Conscious Torment or Annihilation

Conscious Torment or Annihilation? Phil Sanders The word “annihilation” comes from the Latin nihil, “nothing” and expresses the belief that the human soul will cease to exist after death. The form of annihilationism we are examining is conditional immortality. Conditional immortality asserts, “While man is naturally mortal, God imparts to the redeemed the gift of immortality and allows the rest of humanity to sink into nothingness.” Roger Nicole, “Annihilationism,” Wycliffe Dictionary of Theology (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1960), eds. Everett F. Harrison, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Carl F. Henry, 43. Edward Fudge, F. LaGard Smith, and others have stated their belief in conditional immortality. They say that hell may contain some measure of conscious torment, but not an endless one. To them the eternal fire will eventually consume the bodies and souls of those cast into the lake of fire. They regard the second death as the utter end of existence. For them, eternal punishment consists of perishing, an eternal destruction in which lost souls are burned into nothingness. Conditionalists think the cessation of existence is supported in various scriptural terms and applies only to the destiny of the lost. Words such as “death” (Rom. 6:23; James 5:20; Rev. 20:14), “destruction” (Matt. 7:13; 10:28; II Thess. 1:9), and “perish” (John 3:16) are used to support their argument. These words, however, do not so much mean annihilation as they do the complete depriving of some element essential to our existence. Physical “death,” for instance, does not mean that the body or soul vanishes out of existence but means that they have separated (James 2:26). The word “resurrection” insists that something exists after death. The second death (being cast into the lake of fire) does not mean that the soul falls into non-existence; it means that the soul is ultimately deprived of the presence of God and fellowship with Him. This relationship is what life is all about and essential to worthwhile existence. John said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3 NKJV). Eternal life is knowing God; it is having a loving relationship with Him (1 John 2:3-6). Eternal death is to be cast away from God. One is destroyed by being cut off from the grace and favor of God. In the lake of fire there is no means of maintaining any favorable relationship with God. To bolster his case for annihilation, Edward Fudge pointed to examples of God’s punishment of the wicked in the Old Testament. In 1984, Fudge wrote: Is the OT silent concerning the wicked’s final fate? Indeed it is not. It overwhelmingly affirms their total destruction. It never affirms or even hints at anything resembling conscious unending torment. The OT uses about 50 different Hebrew verbs to describe this fate, and about 70 figures of speech. Without exception they portray destruction, extinction or extermination. Not one of the verbs or word-pictures remotely suggests the traditional doctrine. Edward Fudge, “The Final End of the Wicked,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 27.3 (1984): 326. Many of the passages Fudge cites, however, speak not of life after death or eternal destinies but of their temporal, earthly punishment of death. Fudge must read into these passages more than they actually teach. For instance, the Hebrew word in the Old Testament used to describe the wicked “perishing” (abad) also describes the righteous perishing (Isa. 57:1; Micah 7:2). Even the annihilationists must admit that the righteous do not cease to exist. The same word (abad) is also used to describe things that are lost but then later found (Deut. 22:3). Clearly, “perishing” is not equivalent to extinction or annihilation. Fudge selectively takes words from one context (earthly death) and attempts to read that meaning into the “second death.” He then passes over what Scripture does say. The Old Testament refers to eternal destinies in Daniel 12:2, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (NASB). Disgrace and contempt only come to those who are conscious. It is absurd to speak of disgracing the non-existent or of contempt for nothing. The final determinant of the meaning of any word is its immediate context. To impose a questionable meaning from one context into another one much later will unquestionably lead to error. Fudge commits a linguistic fallacy when he assumes the “basic meaning” of the images of God’s judgment (which he assumes to be annihilation) and transfers them into similar New Testament terms. He suggests the New Testament “gives no indication of changing this basic meaning.” Edward Fudge, The Fire That Consumes (Carlisle, UK: The Paternoster Press, 1994), 297. He assumes, for instance, that the symbol of burning sulfur which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah argues for annihilation in passages such as Revelation 14:10-11 and 19:10. Revelation 14:10-11, however, says that the beast followers will be tormented not annihilated with fire and brimstone. