More on Annihiliationism and the Hot Topic of Hell

A series from Edward Fudge on Hell is embedded on the Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism website.

Here is the first one

The rest can be viewed Conditional Iimmortality Around the web. I am  looking forward to Edward Fudge's new edition of The Fire that Consumes:

 

Twenty-nine years after publication, a new, completely-revised, third edition of The Fire That Consumes is expected to make its debut at the Christian Scholars Conference. In one of the new features of the book, I interact throughout with seventeen authors of twelve other books that have been published since 1982 in response to The Fire That Consumes. Keep an eye on your future gracEmail family notes for exciting details about this!

Annihiliationism: Is Hell Under Fire?

Warren Prestidge spoke about the new book Hell under FIre

"Why is Universalism so commonly held today even among mainstream Christians? Or, if they don’t actually advocate Universalism, why do so many Christians today, including so many Christian pastors and teachers, pretty much avoid the whole subject of final judgment all together, even though it’s standard, both in the Bible and in all Christian traditions?

And the main reason, surely – or at least one of the two or three main reasons – is that even Christians today are utterly embarrassed by, and in fact ashamed of, the Traditionalist view of hell!And James Packer himself agrees with this. He says: “the deepest motivation in {Universalists’} minds has always been revolt against mainstream belief in endless punishment in hell for some people” (p171). In the first essay in the book, J. Albert Mohler Jr. traces something of the growing moral disquiet about this doctrine during the 19th Century.  He writes: “Of all the articles of accepted Christian orthodoxy that troubled the consciences of Victorian churchmen, none caused more anxiety than the everlasting punishment of the wicked.”

from

Hell Under Fire a CIANZ conference address by Warren Prestidge

You can read the rest of the article as well as the latest magazine on the Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism website.

Issue 47 of From Death to Life is now available

The Conditional Immortality Association of New Zealand Inc. is a non-profit organization established to promote a Biblical understanding of human nature, life, death and eternity as taught throughout Scripture. From Death to Life is published by www.afterlife.co.nz. The magazine explores Conditional Immortality, also called Soul Sleep and Annihiliationism. Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism.

Issue 47 of From Death to Life is now available.

Conditional Immortality

Conditionalism, or conditional immortality, is essentially a slightly more nuanced view ofannihilationism. That is, it agrees with annihilationism that the fate of the unrighteous is annihilation (i.e. non-existence), yet it goes one step further by positing that the reason this is their fate is due to the fact that humans are not born naturally immortal. In other words, we are not born with an immortal soul (contrary to the traditional teaching of most of Christendom).

http://diglot.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/the-fate-of-the-unrighteous-part-i/

I am looking forward to the rest of the series. The view that the soul is not by nature immortal is becoming increasing popular. Hurrah for that! I think the internet allows a wonderful free market in ideas.
I found the comments on the above post a good read too.  Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism is one website that is dedicated to exploring these issues.
If you know of other great links please leave them in the comments

Conditional Immortality and the Human Person

I also become convinced that since I am not an immortal immortal ghost living inside a body, when my body dies I will not escape death and live on in heaven, or the underworld, or the astral plane or anything of that sort. I think the Bible teaches that death is very real and it puts an end to our life. There is no conscious state of any sort immediately following death. There is noting at all. Of course, I am a Christian and I do believe in the resurrection of the dead, but that obviously doesn’t happen when a person dies, or I think somebody would have noticed by now.

http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/index.php/luke-2343-and-soul-sleep/

Yes I too am convinced that I am a living soul, not that I have a separate part of me called a soul that goes somewhere when I die.
I have Joel Green's books very helpful on this topic. Here is an article that summaries one of this book which covers the issue of conditional immortality and the  soul:

Adam has much in common with the animals. They are of the earth (Gen. 1:24). They have the breath of life (Gen. 6:17; 7:15,22). They are living souls (Gen. 1:21, 24, 30). Stone concludes: “No exegetical justification exists for finding here the notion of abstract, immortal, disembodied personhood that we usually mean when we speak of the “soul” (p59).
This does not reduce humanity to the level of brute beast. It does, however, recognise that physicality is a vital element to human existence. It is wrong to distinguish the “physical” from the “spiritual”. The fate of all creation hinges on human destiny; a truly human person is a social person; humanity stands responsible to obey God’s word and is called to be his “image” before creation, but none of this requires an “immortal soul” or “substance dualism”. Neuroscience then, far from undermining Christian belief, encourages a closer reading of the text and supports the biblical view of human person-hood.

