Posted on 07/26/2018 10:38:38 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. ( Psalm 7:9-13)
The Judeo/Christian teaching of a God of Holy wrath has by and large been rejected by the new psychologized, humanistically influenced evangelical world. Decades of weakened teaching and preaching have had a soul numbing effect on millions of confessing christians. The very idea of a place of fiery, eternal, punishment in hell is a “turn off” to the new evangelicals.
Rob Bell is the founder of Mars Hill church in Grandville, Michigan. He is also the author of a widely acclaimed book called “Love Wins”. Bell calls into question the doctrine of final and fixed judgment in hell for the “billions” who will not be saved. The following is from the preface of Bells book,
A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.
Note the loaded way Bell frames the issue, speaking of a “select, few christians” in order to appeal to the egalitarian impulses of his readers, as if the difference between heaven and hell is a matter of social status to those of us who believe in God’s righteous Judgment.
It is my purpose in this little essay to proclaim how the punishment of Hell glorifies the God of the Bible, and His Son, Jesus our Lord.
Modern ministers seeking to become ‘relevant’ and identify with this unbelieving generation, are obviously ashamed of the traditional teaching of the church regarding the final punishment of evil. We shouldn’t be though. Jesus certainly wasn’t ashamed to warn people of an eternal hell.
Hell and the Lake of fire were created by God for a specific purpose, to punish the Devil and his fallen angels. God only does what pleases Himself, for God’s pleasure is the highest good. Therefore Hell itself is to the glory of God. Look with me at some of the ways Hell reveals God’s holy glory.
* Hell is a revelation of the utter hatefulness of sin – There is a sense in which the whole subject of Hell and punishment shows us our own heart. We stumble over the subject because we can’t believe that sin is so evil that it merits hell.
The fall of man has the same effect on us, we reason, “What’s the big deal, Eve eating a piece of fruit, sharing it with her husband, wanting to be ‘like gods’ ?”. And yet every tear of anguish, pain, shame, rage, fear, and humiliation that was ever shed, comes as a result of the man and the woman eating the fruit.
Eating fruit is that big a deal? No, but trusting God is. Being willing to remain as a worshipper under God, rather than aspiring to be a rival God in your own image, is a huge, infinite deal with eternal consequences.
Hell and the lake of fire are a revelation of the utter hatred God has for all that is evil, false, selfish, and unbelieving. God knows what sin is, an awful evil, incredibly damaging, and of enormous consequences. Sin is the evil of evils! It is worse than hell for it caused hell, and all suffering and separation came about as a result of it.
It is to God’s glory that He hates something so hateful. Would we want to live in a universe of a God who delighted in malignant evil? Who loved lust? Selfishness and covetousness? Such a world would be unbearable.
* Hell reveals the Righteousness of God – I would hate to think of a world wherein both Hitler and his victims ended up in the same condition. We know better than that, and furthermore we know that this life isn’t long enough or of sufficient breadth to fully satisfy Justice.
For example, Hitler shot himself in the head in a bunker, after slaughtering millions of millions of his own people, and plunging the world into the most devastating war to date. He wasn’t even brought up on trial, he eluded all attempts to bring him to justice of any sort. Had he been brought to Nuremberg after the war, the worse that could have been done to this mass murderer, would be to hang him.
The doctrine of final judgment, and a fixed eternal state tells us that justice shall be eternally satisfied, there is a place where every last farthing will be demanded, all accounts will be put into order.
* Hell reveals the infinite worth of God – As we said earlier, people can’t believe that sin is really as evil as it is, therefore they can’t understand the severity of Hell.
In the same way, people don’t really believe that God is as glorious, exalted, majestic and high as He is. If they could see God they would instantly realize why there must be a hell, for they would know that to sin against such an infinitely good, Holy and beautiful being could only merit such a punishment. All sins are against God himself.
The very definition of evil, is to spurn, resist or ignore God, for He alone is the source of all that is good. You cannot spurn such a God with impunity! Hell shows us that God is so high, lifted up, so good, so beautiful, that to sin against Him is to hate goodness itself. It is the epitome of pride and impiety to refuse to worship such goodness and beauty!