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no rest day or night. Whatever this passages suggests, it cannot be extinction or annihilation. Words in the New Testament translated into a form of the word “perish” can range in meaning from a grain of wheat that “dies” (John 12:24), to things which are “corrupted” by moth and rust” (Matt. 6:19-20), to a “corrupt” mind (II Tim. 3:8). Again, conditionalists must read their belief in annihilation into the word to get the meaning they want. Something can “perish” but remain in existence. The moth-eaten garment may be damaged beyond repair, but it does not cease to exist. The outer hull of a seed perishes, so that the life inside may grow. A person whose mind is corrupt does not cease to exist, but he cannot live pleasing to God (Rom. 8:5-8). Fudge argues that the eternal punishment of Matthew 25:46 is the eternal destruction (annihilation) of II Thessalonians 1:9. Edward W. Fudge and Robert A Peterson, Two Views of Hell (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 46. Whatever annihilation is, it is not punishment. Annihilation is actually a release from punishment. One cannot continue to punish a person who does not exist. The punishment of evil men in the afterlife would have to be conscious. If not, then God is not just since he would have given less punishment to some wicked than to some righteous people. For not all wicked people suffer as much as some righteous people do in this life. Job appeared to prefer non-existence to suffering (Job 3), but God did not grant that desire. Certainly the lost in hell would prefer to cease existence rather than suffer unendingly. One who speaks scripturally doesn’t argue that the punishment takes the form of destruction in annihilation. He realizes that the destruction comes in the form of eternal punishment; this view fits all the evidence. It does not seek to read into the New Testament a twisted definition of words from the Old Testament. Thayer says of the word “destruction” (olethros) of II Thessalonians 1:9 that it is “the loss of a life of blessedness after death, future misery.” “olethros,” J. H. Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Marshallton, Del.: National Foundation for Christian Education, 1889), 448. Cleon Rogers defines olethros as “destruction, ruination. The word does not mean annihilation, but implies the loss of all things that give worth to existence.” Cleon Rogers Jr. and Cleon Rogers III, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1998), 483. Paul uses the word olethros in I Thessalonians 5:3 to describe destruction coming suddenly like labor pain on a woman with child. Here the destruction is associated with pain not extinction. The spiritual destruction or perishing of the New Testament is not annihilation but separation from God. Wicked, unbelieving men deprived themselves of God when they shut Him out. In the end God accepts and grants their choice. Descriptions of Hell Indicating Conscious Torment When one reads what the Scriptures say about hell, they come away with a very different meaning than the Conditionalists suggest. What God says about hell brings anguish, sorrow, fear and utter regret. The mental torment will match the physical. Conditionalists rather than allowing Scripture truly to interpret Scripture presuppose a linguistic context and “spin” the passages to fit their presuppositions. Here are the descriptions of hell in the New Testament: “Outer darkness.” Jesus describes the punishment of the wicked as being cast into “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; 2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13). This darkness is “outer” in the sense that they are conscious of not being with God and with His saints inside the gates where there is joy and blessing (Rev. 21:8). They have been told to “depart” (Matt. 7:23; 25:41; Luke 13:27). They exist, knowing the pain of rejection and ostracism. Consequently, it is a darkness of gloom and utter loneliness. God, who is light, will not be with them. They are utterly devoid of His blessing. “Away from the presence of God.” They will be punished with an eternal destruction in the form of a separation from God’s favor (II Thess. 1:9). God will not hear their prayers nor help them when they cry to Him. They can never enter God’s eternal kingdom (I Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19-21), where He will show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards those who are in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:5-7). Instead those in darkness have been “accursed” (Matt. 25:41). “Weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus describes those who are cast out as having intense mental anguish of utter sorrow and regret (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). In the Greek New Testament the definite article that precedes this weeping and gnashing (“the weeping and the gnashing”) indicates the extreme and unique character of the action. F. W. Danker, Arndt, W., F. W. Gingrich, & W. Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature : 3rd ed., rev. and augmented. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, 546. Non-existent people neither weep nor gnash their teeth. Interestingly, the furnace of fire produces weeping and gnashing of teeth, not instantaneous extinction. Part of the torment of hell is living with the consequences of bad choices, remembering disbelief and sin. Abraham reminded the rich man in Hades of his “comfortable life” and not listening to Moses (Luke 16:19-31). Eternity is so designed for the wicked that they cannot forget their rejection of God. A place “prepared for the devil and his angels.” Hell was not originally designed for man but for the devil and his angels. Every wicked person, disbeliever, liar, and impenitent sinner will be there. John said, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8; cf. 22:15). The lost will find themselves entrapped eternally with everyone that is evil, hateful, deceptive and ugly. “Eternal punishment.” Jesus said, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). Jesus said that eternal punishment would be in the place of “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). The Scriptures describe the place prepared for the devil and his angels. The Bible says the devil will be “tormented day and night forever and ever” in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). The noun “punishment” (kolasin) in Matthew 25:46 finds its participial form used in II Peter 2:9 (kolazomenous), where Peter speaks of the unrighteous being “kept in punishment for the day of judgment.” Punishment here is not annihilation but pits of darkness filled with conscious, suffering beings. “Indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish.” Paul said God would render to each man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6-11). The selfishly ambitious and disobedient to the truth will find God’s indignation and wrath. Distress and anguish will come upon every soul of man who does evil. How can this happen to unconscious, non-existent people? There is no retribution to people who do not exist. “An Unquenchable, Eternal fire.” Jesus called hell a “furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:42, 50); it is an “eternal fire” (Matt. 25:41) and an unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43-48). The second death or hell is described as the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Rev. 19:20; 20:10-15; 21:8). It would make no sense to have everlasting flames and bodies without souls in them to experience the torment. The Hebrew writer warned those who go on sinning willfully face “a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire that will consume the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26-27). Some have taken this “consuming” to mean that sinners will be annihilated. If one assumes annihilation to begin with, one might easily reach that conclusion. One must, however, realize this fire is unquenchable; and the smoke of their torment will rise forever (Rev. 14:10-11). It is only when one reads annihilation into passages such as Heb. 10:27 and ignores other plain passages that one comes to believe that the fire of hell burns up the soul to extinction. Such assumptions that contradict plain passages reveal their inherent error. “Where their worm does not die.” Jesus says hell is the place where “their worm does not die” (Mark 9:43-48). Mark is quoting Isaiah 66:24, referring to the corpses of those who have transgressed against God. The worm here is a maggot that feeds on dead flesh. Edward Fudge assumes the spirit must be dead in hell, because a worm is consuming it. Edward Fudge, The Fire That Consumes, 113-115. If the unquenchable fire burns the resurrected body to ashes, how is it that the worm does not die? On what shall it feed? If the worm does not die and consumes the body, how is it that the fire is not quenched, having nothing left to consume? The fact that the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die shows that the body and soul are not literally consumed. It rather suggests that the consuming fire and eating worm never accomplish the annihilation of those who are in hell. “Tormented day and night forever and ever.” When the beast, the false prophet, and the devil are thrown into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10; cf. 19:20). Not only will this unholy trio suffer eternally, but John says in Revelation 14:9-11, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name” (NASB). If the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, then they must be suffering through eternity. The contrast of Revelation 14:11 and 14:13 remarkably centers on whether one is at “rest” or not. While those who die in the Lord rest from their labors, the beast-worshippers have no rest day and night. This proves that the lost endure continual, unceasing, conscious torment. If one were annihilated, one would have an ending to the torment and rest; but there is no promise of rest for the lost. People are conscious after they die, whether they are in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21-23; Rev. 6:9) or in hell (Rev. 14:9-11; 20:10). The beast and the false prophet “were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (Rev. 19:20, NASB). More than a thousand years later (Rev. 20:7), John says they (along with Satan) “will be tormented forever and ever.” One cannot torment an unconscious, non-existent person. If indeed the followers of the beast are tormented in that same lake (Rev. 14:9-11), they too are conscious. Why would God resurrect unbelievers to everlasting contempt and judgment (Dan. 12:1-2; John 5:28-29) only to cast them into an unconscious destruction? The doctrine of conditional immortality is a wish, and when a wish becomes the father of the doctrine, the truth will get “spinned” into error. ENDNOTES