Hell, Annihilationism is a hot topic!

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-mic-what-are-you-hearing-about-hell invited others to comment on the doctrine of hell. Many people have commented ( over 300 comments when I last looked: the doctrine of  hell is a topic being discussed on the web today. I quote from Hell Under Fire | Annihilationism , Universalism or the Traditional View 

First up I think we in CIANZ ought to be encouraged by this book, Hell Under Fire. Seriously! First, the fact that nine dedicated scholars have gone to such lengths to produce this combined case shows that the Traditional view of hell – unending torment – really is “under fire” today. That’s a very good thing, in so far as it is testimony to the fact that our view, Conditional Immortality, is taken very seriously today, not just by a few on the fringe, but by all who know the subject, including evangelical Christian leaders. As the book itself says, challenges to the Traditional view have “moved from the periphery of evangelicalism to its center” (p29).

Difficult passages for Conditional Immortality?

http://igspong.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-souls-not-asleep.html

For soul-sleepers, the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31 is difficult to explain away. It indicates a consciousness after death. So, what is the soul-sleep theory? It purports that between death and the resurrection, the soul sleeps and is not conscious.  Another difficult passage for soul-sleepers to explain is Luke 23:43 where Jesus tells the thief on the cross, today you shall be with me in paradise. 2 Corinthians 5:8 speaks of being absent from the body and at home with the Lord. In Philippians 1:21-24 Paul desired to depart this flesh and be with Christ. Revelation 6:9-11 speaks of slain souls that cried with a loud voice. The theory of soul sleep is a dubious, one-sided view which takes one set of passages as literal and others as non-literal metaphors.

Here are the articles on this website that address the issues the blogger raises
 1. Lazarus and the Rich Man

•  The Rich Man and Lazarus/ 
• The Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31/
  
•  The Rich Man and Lazarus by-Geo A Brown/ 
• Historical Antecedents to The Rich Man and Lazarus Part One {sorry I have no idea about part 2}

2.The Thief on the Cross

•  The Penitent Thief
  

3. Absent from the body Present with the Lord

•  Absent from the Body to be with Christ 

4. Depart and be with Christ 

• Absent from the body to be with Christ
  

5. Revelation 6:9-11 

• The Souls under the altar
  

There are probably other articles too.

The Thief on the Cross

Lu 23:42  And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

Being with the thief in Paradise is not "remembering" him. Jesus was correcting the thief by letting him know that He was remembering him that very day.

The false teaching of souls in heaven started a very long time ago. When the entire Bible is studied for truth, there is no doubt whatsover that there is a punctuation flaw in our Bibles in Luke 23:42. How ridiculous to think that Jesus walked this earth before His ascension in just His bodily form. And if He was not only in bodily form when He was resurrected, then, like Lazarus before Him, His soul must have made a trip to heaven, back to earth and then back to heaven again.

http://atheolous.blogspot.com/2010/10/correction-for-mr-camping-on-1st-thess.html

On this same topic is the following article which might be of interest
The Thief on the Cross

Conditional Immortality and Revelation

Conditional immortality and the millennium part 4

"There is nothing in the Revelation that contradicts conditional immortality. Indeed, the passages clearly say that the damned will be killed. References to perpetual torture are all references to spiritual beings."

You can read more on conditional immortality and the book of Revelation
Will Enock and Elijah be the end time prophets
also

and
Annihiliationism : the worms and the fire of hell?

The Rich Man and Lazarus

This metaphor of coming to heaven is found in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in Luke 16:19-31. Our dying prayer is to be carried safely to heaven to rest in God’s arms. With this confidence, we can face death without fear, and look at the “narrow chamber” of our tomb like a “bedroom” in which we sleep peacefully until the Lord awakens our bodies in the resurrection of the dead. (Note: this is not a reference to “soul sleep,” but as the story of Lazarus makes clear, our souls are immediately taken to heaven or hell and remain conscious. It’s our bodies that await the reawakening of the resurrection on the Last Day.) The glorious sight that our eyes will see when they are awakened from death is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Our heart’s treasure and portion, our greatest gain is Jesus our Savior.

http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com/2010/09/lord-thee-i-love-with-all-my-heart.html

Does the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus teach that our souls " are immediately taken to heaven or hell and remain conscious"?
Does Jesus parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) establish the fact that the wicked are even now suffering conscious torment?
Please read this article
The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus

The passage says nothing at all about souls and spirits, only of whole persons, and if taken literally would contradict all other Scriptures on this topic (c.f. 25 with Psa. 6:5 )

-------------
http://3-ringbinder.blogspot.com/2010/09/explanation-of-my-controversial-though.html

... I don’t just believe this because it is convenient or makes me feel better. I believe that the Bible does actually teach that the damned will be destroyed, and that the traditional view of eternal torment, as well as universalism (which likewise affirms universal human immortality), are incorrect.

Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep is the doctrine incorrect?

In the New Testament we see Paul say in

 

2 Cor. 5:8, "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."  Paul is clearly telling us that when he dies, he will go and be with the Lord.  Furthermore, at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:1-8) we see Moses and Elijah who were alive.  There was no soul sleep with them.

Therefore, the doctrine of soul sleep is incorrect.  The soul continues on after death.  The wicked face the judgment of God, and the Christians will dwell in His presence.

http://carm.org/soul-sleep ( emphasis mine)

I think the issue is a little more complicated! Here are some articles that address these passages

Conditional Immortality ? answering absent from the body to be with Christ

Conditional Immortality ? The Mount of Transfiguration Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-9, Luke 9:28-36 by Warren Prestidge

See also
What is Conditional Immortality ? A Brief Summary
the above article lists the passages that I think clearly teach that we do not have immortal soul.

Annihilationism is a motivator for evangelism

But the point of all of this is not to determine here and now which doctrine is right; although much study should be given to these points by any faithful Christian. The point here is to recognize that our works are vitally important. That we need to have a biblical vision of hell as well as that biblical vision of "suffering loss". The first will propel us forth to reach the lost (something I confess that I have not been very faithful in); the second will propel us (as has been on my heart for many years now) to reach those in the church who are not building properly or not building at all on the foundation of Jesus they have received from God. While the Lord might have in mind for me to continue to reach those in the church who are not building with fire-proof materials, still, I believe He would have me sharpen my vision of hell for those that are lost as well. Both visions will keep us faithful in "doing" and will cause us to be building with fire-proof materials that will stand in the coming judgment.

http://womenwalkinginvictory.blogspot.com/2010/07/envisioning-hell.html
The author doesn't decide which "version" of hell he thinks the Bible teaches, he does acknowlegde that it should be done. He makes an important point: by ignoring hell because the issue is too hard, we are missing an motivator for evangelism.  We need lives that are invested in eternity. As you know, I am convinced of annihilationism and conditional immortality. That fact that life is only found in Christ is a motivator for me to share my faith. It also motives me to live my present life in light of eternity.

Annihilation

http://www.alanhartung.com/2004/12/why_is_conditional_immortality_important/

This is a pretty hot issue right now. I am curious if anyone knows of a really good pro-conditional immortality article I could read? I have found plenty of stuff negating it, but I would like to read something that clearly outlines the entire basis. The page up above is a start, but I’d like to read more. I can’t seem to find much.

