchable"?
Also, these passages that portray judgment in terms of destruction must also be balanced with those that speak of everlasting punishment (Mark 9:48; Daniel 12:2; Jude 6, 7; Rev. 14:9-11, 19:3).
The Bible alone defines its own terms, and destruction in this sense refers to "eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thess. 1:9).
3. Eternal "fire" would seem to indicate complete destruction, not enduring pain.
ANSWER: This is answered similarly to destruction above. The Bible uses everlasting fire to describe the final doom of those who do not repent (see Jude 7; Rev. 20:10; Heb. 10:26-27), but also depicts this condition as enduring God's wrath (Rom. 2:8-9). How can the "annihilated" experience God's wrath? In simple terms, they are as they once once were, if we receive the conclusions of the annihilationists. Yet listen to the words of Jesus when He predicts the final condition of Judas Iscariot:
"The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
Whether the Bible uses terms such as fire or destruction is not the point. We have to see how they are used in context. We might reply to the annihilationists how they can possibly arrive at a doctrine of eternal life as unending bliss using their logic. "Life" as we know it, always comes to an end. Yet they properly allow for this life to continue unending, yet they will not allow that for eternal death.
4. The punishment seems disproportionate to the sins committed.
ANSWER: If this is the case, then God could only "annihilate" sinners for a small period of time, since eternal annihilation would also not seem to fit the crime. But who are we to judge the severity of sins since we are not sinning against ourselves, but against a holy God who has perfect standards. The only reliable source we have to learn information about God is the Word of God. We cannot discard truths simply because they do not seem to fit with our reasoning or personal desires. Think of how heinous a crime the original sin of Adam was, a sin that plunged humanity into untold misery, and for most, eternal misery. Yet the Bible teaches that God views the so-called smallest sin as worthy of guilt and punishment (James 2:10).
In conclusion, we cannot help but believe that teachings such as annihilationism find footing among theologians not because they find it in Scripture, but because they can be more easily reconciled with the tastes of a modern audience. But once again we can only reliably learn anything about God from His Word, not from our gut instincts, or worse, the sentiments of the age in which we live.