Sojourner
December 13th, 2003, 03:38 PM
With all the threads debating the question of eternal punishment in hell, I thought I would post some excerpts from the book "Beyond the Cosmos" by Hugh Ross, Ph.D. First he explains why people find the concept of eternal punishment in hell to be contradictory to the character of God (God is Love). Then he explains what exactly "toment" is in hell, and how God can show His love even while punishing unbelievers in hell. It's very interesting and may give you a lot to think about.
How can we comprehend how God's love is reflected in the Christian doctrine of hell?
Time and space, and physical and spiritual boundaries apply to evil and suffering. God promises that we will never face temptation beyond what we can bear, that He will always provide a "way of escape." But hell offers no escape. God also tells us the Holy Spirit acts as a restraining influence in the world right now, holding back the expression of evil. But hell offers none of the dimensional, physical, or spiritual boundaries we know. For God even to tolerate, let alone create, a place such as hell and consign multitudes of His creatures to it, seems unthinkable, a contradiction of His biblically claimed attributes of omnipotence and perfect love.
The doctrine of hell, or "the lake of fire," as a place of perpetual toment for those who reject God's offer of salvation has been part of Christian orthodoxy for centuries. Recently, however, especially in the last few decades, the perceived failure of theologians to reconcile eternal torment with an infinitely loving God has led to erosion of that doctrine.
The argument for the monstrous cruelty of God who would torment people eternally, is hard to sweep aside. In fact, this argument recently persuaded the Church of England to change its doctrinal position. After ten years of study, the church's doctrinal committee declared in 1996 that "a fiery eternal hell speaks of a cruel sadistic God" and, since the Bible clearly teachs that God is neither cruel nor sadistic, a correct interpretation of the Bible would lead to the conclusion that "if a person refuses God's offer of salvation, the consequence is ultimate non-being."
Eternal Rebellion
A temporary sentence to hell for sin might indeed be appropriate if the sinner were merely paying "for the misdeeds of a few short years on this earth." This line of reasoning minimizes the meaning of sin and ignores the eternality of human choice, given the eternality of the human spirit. An individual who knowingly refused to worship God during this earthly life will never change his or her mind. Heaven's price, worshipping God and God alone, this person will never willingly pay. This person does not want to be in God's presence and, thus, would find heaven repugnant. They may regret their eternal plight but not their rebellion.
Hell is a place people choose. While the people in hell will despise their torment, they have demonstrated their preference for it over eternal fellowship with God and with all who love the Light. For them, the experience of such fellowship would be far less tolerable than the torment of hell.
The lake of fire is a place where people and demons get what they want more than anything else: freedom from the will and rule of God. He yields to the desires of committed rebels by withdrawing forever the influence of the Holy Spirit from their beings.
God's Compassion Expressed in Hell
These words may sound strange, but in light of God's character and the character of those sentenced to hell, those who inhabit the lake of fire occupy the best possible realm for them. God expresses His love and compassion for hell's inhabitants by afflicting them with sufficient torment to prevent the place from being as bad as its inhabitants have the capacity to make it.
We can only begin to imagine what evil could be expressed by those from whom the restraining influence of God the Spirit has departed. The unleashing of individual's full potential for cruelty and all manner of evil could make hell vastly more horrible than God designed it to be. The worst thing about hell might be the company its inhabitants must keep. But God will keep in check the horrors these individuals could inflict on one another by immobilizing them, distracting them sufficiently with some kind of pain or discomfort.
The measure of pain and discomfort necessary to restrain each individual in hell will be different. Revelation speaks of differing levels or degrees of torment for those who are sent to hell, torment that is commensurate with each individuals' earthly expressions of sin and rebellion. The measure of wickedness a person practiced on earth is the measure of that individual's potential to make life more miserable than it already must be for others in hell. One interpretation suggests that God calibrates each person's torment to exactly the level necessary for restraint of his or her potential for evil.
A story might help to illustrate. If the public statements and writings of Adolf Hitler and Albert Schweitzer are indication of where each of them finished their lives spiritually, then both could be described appropriately as rebels against God's authority. Again, if their public lives offer any reliable indication, Hitler expressed more wickedness than Schweitzer. Since both appear to have rejected God's truth and His offer of life in heaven's kingdom, we would assume both will spend eternity in hell. But because Hitler would seem to possess the greater capacity to multiply suffering, we can imagine that he would require more torment to keep his capacity for evil at bay.