There are  many articles that explore these issues on the <a href="http://www.afterlife.co.nz//">Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism</a> website.
Places to start :

An index of the series is here
Conditional Immortality Videos : Life Death and the Resurrection
and an article
What is conditional immortality?

Link to the Debate on Hell

http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=2523
You can listen to the mp3 of the debate that I mentioned in the previous post.
and also
http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=5953
It reminds me how annihilation is an important doctrine.

Annihilation

 M and M have updated their blog. I did a wee hunt and found their articles on hell

www.mandm.org.nz/2008/06/william-lane-craig-raymond-bradley-and-the-problem-of-hell-part-one.html

www.mandm.org.nz/2008/06/william-lane-craig-raymond-bradley-and-the-problem-of-hell-part-two.html

Professor Raymond Bradley’s contention that, the bible teaches that God will torture people endlessly for their beliefs.

In essence, then, {he}  is mistaken. It is based on an excessively literalistic reading of Apocalyptic literature. Bradley’s argument is not an argument for atheism. It can only succeed as an argument for atheism if one accepts both the infallibility of scripture and an excessively literalistic reading of the text, one that fails to take into account the genre of Jewish Apocalyptic writings. The correct response to this objection is not to become an atheist but to reject poor hermeneutics.

The issue of annihilation is important for Christians to consider. One reason is how we are able to give the reasons for the hope we have: We have a God who is just and will destroy all evil not torture evil doers for ever.

Conditional Immortality

http://atheolous.blogspot.com/2010/09/place-where-deceased-believers-are.html

The scriptures are very clear regarding soul sleep, as well as annihilation. It is next to impossible for most professing believers to admit it, but the Jehovah's Witnesses got this one right. The Reformed Christians got it wrong.

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/watchman/biblical_case_for_annihilationis.htm

A report by the Evangelical Alliance Commission on Unity and Truth Among Evangelicals (ACUTE) produced a short book (approx. 150 pages) in 2000 on the nature of Hell. It was the result of a two-year study on “Hell” by a working group of ACUTE which comes to this conclusion and recommendations: 
“We recognize that the interpretation of hell in terms of conditional immortality is a significant minority evangelical view. Furthermore, we believe that the traditionalist-conditionalist debate on hell should be regarded as a secondary rather a primary issue for evangelical theology. Although hell is a profoundly serious matter, we view the holding of either one of these two views of it over against the other to be neither essential in respect of Christian doctrine, nor finally definitive of what it means to be an evangelical Christian.” (cited by Sylvia Penny, Book Review, The nature of Hell, Search mag., Feb/Mar 2002, The Open Bible Trust, p.7)

Strong emotional reactions are to be expected from those whose beliefs are challenged by biblical scholarship. In some cases, the reaction has taken the form of harassment or guilt by associations.
Pinnock mentions some of the tactics of harassment used to discredit those evangelical scholars who have abandoned the traditional view. One of the tactics has been to associate such scholars with liberals or cultic groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphians and Seventh-Day Adventists. Pinnock writes:
 It seems that a new criterion for truth has been discovered which says that if Adventists or liberal hold any view, that view must be wrong. Apparently a truth claim can be decided by its association and does not need to be tested by public criteria in open debate. Such an argument, though useless in intelligent discussion, can be effective with the ignorant who are fooled by such rhetoric.

Yes, let us please take a look at the doctrine of  conditional immortality in light of what the Bible says not just dismiss the doctrine because of association.

Discussion of Conditional Immorality, The Tree of Life and posse non peccare

http://www.puritanboard.com/f15/conditional-immortality-50219/
I was going to post a comment with some thoughts  directly  to the above thread but it is a closed forum: I can not join because I can agree to their statement of faith.
However here is an extract from the original post

Does anyone believe that Adam and Eve had conditional immortality prior to the fall? Meaning that they had the ability to die, but were sustained by the tree of life?

