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An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

I know that "Conditional Immortality" is quite a divisive topic, and one you may have come across before (sometimes referred to as “Annihilationism”); and have been told outright that it’s “heresy” or false, or that it’s an emotional argument people want to believe because it ‘sounds nicer’ than the doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). Or maybe you’ve never even heard of this before and you didn’t realise there were alternative interpretations and views on hell. If you are new to this, in brief it means that “the wicked” will be removed from existence after judgement and finite torment, rather than living forever in torment. Any...

the Coming Kingdom of the Son of Man

... at the end of the age, which he mentions a few times using this same or similar terminology (see: Matt 24:27; 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; 18:8). But the Futurist interpretation would say that this isn’t what Jesus refers to at all, but rather is a convoluted way of him saying “you won’t have travelled far until I catch up with you later” – ie. until Jesus (the Son of Man) comes [back to the apostles]. That conclusion is quite a stretch of the imagination and, like the other dispensationalist interpretation which says that this refers to some far future event, it completely rips it from its direct and immediate context: a message to the apostles. B...

the Coming of Jesus: Coming on the clouds

...nd of the end of the age" and Jesus saying that he would "come on the clouds with power and great glory." the first thing to take note of here is that the disciples as about the end of the age, although some Bible mistranslate this as "end of the world," which is incorrect since if you check out the underlying Greek text, it uses the word aion (we would understand as "eon" or "age" in English) and not the word for "world" (Gk. kosmos). Jesus also says that "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken" which sounds pretty cataclysmic on the face of it, until you...

the Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...ll at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.   Hebrews 10:37For yet “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay   James 5:8-9You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!   1 Peter 4:7the end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.   1 John 2:18Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...This is a guest post by David Jakubovic. the views are that of the author and don't necessarily reflect the views of That Ancient Faith. A 20 year update of the 1996 book by the same name, this slim volume (211 pages) is a helpful cross-section of current evangelical thought on Final Punishment, sampling Denny Burk on Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT hereafter), John Stackhouse Jr on Conditional immortality (CI hereafter), Robin Parry on Christian Universalism (CU hereafter) and Jerry Walls on (a Protestant) Purgatory. Preston Sprinkle pens both Introduction and Conclusion, plus there are Scripture, Author and Subject indices. the Introduction sets the scene,...

Where Hal Lindsey and Dispensationalism Went Wrong

...This is a guest post from Charles Meek Hal Lindsey’s bookthe Late Great Planet Earth Hal Lindsey’s book the Late Great Planet Earth, first edition in 1970, sold over 40 million copies. Gullible Christians got sucked into Lindsey’s soon-end-of-the-world cult-like poppycock. As time has passed without his version of Armageddon taking place, we can now objectively analyze where Lindsey went wrong: Lindsey (p. 54, 181), like other dispensationalists, placed the beginning of the end with Israel becoming a nation in 1948. He thought all prophecy would be fulfilled within a 40-year generation (Matthew 24:34). But 1988 came and went, proving him to b...