#3 – Greek Religion: Hades, god of the underworld, tortured the souls of the wicked in fiery chambers. #2 – Josephus: The notion that “the souls are immortal, and continue forever” is “an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste for their philosophy.” ( War of the Jews 2, 8, 11) #1 – Phaedo (also known to ancient readers as Plato’s On The Soul): One of the main themes in the Phaedo is the idea that the soul is immortal, in which Socrates offers four arguments for the soul’s immortality. The Greeks believed in the inherent immortality of the soul and eternal punishment. According to Strong’s Concordance, the definition of destruction is: “ruin, destroy, death.”ī. Paul also believed the wicked would be destroyed: those who disobey God “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). If we are inherently immortal, there is no reason to seek it, or lay hold of it. Paul, a Jew, held to conditional immortality. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life (Rom 2:7 and 1 Timothy 6:12). Paul (a Jew): Seek for glory and honour and immortality. If the Jews were wrong about believing in annihilation, then Jesus did a horrible job of trying to get them to see the error of their ways. Jesus: Do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28). According to Strong’s Concordance, the definition of perish is: “destroy, put an end to, kill.” Jesus states that immortality (eternal life) is conditional on one’s belief. Jesus (a Jew): For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him, will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). That is, the body’s strength or animal power ceases, and “their souls are burnt up.” Rosh Hashanah 17a: The bodies of those liable to being “cut off” cease to exist. #2 – The Talmud (commentary on Judaism written by Orthodox Jews) Obviously, this is not talking about the physical death of the body, as everyone, including the righteous, die physically. But if a wicked person turns away from his sins, and does what is just and right, he shall surely live (Ezekiel 18). If he has a son who is violent (the passage continues to list several other evil deeds), he shall not live. If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, he shall surely live. Rather, I wanted to focus on the history of the doctrines and how they developed.Ī: Judaism has always held to annihilation for the wicked (kiluy neshama). Please note that my goal was to succinctly expound on why I believe what I believe in as few words as possible, thus I have not covered every bit of evidence that exists, nor addressed every verse in the Bible that touches on this sensitive subject, or included a ton of sources. And while this topic will likely be debated until Jesus returns, it is one that I feel I cannot be silent on as the very character of God is at stake. Entire books on this subject have been written, as well as innumerable articles, with both sides claiming Bible verses to support their interpretation.
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