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Christian writers from Tertullian to Luther have held to traditional notions of Hell. However, the annihilationist position is not without some historical precedent. Early forms of annihilationism or conditional immortality are claimed to be found in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch [10] [20] (d. 108/140), Justin Martyr [21] [22] (d. 165), and Irenaeus [10] [23] (d. 202), among others.
Since 1800 this situation has entirely changed, and no traditional Christian doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment. Its advocates among theologians today must be fewer than ever before. The alternative interpretation of hell as annihilation seems to have prevailed even among many of the more conservative theologians.
Robert J. Fox wrote: "Hell is a place or state of eternal punishment inhabited by those rejected by God because such souls have rejected God's saving grace." [64] Evangelicals Norman L. Geisler and Ralph E. MacKenzie interpret official Roman Catholic teaching as: "Hell is a place or state of eternal punishment inhabited by those rejected by God ...
Whether any sin or combination of sins could warrant never-ending punishment or eternal torture. Whether free will is compatible with God's omnipotence and omniscience. Traditionally Hell is defined in Christianity and Islam as one of two abodes of Afterlife for human beings (the other being Heaven or Jannah ), and the one where sinners suffer ...
Belief in soul sleep and the annihilation of the unsaved became increasingly common during the nineteenth century, [165] [166] [167] entering mainstream Christianity in the twentieth century. [ 168 ] [ 169 ] From this point it is possible to speak in terms of entire groups holding the belief, and only the most prominent individual nineteenth ...
At this point Satan, his angels, and wicked humanity will suffer annihilation in the Lake of Fire ("the second death", Revelation 20:8). Adventists disagree with the traditional doctrine of hell as a place of conscious eternal punishment. Finally, God will create a new earth where the redeemed will enjoy eternal life free of sin and suffering.
For example, Gregory of Nyssa understood the second death as a cleansing, albeit a painful process. He wrote that "those still living in the flesh must as much as ever they can separate and free themselves in a way from its attachments by virtuous conduct, in order that after death they may not need a second death to cleanse them".
Warfare represents a special category of biblical violence and is a topic the Bible addresses, directly and indirectly, in four ways: there are verses that support pacifism, and verses that support non-resistance; 4th century theologian Augustine found the basis of just war in the Bible, and preventive war which is sometimes called crusade has also been supported using Bible texts.