Is Torment the Right Word?
Many who reject the reality of hell do so because they equate the word "torment" with "sadistic cruelty." The concept of a necessarily painful restraining effect seems to have been overlooked.
While the Greek word for torment in the early New Testament manuscripts can denote torture, it is also used for "grievous pains" or "distress." New Testament writers used the same word to refer to the pains of childbirth.
A good friend of mine once stumbled into a real-life lesson on the consistency of God's love and His restraint of evil-doers in hell. Through the simple error of misreading a map, he was arrested for selling fim on the wrong side of the street in the vicinity of Pasaden's Rose Bowl.
Under normal circumstances he would have been driven to the courthouse, cautioned by a judge, and released. But because so many revelers had been arrested the night before, the court system was jammed. All the Pasaden jail cells were full, as were those in the neighboring communities. My friend, who had never even been sent to the principal's office during his school years, was sent to Los Angeles County Jail not just for a few hours, but for a whole day and night.
He was placed in a cell with eight other men. While Los Angeles police do their best to separate the violent felons from the rest of the inmate population, their efforts are limited. My friend glanced around to meet eight pairs of eyes staring at this obvious first-timer, each more fearsome than any he had encountered in his life, including his travels to foreign lands. Eight men watched, waiting for him to fall asleep. He spent that day and night awake and praying, his back glued to the cell wall.
No physical harm came to him during those agonizing hours, but he does remember wishing that an officer would come to handcuff and leg cuff the others so that he could get a moment's rest. Those cuffs would have brought torment, or course, but certainly no more than the torment my friend endured. From his perspective, the most loving thing the police could have done was to restrain his cell mates with cuffs. But what if some of them didn't really need cuffs? The most loving scenario for the total group would have been for the police to provide the greatest restraint to the most dangerous inmate, lesser restraint for those less dangerous, and no restraint for those who would do no harm to the others. Unfortunately, neither the police nor anyone else can see that clearly into people's hearts. But God can. And since God does see, He would know precisely how dangerous each of hell's inhabitants can be. With this knowledge, He would be able to determine precisely what degree of restraint to apply to each individual. And that could be considered an act of love.
How can we comprehend how God's love is reflected in the Christian doctrine of hell?
Time and space, and physical and spiritual boundaries apply to evil and suffering. God promises that we will never face temptation beyond what we can bear, that He will always provide a "way of escape." But hell offers no escape. God also tells us the Holy Spirit acts as a restraining influence in the world right now, holding back the expression of evil. But hell offers none of the dimensional, physical, or spiritual boundaries we know. For God even to tolerate, let alone create, a place such as hell and consign multitudes of His creatures to it, seems unthinkable, a contradiction of His biblically claimed attributes of omnipotence and perfect love.
The doctrine of hell, or "the lake of fire," as a place of perpetual toment for those who reject God's offer of salvation has been part of Christian orthodoxy for centuries. Recently, however, especially in the last few decades, the perceived failure of theologians to reconcile eternal torment with an infinitely loving God has led to erosion of that doctrine.
The argument for the monstrous cruelty of God who would torment people eternally, is hard to sweep aside. In fact, this argument recently persuaded the Church of England to change its doctrinal position. After ten years of study, the church's doctrinal committee declared in 1996 that "a fiery eternal hell speaks of a cruel sadistic God" and, since the Bible clearly teachs that God is neither cruel nor sadistic, a correct interpretation of the Bible would lead to the conclusion that "if a person refuses God's offer of salvation, the consequence is ultimate non-being."
Eternal Rebellion
A temporary sentence to hell for sin might indeed be appropriate if the sinner were merely paying "for the misdeeds of a few short years on this earth." This line of reasoning minimizes the meaning of sin and ignores the eternality of human choice, given the eternality of the human spirit. An individual who knowingly refused to worship God during this earthly life will never change his or her mind. Heaven's price, worshipping God and God alone, this person will never willingly pay. This person does not want to be in God's presence and, thus, would find heaven repugnant. They may regret their eternal plight but not their rebellion.