The author quotes Erickson

"I would suggest the concept of conditional immortality as the state of Adam before the fall. He was not inherently able to live forever, but he need not have died. Given the right conditions, he could have lived on forever: This may be the meaning of God's words when he decided to expel Adam and Eve from Eden and from the presence of the tree of life: "and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (3:22). The impression is given that Adam, even after the fall, could have lived forever if he had eaten the fruit of the tree of life. What happened at the time of his explusion from Eden was that man, who formerly could have lived forever or died, was now separated from those conditions which made eternal life possible, and thus it became inevitable that he die. Previously he *could* die; now he *would* die. This also means that Jesus was born with a body that was subject to death. He had to eat to live; had he failed to eat he would have starved to death.

We should note that there were other changes as a result of sin. In Eden man had a body which could become diseased; after the fall there were diseases for him to contract. The curse, involving the coming of death to mankind, also included a whole host of ills which would lead to death. Paul tells us that someday this set of conditions will be removed, and the whole creation delivered from this 'bondage to decay' (Rom 8:18-23).

To sum up: the potential of death was within the creation from the beginning. But the potential of eternal life was also there. Sin, in the case of Adam and each of us, means that death is no longer merely potential but actual."
Erickson, "Christian Theology" p. 613

This would seem to be the physical counterpart to posse peccare, posse non peccare. The conditional aspect of immortality would have been removed had Adam fulfilled the covenant.

Thoughts?

Both John Calvin and Millard Erickson spoke of pre-fall humanity as capable of not sinning (posse non peccare) before the fall, thus being conditionally immortal. The idea being that if Adam and Eve had not sinned they would have eventually eaten of the tree of life and thus become immortal. Then both Calvin and Erickson (in my opinion) ruin their arguments by going on to say that in spite of breaking the prohibition, they still have immortality!

You can find some more thoughts: The Tree of Life and Conditional Immortality

Conditional Immortality

Reflecting on Joel Green's book Body, Soul and Human Life..

That being said, what do you think?  How will this change in the view of human persons be received by the Christian community?  Do you think Christians will simply attempt to debunk the science?  Or perhaps argue that science doesn’t provide relevant answers to these types of questions?  Alternatively, does the Christian faith require this ‘traditional’ view of a separate and immortal soul that is distinct from the material body?  Is it possible that the traditional view is wrong or that this view doesn’t accurately represent the description of human persons provided in the Bible?

http://scienceandtheology.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/does-the-christian-faith-require-an-immortal-soul/

I believe the Christian faith does not require a separate and immortal soul. My hope is the return of Christ and the physical resurrection of the dead.
1 Thess 3:13-18
I believe that God alone has immortality. I believe in conditional immortality.
I believe this views has implications for how we view the human person.

Annihilation

In 1868, Mill argued in the British Parliament that life imprisonment was 'less severe indeed in appearance, and therefore less efficacious, but far more cruel in reality' than capital punishment. This got me thinking about the philosophy and theology of eternal punishment.

from http://thinkingsoldier.blogspot.com/2010/03/philosophy-and-theology-of-eternal.html
He posts further thoughts and some quotes in another post
http://thinkingsoldier.blogspot.com/2010/08/case-for-annihilationism.html
including this one from Stott:

I [Stott] am hesitant to have written these things [about annihilationism], partly because I have a great respect for longstanding tradition which claims to be a true interpretation of Scripture, and do not lightly set it aside, and partly because the unity of the worldwide evangelical constituency has always meant much to me. But the issue is too important to suppress, and I am grateful to you [Edwards] for challenging me to declare my present mind.

I do not dogmatise about the position to which I have come. I hold it tentatively. But I do plead for frank dialogue among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture. I also believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.

- David L. Edwards and John Stott,Evangelical Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue

It is encouraging that many are considering the issues of annihilation and conditional immortality.

