The Doctrine of Hell

From the Westminster Confession of Faith

The Anthanasian Creed

The 1689 London Baptist Confession

 

Those are some men's interpretations of the Bible. They do not carry the weight of the Bible.

 

Quite right. But they do carry a lot of weight.

I gotta agree with something Eric said above.

 

Just because something is accepted as "orthodox" does not make it true. "Orthodox" simply means there is a consensus among a large group. The large group may be wrong on a particular point. "Orthodox" Christianity a thousand years ago was to give allegiance to the Pope in Rome. That was "orthodox" and wrong.

The Bible is true - all of it.

 

Don't get me wrong; What I was surprised about was the honesty in coming out with fifferent beliefs here. what Ken said about "orthodox" being simply a consensus (which was once deadly wrong), is certainly true, and there are other "orthodox" positions that can be scripturally and historically questioned (the state of the first death and some of the creedal language and concepts used for the Trinity could certainly be reexamined).
But as for the second death, once again there just does not seem to be enough scriptural evidence for annihilation, and especially universalism.

 

Thanks for the "stuff" Ken. I like you more and more. I think I will study this subject when I get Calvanism fully figured out. By the way, how is a CofC preacher a Calvanist? Seems to be inconsistant.

 

Edward Fudge was reared in the Church of Christ. Needless to say, there are a lot of people in the Church of Christ who flat out don't like his teaching, much the same way they don't like Max Lucado's teaching. But since each congregation is strictly independent of any other, there can be a wide variance between various Church of Christ congregations.

 

Ken, I guess that would be true according to our human knowledge, but the God who knows and sees all knows the beginning from the end and since he knows how he created human beings maby He knows that they "will" in the long run accept Him by choice. If God is truly a God of love, He wouldn't create a creature who would finally rebel against Him. If He wanted humans to have the free will to love Him without being robots and could not give them that free will, He would not be sovereign. Maby its Calvinism to believe that God knew all along what would happen and allowed everything to happen according to His will, but for us to have freedom of will was part of that plan.

 

I agree in that Adam and Eve had free will and free choice when they were created. Since the Fall none of us has had free will as we are born sinners with a sin nature that Adam and Eve were not created with. We do, however, have free choice within our sin nature and, once regenerated, within our new nature.

The bottom line is that I believe that Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost. On that you and I agree. I guess you and I just disagree on whether man can assist in that process. But the result is the same.

 

Both death and hell (Gr. Hades) will finally be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Harald

 

Hell is forever and there are flames there also. [Matthew 5:22; 18:9; Luke 16:23a & b and Luke 16:24 g; Revelation 20:15] It will be everlasting separation from Almighty God, [John 3:18b] which is an unthinkable condition for sure. [Matthew 10:2]

Hell is not annihiliation but a real place of torment for those unwilling to believe in Jesus. [Luke 16:23] The rich man 'FELT' the torments, 'SAW' Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom. The rich man wanted Abraham to send Lazarus {to a place} and to place water on his TONGUE, which again was a place and a real presence of a person called, the rich man

Is not annihiliation taught by the Jehovah Witnesses, which is a cult?

 

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:46)

The same Greek word is here used to describe the "everlasting" punishment of the wicked and the "eternal" life of the righteous. Certainly if we believe that eternal life is really eternal, we must believe the punishment of the wicked is everlasting and of the same duration.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:10)

John did not write that their destruction would be for ever and ever, but their TORMENT. One must be conscious in order to be tormented or it is not torment.

There is a faction of Old School (Primitive) Baptists whom we label "No-Hellers" because they do not believe in hell at all. They call Esau and the goats in Matthew 25 "disobedient children of God." There is a No-Heller Primitive Baptist church in North Carolina, although they are most found in the Appalachia. There is a book about them called "Sinners in the Hands of a Happy God." In case you think I am only kidding, there really is a book about them by that title.