Hell is a place people choose. While the people in hell will despise their torment, they have demonstrated their preference for it over eternal fellowship with God and with all who love the Light. For them, the experience of such fellowship would be far less tolerable than the torment of hell.
The lake of fire is a place where people and demons get what they want more than anything else: freedom from the will and rule of God. He yields to the desires of committed rebels by withdrawing forever the influence of the Holy Spirit from their beings.
God's Compassion Expressed in Hell
These words may sound strange, but in light of God's character and the character of those sentenced to hell, those who inhabit the lake of fire occupy the best possible realm for them. God expresses His love and compassion for hell's inhabitants by afflicting them with sufficient torment to prevent the place from being as bad as its inhabitants have the capacity to make it.
We can only begin to imagine what evil could be expressed by those from whom the restraining influence of God the Spirit has departed. The unleashing of individual's full potential for cruelty and all manner of evil could make hell vastly more horrible than God designed it to be. The worst thing about hell might be the company its inhabitants must keep. But God will keep in check the horrors these individuals could inflict on one another by immobilizing them, distracting them sufficiently with some kind of pain or discomfort.
The measure of pain and discomfort necessary to restrain each individual in hell will be different. Revelation speaks of differing levels or degrees of torment for those who are sent to hell, torment that is commensurate with each individuals' earthly expressions of sin and rebellion. The measure of wickedness a person practiced on earth is the measure of that individual's potential to make life more miserable than it already must be for others in hell. One interpretation suggests that God calibrates each person's torment to exactly the level necessary for restraint of his or her potential for evil.
A story might help to illustrate. If the public statements and writings of Adolf Hitler and Albert Schweitzer are indication of where each of them finished their lives spiritually, then both could be described appropriately as rebels against God's authority. Again, if their public lives offer any reliable indication, Hitler expressed more wickedness than Schweitzer. Since both appear to have rejected God's truth and His offer of life in heaven's kingdom, we would assume both will spend eternity in hell. But because Hitler would seem to possess the greater capacity to multiply suffering, we can imagine that he would require more torment to keep his capacity for evil at bay.
Is Torment the Right Word?
Many who reject the reality of hell do so because they equate the word "torment" with "sadistic cruelty." The concept of a necessarily painful restraining effect seems to have been overlooked.
While the Greek word for torment in the early New Testament manuscripts can denote torture, it is also used for "grievous pains" or "distress." New Testament writers used the same word to refer to the pains of childbirth.
A good friend of mine once stumbled into a real-life lesson on the consistency of God's love and His restraint of evil-doers in hell. Through the simple error of misreading a map, he was arrested for selling fim on the wrong side of the street in the vicinity of Pasaden's Rose Bowl.
Under normal circumstances he would have been driven to the courthouse, cautioned by a judge, and released. But because so many revelers had been arrested the night before, the court system was jammed. All the Pasaden jail cells were full, as were those in the neighboring communities. My friend, who had never even been sent to the principal's office during his school years, was sent to Los Angeles County Jail not just for a few hours, but for a whole day and night.
He was placed in a cell with eight other men. While Los Angeles police do their best to separate the violent felons from the rest of the inmate population, their efforts are limited. My friend glanced around to meet eight pairs of eyes staring at this obvious first-timer, each more fearsome than any he had encountered in his life, including his travels to foreign lands. Eight men watched, waiting for him to fall asleep. He spent that day and night awake and praying, his back glued to the cell wall.
No physical harm came to him during those agonizing hours, but he does remember wishing that an officer would come to handcuff and leg cuff the others so that he could get a moment's rest. Those cuffs would have brought torment, or course, but certainly no more than the torment my friend endured. From his perspective, the most loving thing the police could have done was to restrain his cell mates with cuffs. But what if some of them didn't really need cuffs? The most loving scenario for the total group would have been for the police to provide the greatest restraint to the most dangerous inmate, lesser restraint for those less dangerous, and no restraint for those who would do no harm to the others. Unfortunately, neither the police nor anyone else can see that clearly into people's hearts. But God can. And since God does see, He would know precisely how dangerous each of hell's inhabitants can be. With this knowledge, He would be able to determine precisely what degree of restraint to apply to each individual. And that could be considered an act of love.