TRUTH is better than error, and the doctrine of conditional immortality possesses many advantages over that of inherent immortality.
1. It is in consonance with the object of God in giving his Son to die for our race. This object is thus stated by Christ: “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:15. But if men are already in possession of an immortal soul, the man proper, as it is termed, they certainly have eternal life, and there was no necessity of God’s sending his Son to secure it to them.
2. It shows the urgent necessity of seeking for immortality and escaping the second death, by complying with certain conditions, (Rom. 2:6, 7; Matt. 19:16, 17; John 5:39, 40; Rev. 2:11); while the opposition doctrine neutralizes the strongest Bible incentive to seek for immortality, by teaching the idea that we already possess this inestimable attribute.
3. It exalts Jesus in granting him the prerogative of bestowing the gift of immortality upon those who form characters worthy of being immortalized; while the opposite doctrine represents that man has immortality irrespective of the character he may form.
4. It attaches great importance to the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, showing that if Christ does not come to raise the dead, then “they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Cor. 15:16–18); while the opposite doctrine depreciates these prominent events on which hinges the hope of the church; for what necessity can there be for the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, if at their decease, the righteous go to Heaven where there is perfect bliss?
5. It is a safeguard against the doctrine of purgatory and that of indulgences, against praying to and for the dead; while the doctrine of inherent immortality in maintaining that the dead know more than the living, are capable of suffering and may be relieved from suffering, prepares the way for the dogma of purgatory and all the pernicious practices that result therefrom.
6. It is a safeguard against the doctrine of modern spiritualism, while the doctrine we oppose lies at the very foundation of this false doctrine; for how can we resist spirits who come to us claiming to be the spirits of our dead friends, imitating those friends and appealing to our sympathies, if we believe that the dead are conscious, hover over and guard us, may speak to us, etc.? But with the Bible declaration that “the dead know not anything” (Eccl. 9:5), and knowing that there are fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven, we say: “They are the spirits of devils, working miracles.” Rev. 16:14.
7. It shows that God is just, while the doctrine we combat makes him appear unjust. God cannot save the sinner in his sins, but he does for him the best thing that a just and merciful God can do: he punishes him according to his deeds and leaves him where he found him—in the dust of the ground. The doctrine of eternal torment is in antagonism with every principle of justice, and leads to infidelity; while the Bible doctrine of man’s nature and future punishment has led hundreds of infidels to embrace the Bible and to love the God of the Bible. It cannot be made to appear consistent in a reasoning mind that what is unjust on earth will be just in the future world; that finite guilt, guilt committed in a few years, should be punished with everlasting burnings to be increased in intensity as eternal ages roll, and that God, holy angels, and all the redeemed are to be made happy by witnessing, or being conscious of, such scenes throughout eternity! Horrible! Can we wonder that so many have turned away from the Bible, believing that it teaches such a doctrine?
A Siamese priest asked an American missionary, “How long does your God punish the wicked?” The latter replied: “Forever;” whereupon the Siamese priest said: “Our gods torment the worst of men only one thousand years; therefore we will have nothing to do with your American god in Siam.” A mother told her little son: “If you are naughty, God will make you burn forever in a big fire, such as you see on the hearth.” He replied, “If he does that, he is a bad man,” and remained an infidel until he understood the doctrine of the destruction of the wicked.
8. The doctrine that we teach shows that the death of Christ is sufficient, while the opposite doctrine would lead men to believe that it is not sufficient. Christ died in our stead, and his sufferings have had an end. But if the wicked must suffer eternally, the death of Christ cannot save us from the wrath that threatens us.
9. It demolishes universalism, while the contrary doctrine is the corner stone of that theory. Universalism, starting with the premise that the soul is immortal, maintains that as God is just and merciful, the wicked will not suffer eternally, but having been punished according to their deeds, they will be restored to the favor of God to enjoy an eternity of bliss. But this theory falls before the mortality of man and the destruction of the wicked.
10. It represents that the ways of God are equal, in teaching that the wicked dead all rest in the slumber of death, and that they will all be punished together after their resurrection. This doctrine is consoling in regard to our friends who have died in their sins. But the doctrine we oppose, in maintaining that the wicked commence to suffer in Gehenna at death, and that consequently millions of sinners will suffer much longer than others equally guilty, creates anxieties concerning the condition of those who have died without hope, which have driven many to despair and to the loss of their reason.
11. In showing that men are not judged nor rewarded at death, the doctrine that we defend completely refutes the anti-scriptural theory of two judgments, which has led many to ask the sarcastic and impious question: “Has God made a mistake in judging men at death, seeing he judges them again in the last day?”
12. The doctrine we teach agrees with science; but the one we oppose is contrary to science. If we consider man in the light of anatomy and physiology, we will fail to see in him a being that thinks and acts independently of the body and its organs. What are the manifestations of life in man, whether mental or physical, which are not attributable to one or more of his organs whose functions are known to science?
13. In harmony with the idea of a restoration, and to encourage men to prepare for a better world, it represents the redeemed and their reward, God, Christ, and angels, just as the Bible represents them,—as real, tangible, appreciable and glorious; but the opposite doctrine describes the redeemed and their reward, and celestial beings, in a manner to make one think that they are vague and purely imaginary, and poorly calculated to give a lively hope to fallen man. It describes Heaven as being located “beyond the bounds of time and space.” Who can conceive of such a place? What better definition could be given to nothing? Again it places in that imaginary Heaven souls, “a million of whom could be put on the point of the finest cambric needle,” as said a professor at a mission school in which I once studied.
14. The doctrine that we attack teaches that the soul is a part of God, and that consequently millions of parts of God will suffer eternally, cursing other millions of parts of God. This doctrine divides God against himself, and suggests to the profane the question: “How, then, shall his kingdom stand?”—the very question Christ put concerning the kingdom of Satan. Matt. 12. The Biblical doctrine teaches that the soul was created by the Eternal, and avoids such absurdities. Jer. 38:16.
15. The doctrine that we combat immortalizes the devil, the wicked, and sin, and in this respect makes the devil triumph after all. But the Bible doctrine shows that the devil and sinners, having suffered during the forevers or ages (Greek and French version) adequate to their guilt and measured by their mortal nature, “shall be as though they had not been” (Obad. 16), and that thus sin will be blotted out of the earth, and Christ will triumph over Satan in presenting to the universe a province cleansed from the last stains and traces of sin, and in which every creature shall eternally enjoy the pleasures of holiness, rendering praise and homage to God and the Lamb. Rev. 5:13.