ANNIHILATIONISTS ARGUE WRONG MEANING OF WORDS

Thu Argue That The Words "Die" and "Death" Mean Cessation of Existence

• Note one difference between Annihilationists themselves:

 

1.Words always mean cessation of existence.

2. Words mean this only when applied to final state of wicked.

 

Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Rev. 20:14  "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

Ezek. 18:20  "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

"Wages of sin is annihilation."

 

• Do "die" and "death" in Bible ever mean cessation of existence?

 Not one passage in Bible where these words, when applied to men, can be proven to mean this.

 Many texts where such a meaning is clearly absurd and impossible.

 

 Gen. 2:17 - If so, he should have ceased to exist when he ate he continued 930 years. If it means annihilation, then the Devil spoke the truth.

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

 

Luke 16:22-23 A man annihilated could not lift up his eyes and suffer torment.

"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."

 

Luke 9:60 - Those who have ceased to exist should bury others.

"Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God."

 

1 Tim. 5:6 "But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."

 

Eph. 2:1-2  "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

 

What about Ecclesiastes? Eccl. 3:19 cf. 12:14 - Shall be brought into Judgment. Materialistic philosophy, the words of a man under the Sun.

"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity."

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

 

• If death is not cessation of existence, what is it?

"Death" used of three experiences in Bible

 1. Spiritual death - Separation of Spirit from God.

 2. Physical death - Separation of soul and spirit from body.

 3. Second death - Combination of the above.

 

Argument: If in the two kinds of death we know anything about death does not mean annihilation, then of the second death we cannot predicate annihilation