Annihilationism and The story of the rich man and Lazarus

Nonconformist Chronicles  in part 10 of his series on hell  discusses The Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus
http://wade.typepad.com/nonconformist_chronicles/2010/07/hell-and-hades.html

Here are some  articles on this issue on the Afterlife | Conditional Immortality, Soul Sleep and Annihilationism Website if you would like more on this issue.
It is one of the most common questions I get asked when people discover I believe in the annihilationism:
What about the parable of the Rich man and Lazurus? To quote Warren Prestidge ( his article is linked below)

As with any parable, it is essential to distinguish between what says and what it teaches. For example, the parable in the first half of this same chapter of Luke speaks of a steward cheating his master and says: good on him! But Jesus is not teaching that we should cheat our bosses. What He is teaching that we should give to the poor, in view of God’s coming reckoning. That, also, is what the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is teaching. The story is simply a vehicle for this teaching...

He quotes Craid Blomberg

One of the most misinterpreted of Jesus’ parables is the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), which has been used repeatedly to provide in great detail a realistic description of life after death. In fact, the picture of the rich man in Sheol and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom separated by a chasm but able to call to each other across it is paralleled by popular Jewish and Egyptian folk-tales. Jesus may have simply adopted well-known imagery but then adapted it in a new and surprising way to warn the godless wealthy about their need for repentance in this life before their fate is sealed

Annihiliationism | The Rich Man and Lazurus  Luke 16:19-31
Annihiliationism | The Rich Man and Lazurus
Annihiliationism | The Rich Man and Lazurus-part-one
Annihiliationism | The Rich Man and Lazurus: letter-to-a-pastor-who-insists-luke-1619-31-must-be-taken-literally-from-resurrection-volume-96-no-1-jan-–-jun-1993/
http://www.afterlife.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/eb-rml.pdf

Have you seen

Pastor Warren Prestidge made a 6-part video series (Now available entirely on You Tube) , entitled Life, Death and the Resurrection, which provides thought provoking teaching on the subject of life, death and the resurrection from a biblical (conditional immortality) perspective.

tags: conditional immortality, soul sleep, annihilation, annihilationism,   annihilationist

More on annihilationism

http://www.fallenandflawed.com/annihilationism-guide/
As part of the author's exploration into the issue of hell, she has made a  list of links mostly, but not exculsively against annihilationism.

"Listen: Everything that I list here is going to be critical of annihilationism. But everything I list here is also very conversant with the advocates and arguments for annihilationism.

In other words, you can learn the arguments of annihilation advocates from reading the objections.

Of course nothing beats first-hand interaction–that is if you have the time. Enjoy."

I enjoyed reading the conversation in the comments. Here are a few links collected from the comments which you may like to read.
Glenn Peoples : http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/
Brother Bird : http://www.scribd.com/brother%20bird
From Fallen and Flawed list : http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/aprilweb-only/23.0b.html

and I added a comment linking to the annihilationism resources at www.afterlife.co.nz

Annihilation

Babu G. Ranganathan writes in his blog

http://bgrnathan.blogspot.com/2010/04/traditional-doctrine-of-hell-has-greek_03.html

Although I am a conservative Christian (Reformed Baptist), I no longer believe that the Bible teaches or supports the traditional view of hell with its doctrine of eternal torment or suffering. 

The Bible does teach eternal punishment, but that eternal punishment ultimately is not eternal suffering. 

God's righteous wrath is not an end in itself but a means to an end - that end being the total and literal destruction of the wicked. Neither will God allow sin to exist for eternity by keeping sinners alive for eternity in hell. Neither is eternal torment necessary for God to satisfy His eternal justice.

It is sad that we have to affirm our conservation view of scripture before we write about our understanding that  the Bible that teaches the doctrine of annihilation.

By no means is the doctrine of conditional immortality new teaching. A minority of Christians, of various denominations, have held to this view of hell throughout the centuries. Even some very prominent Christians of the past have held to this view and there are a number (albeit a minority) of Christian theologians and scholars in the present who hold to this view. However, this view on hell, unfortunately, is known so little outside the Christian community and even inside the Christian community for that matter. 

