Collateral Bloggage

So, how committed am I to looking at an issue from all angles?  On the same day, I downloaded “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” from The Listener’s Bible (free download, BTW), and then downloaded a free book titled The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment.

I suppose it’s not totally clear that the latter is not defending the doctrine of Endless Punishment, but showing that it is not a valid doctrine.  The book was written by a Christian Universalist.  That’ll probably keep some from even looking at it, but I’m very curious to read it.  In fact, since I first drafted this edition of Theology Thursday, I’ve started it.

While it’s a powerful sermon, and brilliantly delivered by Max McLean, I do not really resonate with “Sinners” in any significant way.  I agree with the idea that God’s holiness does not tolerate sin, and I even agree with this line:

The unconverted walk over the pit of Hell on a rotten bridge, and there are countless places on that bridge that are too weak to bear their weight.  These places go unseen.

I’m just still unsure of what exactly Hell means.  If you think you know, go back and read my post titled “What Hell do You Know?“.  It’ll at least familiarize you with the three traditional views of Hell.

Look at the sermons in the NT and find me a reference to Hell.  The Apostles knew what they were doing, and they didn’t try to scare anybody into the Kingdom.  They preached about the need for repentance and acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ.

And yes, Jesus did apparently refer to “hell,” but look at your footnotes.  The words rendered “hell” are Hades and Gehenna (although Peter does use Tartarus in one of his letters).  Hades and Gehenna can be explained as referring to death only, not everlasting suffering.

The Endless Punishment book looks terrific (not surprising since it was recommended by my favorite Bible Teacher). The author takes on the issue systematically, starting from the earliest accounts of Creation and Fall in Scripture. He makes a good point here:

As regards the penalty of disobeying the commandment, do we find any statement which can be mistaken for endless punishment? God says, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;” but this is very far from saying, “Thou shalt, after the death of the body, be subjected to the torments of an endless hell.”

We are told, to be sure, that this means “death temporal, death spiritual, and death eternal;” but where is the proof of it? So terrible a doctrine must not be assumed, but demonstrated by unquestionable evidence. Who can believe that God would reveal so frightful a punishment in language so easily misunderstood - by the single word “die,” a term employed in such a variety of senses, capable of such a wide latitude of usage?

Would any earthly parent, if the immortal salvation of his children were at stake, have been so careless of his speech? Would he have chosen language so liable to be mistaken? Would he not rather have announced the awful truth in words which would admit of no possible doubt? Beside, if the terrors of this punishment are so effectual in preventing transgression, this was another reason for a specific declaration of the consequences of disobedience. If the argument on this point is good, a plain, open threat of endless woe at the very gate of Eden, as they entered, might have kept them back from the forbidden tree, and saved them and our race from the dreadful evils which followed the introduction of sin into the world.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book  He’ll be proceeding through the Old Testament, then into the New (to tackle the Hades/Gehenna thing), then on into church history. Should make for interesting “shock my Christian friends” material (like when I say I don’t believe in the Rapture).

What do you think?  What view of Hell were you raised with?  Have you ever questioned it?  Did you know there were other views?