I’m teaching a course on Contemporary Religious Movements at Tyndale University College. One of the common beliefs shared by a number of these groups is belief in annihilationism of conditional immortality. The question to be asked is, is belief in annihilation another sign of their heretical belief or is in the category of interest in biblical study and eschatology?
So I asked Chris Date of Rethinking Hell to put together a resource addressing this. The purpose of this video is not to prove that annihilation is true but to demonstrate that there is a place for this belief within orthodox Christianity.
I want to make it clear that I do not identify as an annihilationist, although I am sympathetic to it (See below for an update). I definitely believe that my annihilationist friends are not heretics. I recommend that you pick up Four Views on Hell.
Since originally writing this blog post, my position on conditional immortality has changed. I no longer believe in eternal conscious torment and I lean very heavily toward conditional immortality.
However, my personal beliefs are not the determining factor of whether or not this belief is within orthodox Christianity. Even if someone could convince me that eternal conscious torment (or universalism for that matter) was true, I would still believe that conditional immortality is orthodox. A doctrine can be wrong without being heretical.
For more on my change toward conditional immortality, read my post My Move Toward Conditional Immortality.
