Posted on 09/19/2015 6:13:19 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.” So wrote the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1967. The idea of eternal punishment for sin, he further notes, is “a doctrine that put cruelty in the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture.”
His views are at least more consistent than religious philosopher John Hick, who refers to hell as a “grim fantasy” that is not only “morally revolting” but also “a serious perversion of the Christian Gospel.” Worse yet was theologian Clark Pinnock who, despite having regarded himself as an evangelical, dismissed hell with a rhetorical question: “How can one imagine for a moment that the God who gave His Son to die for sinners because of His great love for them would install a torture chamber somewhere in the new creation in order to subject those who reject Him to everlasting pain?”
So, what should we think of hell? Is the idea of it really responsible for all the cruelty and torture in the world? Is the doctrine of hell incompatible with the way of Jesus Christ? Hardly. In fact, the most prolific teacher of hell in the Bible is Jesus, and He spoke more about it than He did about heaven. In Matthew 25:41–46 He teaches us four truths about hell that should cause us to grieve over the prospect of anyone experiencing its horrors.
1. Hell is a state of separation from God.
On the day of judgment, Jesus will say to all unbelievers, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire” (v. 41). This is the same sort of language that Jesus uses elsewhere to describe the final judgment of unbelievers (see 7:23).
To be separated from God is to be separated from anything and everything good. That is hard to conceive because even the most miserable person enjoys some of God’s blessings. We breathe His air, are nourished by food that He supplies, and experience many other aspects of His common grace.
On earth even atheists enjoy the benefits of God’s goodness. But in hell, these blessings will be nonexistent. Those consigned there will remember God’s goodness, and will even have some awareness of the unending pleasures of heaven, but they will have no access to them.
This does not mean that God will be completely absent from hell. He is and will remain omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-8). To be separated from the Lord and cast into hell does not mean that a person will finally be free of God. That person will remain eternally accountable to Him. He will remain Lord over the person’s existence. But in hell, a person will be forever separated from God in His kindness, mercy, grace, and goodness. He will be consigned to deal with Him in His holy wrath.
2. Hell is a state of association.
Jesus says that the eternal fire of hell was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). People were made for God. Hell was made for the Devil. Yet people who die in their sin, without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, will spend eternity in hell with the one being who is most unlike God. It is a tragic irony that many who do not believe in the Devil in this life will wind up spending eternity being tormented with him in hell.
3. Hell is a state of punishment.
Jesus describes it as “fire” (v. 41) and a place of “punishment” (v. 46). Hell is a place of retribution where justice is served through the payment for crimes.
The punishment must fit the crime. The misery and torment of hell point to the wickedness and seriousness of sin. Those who protest the biblical doctrine of hell as being excessive betray their inadequate comprehension of the sinfulness of sin. For sinners to be consigned to anything less than the horrors of eternal punishment would be a miscarriage of justice.
4. Hell is an everlasting state.
Though some would like to shorten the duration of this state, Jesus’ words are very clear. He uses the same adjective to describe both punishment and life in verse 46. If hell is not eternal, neither is the new heaven and earth.
How can God exact infinite punishment for a finite sin? First, because the person against whom all sin is committed is infinite. Crimes against the infinitely holy, infinitely kind, infinitely good, and infinitely supreme Ruler of the world deserve unending punishment. In addition to that, those condemned to hell will go on sinning for eternity. There is no repentance in hell. So the punishment will continue as long as the sinning does.
The dreadfulness of hell deepens our grateful praise for the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Hell is what we deserve. And hell is what He experienced on the cross in our place.
Believing the truth about hell also motivates us to persuade people to be reconciled to God. By God’s grace those of us who are trusting Christ have been rescued from this horrible destiny. How can we love people and refuse to speak plainly to them about the realities of eternal damnation and God’s gracious provision of salvation?
Clearer visions of hell will give us greater love for both God and people.
This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.
If God is Omniscient and Omnipotent, then God MUST be Infinite. If not, there would be a place to get out of God’s sight and away from God’s power. Then God would not be Omniscient and Omnipotent.
If God is Infinite, it is not possible to be separate from God, as that which is Infinite has no boundaries and therefore is Omnipresent.
So a “state of separation from God” cannot actually exist. We can create the illusion of it and we can believe it and we can behave as if it were so, but it cannot exist in Truth.
And if it cannot truly exist, then it cannot be eternal.
We choose to be in Heaven or in Hell every moment.
Weise never even really died, yet he went to Hell? What a bunch of non-biblical nonsense.
A God that punishes the Majority (the VAST majority) of Its own creation does not make sense and is not a God that I would want to know, let alone worship. Why create what you are merely going to destroy and condemn?
Undoubtedly the same as it was.
Did you read the book?
I’ve read a great deal of it, yes.
Aside from maintaining a belief in God, trying to live a Godly life, and bearing in mind the admonitions of Deuteronomy 4:19 & Malachi 1:11, I think you're absolutely right.
"There is no sin but error, no punishment but consequence."
John writes in John 20:31
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Paul writes in Ephesians 1:13-14
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Paul also writes in Romans 8:15-17
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
If, as these writers have written, you believe Jesus has died for your sins, those sins are forgiven.
If you've believe in Him you've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. There is nothing in the NT to indicate you can unseal yourself of that God will unseal those who believe in His Son.
The word pledge in Ephesians above is an accounting term meaning earnest money....the Holy Spirit is a downpayment on our future inheritance.
Paul notes we're adopted.....in his day if a child was wanted the family assumed all liabilities of the child. If we believe in Christ, we've been adopted into His family....and He has assumed all of our liabilities. Members of the family do not need to be terrified of their Father in Heaven.
My prayer for you is to find the comfort and peace and joy of being a member of the family of God.
Can you square mortal sins away with Colossians 2:13-14 and/or Ephesians 1:13-14?
Well, I respect your opinion. I found the book informative. This article reminded me of the book.
Sorry ViLaLuz, I misconstrued your question. I haven’t read Weise’s book. I thought that you were referring to the Bible.
Those who are punished choose so by their own free will. God does not force anyone to reject his plan of salvation. All you need is faith the size of a mustard seed, my friend. You don’t have to know the conscience of the Almighty.
“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,”
—Romans 9:22
The thrice holy God of the Bible is a God of wrath and it just doesn’t matter if that makes sense to sinful finite men.
Perpetually angry, demands worship, demands compliance with His every whim or He'll destroy you forever.
Sounds like a liberal.
Bookmark
The other issue is that these folks will be living with the knowledge they refused Christ and they are there forever by their own choices. They can’t get a do-over. That’s going to be something extremely hard to live with forever. They will beg and wish for one and will be unable to get one. They will be stuck there and they will remember why, forever.
You have an unbalanced view of His attributes. I strongly suggest you both get into God’s Word and listen to the recent sermon series on the attributes of God by Dr. Stephen Lawson. Below is a link to part one.
The Attributes of God 1
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8614824416
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