Exploring biblical teaching on death, judgment, resurrection, and the final state. Articles examining what happens when we die, the nature of heaven and hell, the return of Christ, and God’s ultimate purposes for creation.
Purpose of This Appendix In the main essay, I acknowledged that my retention of conditional immortality might appear, to outside observers, like I’ve simply retained heterodox elements from my Christadelphian background with a thin Trinitarian veneer. That would be a serious misreading. This appendix addresses that concern directly by exploring whether conditional immortality might have...
I began this essay by talking about energy leaning on energy – the frangibility of matter at the atomic level, and how God is the sustaining force holding all reality together. We’ve come a long way from that starting point, through theology, exegesis, philosophy, and speculation. But the thread connecting it all is the search for coherence. Many Christians, I suggested early on...
I’ve presented the framework and shown biblical support for each element. But I know there are passages that seem to create problems, texts that appear to contradict what I’ve argued, and objections that need to be addressed. This section tackles the most significant challenges to the framework. I won’t pretend these are easy questions or that my answers are airtight. But...
I’ve made a lot of claims in this essay. Now I need to demonstrate that they’re grounded in Scripture, not just in philosophical speculation or personal preference. This section examines the key biblical texts that support each element of the framework. I’m not going to exhaustively treat every relevant passage – that would require a book, not an essay. But I will engage...
Now we come to the heart of the essay: the eschatological framework itself. I’ve laid out the foundations – God outside time, conditional immortality, the ageless purpose, amillennialism, and annihilationism. Now I need to show how these pieces fit together into a coherent picture of what happens at death, during the intermediate state, at Christ’s return, and in the final state...
Framing the Question – Why This Matters Before I can present my eschatological framework, I need to address what might be the most controversial element: what happens to the wicked. This isn’t an academic question. It’s not theological hair-splitting. How we answer this shapes our understanding of God’s character, justice, love, and ultimate purposes. It affects how we read...
Before I can present the eschatological framework itself, I need to lay out the theological, philosophical, and hermeneutical foundations that support it. These are the building blocks – the assumptions and commitments that shape how I read Scripture and think about eternity. If you disagree with these foundations, you’ll likely disagree with the conclusions. That’s fine. But I want...
Energy Leaning on Energy Right now, as you read this, you are energy leaning against energy. The chair supporting you, the screen before you, your own body – all of it, at the atomic level, is simply energy held in particular patterns. Einstein showed us that matter and energy are interchangeable: E=mc². The solid, tangible world we experience is, fundamentally, not solid at all. At the...