When Kirk Cameron recently noted that he favored conditional immortality (CI), also known as annihilationism, over eternal conscious torment (ECT) it created a series or reactions and responses across various platforms. This prompted me to take a deeper look at the fate of those who die without Christ. Among the numerous rebuttals that were offered two major themes emerged that are worth exploring.

• What do we mean by the terms existence, life and death?
• What claims might we make about the soul?

As we delve into these topics we will find that the concept of identity is also important.

Augustine famously quips that he understands “time” until he is asked to explain it.¹ That sentiment is just as true when we attempt to define each of the concepts outlined above with any precision. Aristotle starts off his work De Anime (On the Soul) noting that having certainty about the soul is one of the hardest things possible.² We would be wise to admit that certainty on much of these topics “lies beyond [our] powers” and that there is “darkness in our understanding”. As we pursue these topics my aim, like Augustine, is to do so with a sense of offering the “service of my thinking and my [keyboard]” such that it is “stirring up love for [God] in myself, and in those who read this.” ³

What is existence?
When we say that something exists or has existence, what do we mean. We may start with the idea that some entity is instantiated in reality or actuality. This entity has being as opposed to non-being or nothing. In saying an entity exists we are saying that it is instead of that it is not. The notion of existence is related to the identity of the entity, or the description of what it is (its essential properties). How these things are related to each other is something that has been widely debated by philosophers for millennia.⁴