‘You missed the point entirely!
1. In Matthew 25:14-29, the servants are judged on how they invested the money entrusted to them. This does not refer to the final judgement, for it is based on whether a person believed on Jesus (John 3:16-18, Romans 10:9-10) and whether their names were written in the book of life (Rev 20:15, Dan 12:1, Luke 10:20).’
So this is yet another judgment? How many judgments are you up to, now? How do you square all these different judgments with the fact that the Bible says there will be only one judgment? [See the Hebrew verse I quoted.]
“Eternal punishment” means “eternal punishment”. Since you can’t punish a non-entity, the annihilation theory doesn’t make sense. We don’t consider the death penalty to be ‘eternal punishment’. It would be ludicrous to characterize it that way. The idea that ‘eternal punishment’ = ‘death’ in the physical sense is inconsistent. How would you ‘eternally punish’ someone who is no longer in existence?
Form an earthly perspective, it is! Were it nor for belief in the afterlife, it would be permanent/eternal as well.
I will agree to disagree with you on Annihilation. I am convinced annihilation is scriptural, as I outlined above, and in keeping with the attributes of a merciful, just God.
I also am repulsed by the idea that those who never heard of Moses, the Bible, or salvation through Jesus will be tormented eternally for their lack of faith.