Annihilationism revisited

[xvs]

I’m extremely interested in this issue, and I have a couple of questions to consider:

1. Is it possible that when the Magisterium affirms the immortality of the soul it refers to the fact that in death (the first, biological death) the soul separates from the body and remains, first for the particular and then the universal judgment?
2. Is it possible that when Revelation speaks of a Second Death it’s referring to the death of the damned souls?
3. Considering that the only possible source of eternal life is the Love of God, how can there be “living” souls in Hell?
   (There’s plentiful scriptural support for the idea that correspondence to the Love God offers us means Life, whereas its rejection means Death).
   (I also believe that there is abundant support to deny the claim that all the bodies will resurrect. The unambiguous and unqualified promises of Christ to resurrect those “who believe in Him” or those “who eat His flesh and drink His Blood” seem to imply that not everybody will rise on the last day).

Sorry to “resurrect” an old discussion. But I believe this is a very important matter because it makes it all the more urgent our obligation to evangelize. Why, it makes it all the more likely that, as our Lady showed the shepherds in Fatima, innumerable souls are getting lost forever. I believe that the urgency the first Christians felt in spreading the Gospel was not so much spurred by a fear of people going to Hell, but by the immense responsibility they felt knowing they had the incredible treasure of the secret of eternal life and everybody else around them were dying forever. They were literally in the business of saving lives–as a priest I like very much is fond of saying. It is as though they knew the secret number to win an inexhaustible lottery, and charity was goading them to share it: “Woe to me if I don’t evangelize!,” says Paul. He doesn’t say “Woe to them,” because they will probably not even know what they were missing. But Paul did.

 

[1ke]

The answer is no.

God does not annihilate souls. Hell is real and eternal. This is a dogma of the faith.

 

[Weave]

Christ mentioned wailing and gnashing of teeth. I am inclined to believe Him. Seriously, Annihilationism is contradictory to God’s perfect judgement. Hell exists and it is eternal. That concept is frightening. As it should be. Why would the soul even be sent to Hell if it was just going to be annihilated later. Couldn’t it just be annhiliated at the Particular Judgement? What would the point of Hell be? Why would we be warned against it if in the end it doesn’t really matter? It brings up too many questions and contradicts the Faith. Complete heresy.

 

[xvs]

I agree: God does not annihilate souls. He creates souls that can only live if they correspond to His offer of Love. (Of course, loving him in return means recognizing him as who he is, obeying his every command, trusting that they are only motivated by his infinite love for us. Hence, the forbidden fruit, and hence the unavoidable consequence of disobedience: certain death.)
I agree: Hell is real and is eternal. I wouldn’t dream of bringing that into question. The question is: is life possible in Hell? If the only source of life is God, more precisely the love of God, and it’s safe to assume that if there’s anything at all that we’ll surely not find in Hell is the love of God, it follows that there’s no life in Hell. To say that there’s no life in Hell denies neither its existence nor its eternity.

Therefore, the reasons adduced do not support the negative answer.

 

[1ke]

The question is: is life possible in Hell? If the only source of life is God, more precisely the love of God, and it’s safe to assume that if there’s anything at all that we’ll surely not find in Hell is the love of God, it follows that there’s no life in Hell.

God holds them in existence in Hell. That is all they have of God there.

 

[xvs]

You said: “God does not annihilate souls.”
How do you fit that with Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

You said: “Hell is real and eternal. This is a dogma of faith.” I am in complete agreement.

You said: “God holds them in existence in Hell. That is all they have of God there.” I understand that it is a common theological opinion that Hell is a total privation of God. I am not sure if it is dogmatically declared, but there’s plenty scriptural evidence to support it. Do you have a source for a dogmatic declaration or is it just your opinion that “God holds them in existence in Hell?” If it is your opinion, what is the scriptural, magisterial or theological basis for it? As I understand it (philosophically and theologically) nothing exists without a participation in being by the Ipsum Esse, which would mean that a part (as participation) of the divine being sustains Hell and all in it eternally in existence, and with it all the transcendentals: if there’s a participation of the being of God, there has to also be there some Good, Truth and Beauty, since the transcendentals are inherent to Being and cannot be split from it. It seems highly counterintuitive to think of a Hell where there’s eternally some Good and Beauty. It seems contradictory to the very essence of God. The eternity of Hell seems more plausibly understood to me as the eternity of non-being, as in there’s no possible return from non being (once “body and soul are destroyed in Hell”) to being.