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God…(Psalm 9:17)
Where else could they Go? Heaven itself would be hell to the wicked for they hate God!
Part two tomorrow
Note the loaded way Bell frames the issue, speaking of a “select, few christians” in order to appeal to the egalitarian impulses of his readers, as if the difference between heaven and hell is a matter of social status to those of us who believe in God’s righteous Judgment.
God is the coach of one team and satan the coach of another, and points are souls. According to the bible, at the end of the game satan wins, five to one, but God beats him up in the parking lot after the game, so God wins.
I haven’t seen Come Sunday yet, but I still want to. It’s a fascinating story.
bookmark
The error of this posting is that Christ died and atoned for your sins or did he not? Is there no propitiation? Did Christ die for nothing? What does the Hebrew word “Sheol” mean? How about the definition of the Greek word “ Hades”. Let’s look at the Aramaic word used by our Savior, Jesus, “ Gehenna “ All have nothing to do with “eternal life” in a burning “hell” but express a total non existence. Note that the ONLY “eternal life” is through Christ as He stated in John 3:16. You aren’t saying HE was wrong, are you? All this was constructed in the King James version ,1600 years after Christ, along with the word “ Church” which was not in the bible at all until then. Scholars think the King James was a radical attempt to gain control over believers. It worked magnificently but it was all a lie.
Actually, that is not true. The Wycliffe Bible of 1395, one of the oldest English Bible, uses the word chirche (church). Tyndale (1525), Coverdale (1535), the Bishops Bible (1568) uses congregacion/congregation. Finally, the Geneva Bible (1587) uses church. All of these are before the KJV.
That is interesting. excellent post. Summary, The word “Church” was not in the bible for 1400 years after Christ. By the way, The word “Chirche” meant “circle” which was the Pagan worship format to get is a circle. Had nothing to do with the original Greek word of “ekklisia “ which meant “ the called out” or believers. It did NOT mean “ gathering or assembly” because the Greeks had a perfectly good word for that meaning. The Greek for that was the well known word “Sanhedrin”. Thanks for the scholarly clarification. 1400 years — not 1600 years
Mr. Clueless there doesn't seem to get that if people didn't have hell to avoid, the message of the gospel and cross is meaningless.
Soul sleep is the doctrine of demons.
Jesus taught about the eternal torment of those who reject Him.
Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Mark 9:43, 48-49 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire…where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.”
et ego dico tibi quia tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversum eam
Which translates to:
I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church (ecclesiam) and the gates of hell would not prevail against it;
From an on-line Latin Dictionary, the definition of ecclesia is:
noun
Definitions:
So, I'm not seeing your issue, as the Vulgate translation is from the late 4th century.
Jesus was talking about pre-resurrection. You didn’t know that?
Of Course the “ church” mistranslates the word Ekklisia” It mean “ the called out”. The translation is bogus in the vulgate.
Also, in Acts 19:41 "And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.", "assembly" is the Greek word ἐκκλησία. (Note: for full context, please see Acts 19:23-41, with special emphasis on Acts 19:25).
Strong's defines ἐκκλησία as:
from a compound of ἐκ (out of) and a derivative of καλέω (call); a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):—assembly, church.
The literal meaning ( not the corrupted meaning by the institutional “church”) is , in fact, “The called out”. The Greeks had a perfectly good word for “ assembly” i.e. “Sanhedrin”. The word “ Church” was not the mistranslated until 1400 years after Christ. When Paul wrote his letters to various communities, he was not writing the “ church” , he was writing the “believers” in Christ Jesus as the Son of God. The very word “church” is a false teaching.There was no mortgaged building with a steeple , there was no patriarchal “minister” , no choir, and definitely no Sunday at 11 AM. These are all constructs for sole proprietorships or franchise operations collecting Old Testament tithes in the name of God , In my opinion, based on the Greek.
The word "church" is not univocal. It can mean the building, the institution, or its members. Theologians often speak of the visible or invisible church, and when they do, they are speaking of believers.
But I would agree that there are certain sects that confuse the meaning, and only see church as just the institution instead of believers.
HEY GREAT DISCUSSION. You made great points. You are very knowledgeable. Such discourse is the key to truth. Take care.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.