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An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

...ngels who sinned and were put in chains. Interestingly, it’s another word borrowed from Greek mythology, for the prison where the Titans were sent as punishment. If you are interested in how we got the word “hell” in our English language, and more importantly, into our Bibles, I highly recommend that you read this study: The Real Hell. A Case for Conditional Immortality (aka Annihilationism) We are often taught that our souls, human souls, are inherently immortal. But where does this idea come from, because it’s never actually stated in Scripture that this is so. This is an Hellenistic philosophical assumption brought into the text (mainly from Plat...

Lent: Day 16 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59

...Day Sixteen: St. Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59 Who: Justin Martyr was a Philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a tireless evangelist and apologist. Justin wrote more Christianity than any other person prior to his time. He is classified herein as Eastern, since he a native of Samaria and his thought patterns were Eastern. However, he spent the last years of his life in Rome, where he was executed as a martyr (c. 165). What: An apologetic (defence) essay to explain what Christians believe and do. Why: Justin is demanding the Emperor to investigate accusations and unjust persecution against Christians so that they at least may face...

Lent Day 18: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 1-9

...onsidered sin and blasphemy by the Church, though many felt regret and wanted to be forgiven and restored. “But how can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ commanded him to do?” Cyprian argues, since the faith of many had become weak. It is not “persecution alone that is to be feared”, Cyprian writes, since “caution is more easy where danger is manifest” but to be all the more vigilant in times of peace because the enemy “creeps on us secretly” in sneaky ways, which is why he has earned the name “Serpent”. Novatian rose up as an “antipope” (someone who rejected the people's choice of pope) and caused a s...

Lent Day 30: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XIX

...sed under sin. “Now turn from the old to the new, from the figure to the reality” The old, in Moses, prefigured the new, in Christ, who is the reality we now live in. The enemy of old in the person of Pharaoh, chased the Hebrews to the sea, and even through it, but was engulfed when it closed in around him now prefigures what happens in baptism: The tyrant of old was drowned in the sea; and this present one disappears in the water of salvation. Personally, I really like that analogy and I’ve never heard it put that way before. The phrases which the converts have to recite remind me of the liturgy which you have to say during a Christening. That in...

Kirk Cameron And The Biblical Case For Annihilationism

...e Kirk is sincere, we believe that conditional mortality and annihilationism are erroneous views, and that the Bible’s clear teaching on hell is known as eternal conscious torment. We firmly believe that this is the only correct biblical view. (source) Yet beneath the noise of social media grinding its gears is something far more ordinary and far more Christian: a believer wrestling seriously with Scripture, or as some would say, “being a Berean” (Acts 17:11). This is something we all should be doing, forming our views and doctrines from Scripture, not out-of-context social media video snippets and memes. Whether one agrees with Cameron’s conclusions o...

Armageddon Is Not A Battle Plan: What Revelation Actually Says — And Why It Matters Right Now

...ress have since called for a Department of Defense Inspector General investigation, citing what they describe as “glaring Constitutional concerns” and potential violations of DoD regulations on religious neutrality. The political questions about separation of church and state in the US are for others to address. What I want to do here is something more straightforward: examine what Revelation actually says, because the theology driving these claims does not hold up under scrutiny. And that matters here a lot; not as a partisan point, but as a question of biblical faithfulness. First, a Word About Context If you have read my previous article on Revelation...