But the more bloggers that do affirm their conversation view the more it will be accepted within the range of orthodoxy. It is encouraging to see more and more people taking a fresh look at the issue of hell and to be reminded again there are many who have gone before who have held this view despite opposition.

tags: afterlife, soul sleep, annihilation, conditional immortality

Hellfire or Annihilation?

 "Jesus Needs New PR"
Matthew Paul Turner, author of several books including Churched: One Kid's Journey Towards God Despite a Holy Mess
writes about how hellfire teaching effected him

Yet in the end, writing about his childhood in all its complexity is about rejecting the fear that too often ran through Turner’s life and faith, and still creeps in. “When you were introduced to God by way of hell, that’s a springboard into a pit of being afraid on various levels of life; whether that’s afraid of getting in trouble or afraid of failing or afraid of revealing the real you,” Turner says. “Probably in the process of writing this book even, I realized that some of my closest friends don’t really know me because I’m afraid, and only recently I’ve been able to open up. I hope people who read this book ask, ‘Does my truth make me free, or does it make me lie?’ Truth will always set us free.”

 
see also
http://www.jesusneedsnewpr.net/the-realities-of-hell-a-sermon/
Where he asks for our view of hell: I left a message in his comments: annihilation.

tags: afterlife, soul sleep, annihilation, conditional immortality

Tribe to Clark Pinnock from Edward Fudge

Republished from GracEmail

Grandson of missionaries, young supporter of Wycliffe Bible Translators, veteran of Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri in Switzerland, doctorate under F.F. Bruce, theology professor at New Orleans Baptist Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Regent College, McMaster University, controversial thinker, author and teacher, Clark Pinnock, 73, was all this and so much more last Sunday, when he suddenly fell asleep in Jesus as the result of a massive heart attack at his home in Hamilton, Ontario.

To me, he was an encourager by mail who took time for me when I was wrestling with Reformed theology at Covenant Seminary around 1970 . . . a generous man who gave an endorsement for my first Hebrews commentary in 1974 . . . a friend with whom I visited at Evangelical Theological Society meetings through the years . . . with his wife Dorothy my hospitable hosts overnight once when I was in Canada . . . a later endorser of The Fire That Consumes and an early prominent evangelical spokesperson for the view of hell it presents.

He was a patient man who endured much from a few theological adversaries who were not worthy to tie his shoes . . . a jovial brother who was so tall that Sara Faye had to choose between cutting off his head or my legs when taking our picture in his yard the last time I was privileged to visit with him in person. In short, Clark was one of the most gracious, humble, productive, courageous, open-minded and trying-to-be-like-Jesus men (and theologians) I was ever privileged to know.

Clark Pinnock began teaching theology as a conservative fundamentalist, Calvinist, cessationist (anti-supernatural gifts). Over the years, he left Calvinism, adopted moderate charismatic views (after his nearly-blind eye was miraculously healed in answer to prayer — “one personal experience like that is more persuasive than a whole shelf of books,” he said — or words to that effect), and became a leading voice on the evangelical Left. He wrote books on the Bible, the Holy Spirit, “openness theology” (does God choose not to know the future?), God’s mercy (will He judge people who never hear the gospel by their response to what they did know from God?) and other subjects.

I agreed with many of his controversial views, am not sure of a few others. Whether his opinions were right or wrong, he knew, loved and served the Lord Jesus. His heart was right and that is what counts. Rest in peace, brother Clark. With thousands of others, I appreciate you, grieve your passing, and will miss you for the time I have left here. We look forward to seeing you again in the great Resurrection reunion.

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[ Links to Clark Pinnock and The Fire that consumes are my additions to the original GracEmail . Clark Pinnock wrote among other things the conditional / annihiliation view of hell in the book "Four View of Hell", you can read a review of Four View of Hell. ~ editor]