Theology Thursday Book Review: Endless Torment
I should point out that "Endless Torment" is not the feeling I got as I read this particular book. Rather, it's just an abbreviation of the full (and prolix) title: The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment, by Thomas B. Thayer.
This work was published back in the 1800s and deserves greater attention today. I found it online thanks to a recommendation by Steve Gregg. You can read the full text on Tentmaker.org (a Christian Universalist site).
Thayer sets out to destroy the doctrine of Hell as Eternal Conscious Torment by exposing its history and development. He succeeds on virtually every level as far as I can see. Rather than actually tracing the history of the doctrine from ancient times, he points out the fact that it is entirely missing from the earliest Biblical sources. He then goes through all the supposed references in the Hebrew Bible, showing that they can't be used to support the doctrine.
For me, the most important point in the discussion of the Old Testament is that Moses had an Egyptian education. The Egyptians had an extremely detailed theology of the afterlife, including both rewards and punishments. There is just no way that Moses wouldn't have been familiar with those doctrines. Seen in this context, it seems extremely strange that Moses wouldn't ever make reference to Hell. Especially in light of all the discussion of temporal punishments for failure to meet the demands of the Covenant.
Of course, for Christians, the New Testament is much more important, and didn't Jesus talk more about Hell than Heaven? Nope. Thayer takes all the New Testament angles used to defend the doctrine of an Endless Hell and shows that they are widely misunderstood. If nothing else, I recommend this book just for the chapter titled Endless Punishment Not Taught in the New Testament.
Where the book starts to stray a bit is in the later chapters, dealing with the moral influence of the Doctrine of Endless Hell. The title chapters include The Doctrine Creates a Cruel and Revengeful Spirit, The Comparative Moral Influence of Belief and Disbelief of Endless Punishment, and The Influence of The Doctrine on The Happiness of Its Believers. I'm not disputing his analysis; I'm just unsure that these factors should weigh in how we interpret Scripture. For me, the important arguments are the Scriptural ones.
However, it should be pointed out that one of the points commonly offered in favor of Hell as Eternal Conscious Torment is its use in evangelism and its importance toward promoting the fear of God (am I wrong in thinking this is not the kind of "fear" Solomon referenced as the beginning of wisdom?). It's only fair that the other side should get to levy similar arguments for the Con position.
To be completely honest, I don't want to believe in Eternal Hell. It's a stumbling block to many, and it really doesn't fit with the idea of an All-Loving God very well. So I'm extremely receptive to anything that undermines such a difficult doctrine.
Now, Thayer is a Universalist. Hence, he believes in Universal Reconciliation, whereby all people will eventually bow the knee and be saved. I'm not there with him yet. I'm very much anticipating Steve Gregg's forthcoming book on the Three Views of Hell, where he will lay out the Scriptural cases for Endless Punishment, Conditional Immortality (Annihilationism), and Universal Reconciliation. Right now I'm leaning toward Conditional Immortality, but I would absolutely love to believe that all will eventually be saved. (Which is why I was so disappointed in If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person. It was a well-intentioned book that completely failed to present the authors' point of view with anything even approaching authority).
I'm still investigating this stuff. We'll see where I eventually land. You might guess that I'll be including a chapter on Hell in my book on Theological Wiggle-room.