Annihilationist

and Destructionists

Shalom Dirk,

This is a response to your published work entitled, Hell Know Eternal Torment or Everlasting Destruction?

Going forwards, you have anchored, for the most part, your theological dissertation on the assumption that at the Resurrection and Great White Throne Judgment (GWTJ) (Rev. 20:11), the resurrected body of the ungodly, unredeemed sinner will be thrown into the dreaded eternal Lake of Fire which is the Second Death (Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14; & 21:8). To this end, you dogmatically conclude the second death of the resurrected sinner, is everlasting destruction of both soul and body in direct reference to Matt. 10:28.

As such, you have boldly defined your theological and eschatological belief in cohesion and agreement with the doctrines of, everlasting destruction, literal destruction or destructionism based on 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and numerous other passages…

Therefore, it is from this published doctrinal belief that I wish to direct my humble personal response.

To reiterate, you define the consequences of the Destruction of the Lake of Fire (Second Death) as, People are likened to grass and flowers here, which ultimately wither and die; this is noted in direct contrast to the word of God which stands forever. This is just further evidence of how the Bible describes human nature as decidedly mortal apart from Christ, meaning subject to death and extinction. (emphasis added)

Consider it this way, if you jumped into a bonfire, would you not experience conscious suffering for a brief period before losing consciousness and ultimately burning to death? Of course you would. It’s the same principle with the second death when God casts the damned into the lake of fire; the difference being that the period of suffering will be meted out to each individual according to their degree of sinful guilt as divine justice dictates. The period of conscious suffering may last a split second, a few seconds, one minute, an hour, a day, a week, or longer. It all depends on whom we’re talking about. Are we talking about the little old ungodly lady who lives down the street or Adolf Hitler? Hitler is responsible for the horrible suffering and deaths of millions upon millions of people. (emphasis added)

In response to this claim, words throughout Scripture, both Hebrew and Greek words interpreted as, destroy, destruction, perish, kill, and death, as they relate to Hell, NEVER mean to go into absolute obliteration or extinction, (absolute nothingness); no not one.

Why can I say this with such authority and confidence? It is because of the very scientific laws themselves that God (Yeshua) Himself mandated upon ALL His creation that governs the entire universe of His creation (Jn. 1:3 & Col. 1:6). In that respect God will never break His own laws.

As stated, it is these laws that govern His entire creation i.e. the laws of gravity, inertia, motion, thermodynamics, et. al. – laws which are unseen but yet are constant and reliable day after day, year after year. These laws make life as we know it possible and without them life on this planet could not be possible. With this in mind I want to bring to your attention the first specific law of thermodynamics and subsequently prove that it is impossible to define destruction of any created materialistic matter, a presence of existence or being (CONSCIOUSNESS), in terms of that insisted upon by the teachings of Annihilationist and Destructionists, et. al. hence, absolute obliteration and extinction of being.

The First Law of Thermodynamics — states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but rather can be transformed from one form to another. The amount of energy in the universe remains stagnant, and simply changes into different forms based on certain reactions and occurrences.

With this being said, I feel it is necessary at this point to challenge you to submit one single Scriptural example from the entirety of the Bible that ever directly and literally defines your insisted theological definition of Destruction as absolute obliteration and extinction of being that does not in and of itself violate God’s first law of thermodynamics. When God set His laws of creation in order and motion they absolutely guaranteed that none of His created Beings could ever seize the power of absolute destruction (obliteration/extinction) of any of His creation. Therefore, mankind does NOT have the power of Creation nor Destruction. God made this perfectly clear when he declared in Isaiah 66:1 that no one could build Him a house.

Thus, there are some 118 physical elements known to mankind from which all known matter consists and exists. These 118 known elements are God’s building blocks for the universe and mankind CANNOT create a single one of them even down to the minut neutrino or atom, nor can he destroy/obliterate them and thereby causing them to become extinct. As such, just try and construct some entity without using any of God’s formerly created materials – no wind, no earth, no water, no fire – create and use your own materials. It will not happen.

To this end, if there is NO Scriptural or scientific evidence of a destruction of an absolute obliteration and extinction of being by the direct hand of God in this present world of which there is somewhat a known history and construct thereof, be that feeble as it is, then just how can the Annihilationist and Destructionist ever hope to prove and explain an insisted absolute extinction of being in a post Millennial (GWTJ) recreated/redesigned resurrected body of a sinner thrown into an eternal Lake of Fire the dreaded eternal second death? From what materials or elements will these two entities (resurrected body/eternal Lake of Fire) literally consist and what laws of God will govern them? Will they be like God’s natural elements and laws in place now or will they be something completely different. If the Annihilationist and Destructionist really know the answer to these ever illusive questions, one would think that they would have long ago widely published their findings of these said laws and construction elements to support their claims.

To make the odious preponderance and analytical comparative claim of exactness between God’s torching to ashes of the sinfully wicked cites of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:6) with the suggested incineration to ashes of sinners resurrected bodies in the eternal Lake of Fire (second death), is like comparing the planet earth with the planet Saturn hence, they are comparatively apples and oranges. Besides, 2 Peter 2:6 clearly uses the greek hypodeigma which means example. Whereas, the very definition of example is defined as something similar and similar does not by any means mandate an exactness but rather something in resemblance of qualities and likeness. Thus, God’s burning of the wicked cities and their ungodly inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah is/was intended to serve as a stern warning example to all the ungodly who should persist in their ungodly sins thereafter. The same can be said of Matt. 24:38 & 2 Peter 2:5, which were equally warning examples for people not to live ungodly or else they would face God’s unannounced wrath, judgment, and fiery retribution.

In addition, you state the following regarding H. Buis' defense of the 1st law of thermodynamics as it relates to the absolute obliteration and extinction of being of matter.

You readily admit in your above cited declaration that there is no destructive action in relation to an entity that having presence and existence that can result in the absolute obliteration and extinction of being – any destructible action merely evokes and effects a change in form of that said entity. Hence, RUINED for all the original purposes for which the now destructed entity was initially created – the entity subsequently considered destroyed, collapsed, or decayed, but NEVER as you surmise absolutely extinct.

You continue your Theological notions as cited below, by revealing that you or no one else actually KNOWS what spiritual materials God formed the soul from, but nonetheless both Annihilationist and Destructionist emphatically and dogmatically insist that it will be ultimately destroyed in the second death eternal Lake of Fire to the degree of absolute obliteration and extinction of being, by using rudimentary Scriptural passages like 2 Peter 2:6, et. al., as your proof.

Meanwhile, please note that Biblical theology cannot divorce itself from the true science of the creation(s) and applicable laws of God – simply to prove some personally held theological hypothesis. Man did not make the laws of thermodynamics – God did. Therefore, the first law of thermodynamics which is applied to this argument is as follows:

The First Law of Thermodynamics — states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but rather can be transformed from one form to another. The amount of energy in the universe remains stagnant, and simply changes into different forms based on certain reactions and occurrences.

Only God has the power to create and destroy and there are NO instances of evidence in the entire Bible where God has ever DESTROYED any entity to the degree as defined by the Annihilationist and Destructionist.

Thus, there are some 118 physical elements known to mankind from which all known matter consists and exists. These 118 known elements are God’s building blocks for the universe and mankind CANNOT create a single one of them even down to the minut neutrino or atom, nor can he destroy/obliterate them and thereby causing them to become extinct.

In Jesus,
Barney