Several years ago US News & World Report published an article entitled Hell’s Sober Comeback. The point was that in the early 1990s polls
indicated a rise in the number of Americans who believed in hell. From 58% in 1952, 54% in 1965 and 53% in 1981
it was now 60% in 1990. Not that polls
or public opinion are really the issue.
But personal opinion does matter. If you believe that your choices (not simply opinions) in this
life bring consequences in the life to come then common sense would say you
would seek to make good choices today.
The question we are going to consider over the
next few Saturdays on this blog is not a pleasant one. But it is unquestionably important. And ultimately the question really is this: does the Bible say hell is eternal? I haven’t seen any poll results lately but I
have sensed that among those who call them evangelical
Christians there is likely, in recent years, a drop in the percentage of
those who believe hell is eternal. Love Wins (Rob Bell, 2012) was met with
considerable resistance in the evangelical community; but my personal
experience is that after thought there are others who have come to share Bell’s
difficulty with such a concept. They are
not alone nor was Bell the first to express his views.
With that in mind we would like to begin, today
and next, with a survey of answers to the question we are raising. Then we will turn to the Bible ourselves and
see what it says. Then we will be
satisfied, no matter the answer, when we understand the only God-spoken opinion.
So, from today’s passage, what does Jesus mean when He says, and why did
He speak of hell as the place having the
fire that shall never be quenched?
·
Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899), nicknamed the great agnostic, said that as a child
he heart a preacher proclaim the doctrine that God subjects sinners to unending
torment in hell. He decided then that if
God was like that, then he hated Him.
Many find belief in a hell of
unending punishment to be inconsistent with a loving God, morality and even
logic.
·
Seventh
Day Adventists reject an eternal hell and claim the Scriptures indicates
the destruction (annihilation) of the one who has rejected God’s
salvation. An article from the SDA Ministry magazine (July 1987, p10) said “There
are substantial moral and logical difficulties in believing in a God who
tortures His enemies forever. Like Ingersoll, thousands of thinking men have
turned away from such a God.” The
Adventists view was framed thus: "...hell is future and will burn only
until the wicked are reduced to ashes."
·
The Roman Catholic view is less defined. Christ
Among Us, the lay theology book for Catholics, says: "Theology has no complete answer as to how, or even
whether anyone may be damned forever" (p289).
More next week.
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