Back to Hell. Sorry couldn't resist. Above is an old illustration of the Rich Man in Hades.
The big question here is does the Bible present a picture of eternal torment or annihilation? I have always been one who believed in eternal torment until I began to truly analyze the Scriptures and what the annihilation theory was saying. They too have Biblical support and the question has one debated in the church since the very beginning. The only problem i ever had and why I dismissed it is that they need the story of the rich man to be a parable and thus not to be taken literally. They NEED this; or so I thought.
On the torment side I felt the weakness was more philosophical. Like my old professor at Asbury Dr. Jerry Walls, who wrote Hell: The Logic of Damnation, I have felt that it is inconsistent with the love of God to torment someone for all eternity for something they did in a temporal or closed existence.
One of my readers and a good writer herself, Paula Titus, has theorized that perhaps eternal torment is necessary because our sinful actions have eternal consequences to others they require eternal punishment. I admit this is strong theory but one which I have some concerns. One is that after doing a detailed study of Ecclesiastes, I can readily declare that not one single temporal action will last. Everything we are and do will be lost to death and the passage of time. No consequence of anything including things done in sin will last. They will be swallowed up in the victory of God's grace and justice. I simply do not see the idea that our actions have eternal consequences simply because God is the Omega -- not us.
Secondly because of that grace and justice and the promise of god's final victory through reconciliation, I would say a place of eternal punishment would stand against that idea of reconciliation. Everyone could look and point to Hell and ask:"If you have final victory God and have reconciled all things to yourself, why do they still live in torment? They are not reconciled are they?" It is a legitimate question.
Not as easy as you think being a theologian -- all this thinking gives one a headache but occasionally there are moments. Both side have in my mind a fatal flaw, unless we have all missed something I really can't buy wither one at the present time. But I think we have missed something in the simple fact that Hades and the Lake of Fire are two different places and may actually have two different purposes. I think that this new view I have cobbled together may have some merit and it also fulfils some of my concerns about the justice of God in relationship to hell.
Next: The Justice of God and Damnation.
Just want to make one point about our actions being eternal. If someone's actions are so evil, that they cause someone else to never receive the love of Christ because the evil done against them causes the seeds of bitterness, anger, and resentment to take root, and this person then dies without ever knowing Christ and therefore is either annihilated (your view) or spends eternity in Hell, wouldn't this be an eternal consequence for said person?
ReplyDeleteI suppose but then who would be to blame -- the victim or the person who initiated the evil action in the first place. Wouldn't God take this into account? I think so.
ReplyDeleteIt also supposes that God did not take action to redeem the person which according to the Bible each person is condemned by their own conscience not someone else's actions.
I hear what you are saying but I also beleive that God reaches out to all men and that there is always a point where the choice is theirs and theirs alone. It is a tough question but if Romans 1-3 three is true then each eprson condemns themselves -- the eternal consequences of their actions rests on their shoulders alone.