Why I like Annihilation

The other day a couple of friends and I were talking about what happens after death. We were debating whether or not hell and the idea of eternal damnation were consistent with a just and loving God. This is a debate I have heard many times and my ideas have changed over the years I have read and listened to others and tried to understand the bible in the light of what others say and my own study. These are my conclusions:

We are born with an innate sense of justice and mercy. We understand that some crimes are more heinous than others and therefore deserve a greater form of punishment. The Mosaic law in Leviticus shows us that God himself gave us laws that showed asome crimes deserve greater punishments. With this in mind, it seems out of character with what I know of God through Scripture that he would then send all people who don't believe in him to a lake of fire where they would then be in torture for the rest of forever. Eternity. Always. That is one heck of a long time and seems a little extreme (except perhaps in cases of people like Hitler etc).

I have also noticed that one of the greatest fears in the world is that of death. People are terrified of getting old and dying. They don't know what lies beyond and that is scary. If it is hell then they ought to be scared. But even if it is not, the idea of dying and there be nothing, zip, nadda, and this life of approx. 60yrs has been for nothing is just as scary. People often get depressed thinking about the fact that this life could be pointless. Even in days gone this was a fear. The idea of dying without an heir to carry on your name was seen as the worst possible fate. That is why it was permissible to divorce barren women, because if your genes weren't passed on then really, what was the point? Life is pretty damn hard, the only point of it would be hope that something in the future gives it meaning. For Christians this is Christ. He offers life, life eternal, and so this life has meaning beyond our painful years here. It means that when we die there is something that we are living for. That is why we do not fear death, that is why death has lost it's sting. That is why death was defeated by Christ, it is no longer our enemy.

So if death is the enemy of all who don't believe in Christ, then it makes sense to me that those who chose not to follow him have a reason to fear it. Not because of torture or hell or anything like that, but because they will be dead. No more. Cease to be. All over red rover. The few years they spent carving out a niche in this world was pointless. Whether they spent it in luxury or in pain they all end up the same way. They will be worm food and their children will in turn die and they won't be remembered. Hell is knowing that your life had no purpose, no reason, was a waste of time. Everything you did was for nothing. The hopelessness of that scares the bejeezus out of me. But Christ brings life and hope.

So I am an annihilationist and proud of it. It seems consistent with what I know of God and Scripture and life. Maybe I am wrong, but, as I am in Christ, I don't really fear hell anyway :)