Annihilationism – The Belief That There Is No Eternal Hell

(The teaching that there is no place of everlasting torment for the unsaved.)

Introduction

 
There are those who have been falsely taught that the unsaved after death cease to exist – they are not sent to hell forever to pay for their sins themselves. They are annihilated by God. Their religious leaders have often taught them his by “cherry-picking” select Bible verses that appear to support this annihilation theory. One such verse is Mathew 10:28:
 

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

 

Proving That Annihilationism Is False:

 
Those who doubt the immortality of the soul, need to take a good hard look at Luke 12:4-5:
 

“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”

 
Luke 12:4-5 is a clear CONTRAST between death and ETERNITY in hell. THEREFORE, the word DESTROY in Matthew 10:28 can NOT mean ANNIHILATION. So we then must go to a Greek concordance and DIG FURTHER. When we do that, guess what we find? We find that the greek word translated as destroy can be interpreted to mean “to give over to eternal misery in hell”. Also, we find many other verses that agree with the concept of ETERNAL suffering in an ETERNAL hell:
 

“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up FOR EVER AND EVER: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:11

 

“But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of ETERNAL damnation.” Mark 3:29

 

“Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of ETERNAL judgment.” Hebrews 6:2

 

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of ETERNAL fire.” Jude 1:7

 

Summary:

 
So here we have hopefully demonstrated that pulling a verse out of a hat (out of context that is) – Matthew 11:28 in this example – does not validate annihilationism. We refer you to this article: The Justice Of God In The Damnation Of Sinners for more information on this subject. — RM Kane
 

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