PROOFTEXTS FOR ANNIHILATIONISM

At least one more post on Hell versus annihilation. (I would quit writing about it, but the more I consider it, the more I see the importance of getting this issue straight in our heads - and making sure our theology is based on the Bible and not tradition.)

If one wanted to do some proof-texting favoring annihilation, here are some verses which "disprove" eternal punishment if you read them as literally as the traditionalists read the Revelation verses on torment: (In no particular order.) 

Proverbs 12:7 - "The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm."

Proverbs 24:19-20 - "Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked, for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out."

Psalm 30:5 - "For [God's] anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."

Hosea 13:3 - "Therefore [the wicked] shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney."

Malachi 4:1 - "For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, said the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."

Deuteronomy 30:15,19 - "See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil."

Matt 10:39 - Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

James 5:19-20 - My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Psalm 1:4-6 - "Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction."

Psalm 103:8-10 - "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities."

And Psalm 103 ends with one of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture - one that makes it hard for me to imagine him roasting any of his creations for all eternity:

v.14 "For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust."