More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
By far, the main person responsible for making hell eternal in the Western Church was St. Augustine (354–430 CE). Augustine...was made Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He did not know Greek, had tried to study it, but stated that he hated it. Sadly,
it is his misunderstanding of Greek that cemented the concept of eternal hell in the Western Church. Augustine not only said that hell was eternal for the wicked, but also for anyone who wasn’t a Christian. So complete was his concept of God’s exclusion of non-Christians that he considered un-baptized babies as damned.
Augustine was the first and ablest asserter of the principle which led to Albigensian crusades, Spanish armadas, Netherland’s butcheries, St. Bartholomew massacres, the accursed infamies of the Inquisition, the vile espionage, the hideous bale fires of Seville and Smithfield, the racks, the gibbets, the thumbscrews, and the subterranean torture-chambers used by churchly torturers.[15]
Most of what we believe about hell comes from Catholicism and ignorance of the Old Testament, not from the Bible.
none of our concepts of hell can be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ![16]
Had our old English Bibles been translated directly out of the Greek instead of Latin, it’s very probable that the doctrine of eternal torment would never have found its way into our modern Bibles and theology at all.
When you think of how many people, opinions, doctrines, misunderstandings, language barriers, as well as political and theological agendas may have worked into the mix in 2,000 years, it’s hard to believe (and shouldn’t be believed) that the Bible has maintained
inerrancy or complete adhesion to the original intent.
even if Scriptures were inspired as given, their correct interpretation still depends on the inspired mind of the one reading them. Think about how one verse of the Bible can have a dozen interpretations, depending on who’s reading it. This is how more than 30,000 church denominations have been formed. This is how Calvinists and Arminianists are reading the same Bible, yet coming away with completely different impressions of the core teachings.
if hell is really true, and God is actually losing most of His creation to evil and darkness, you could say that good is overcome, and darkness overtakes light. Ultimately, Satan wins the tug-of-war over creation, and God loses. What a terrifying thought—how
Best selling author, Bart Ehrman, was raised a dyed in the wool evangelical who studied at Moody Bible Institute, graduated from Wheaton College, and later received a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. At a very basic level, something happened to turn him into an avowed agnostic who now challenges problematic doctrines of Christianity, both in his books and in the classroom, where he teaches religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
I could no longer reconcile my faith in God with the state of the world that I saw all around me. There is so much senseless pain and misery in the world that I came to find it impossible to believe there is a good and loving God who is in control, despite my knowing all the standard rejoiners that people give.[21]
The god we have unwittingly manufactured has feeble hopes for His own children—hopes that are dependent upon human free will, and confined to the length of His children’s brief, mortal lifespans. Along with that, He’s either too short-tempered and callous to forgive His enemies and save them, or He’s too weak and limited in His power to eventually overcome their stubborn wills and save them. As
is this the God revealing Himself to us through original Scriptures? Does this sound like a loving, all-powerful heavenly Father?
Interestingly, in Hebrew, “Adam” means “humanity” or “mankind.”
it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”
Fire is a fascinating concept in Scripture. It’s almost always figurative or symbolic with the purpose of purifying, refining, and for accomplishing general good.
Greek word for fire, “pur,” is the word from which we get all forms of our English word, pure and purify.
the Greek word for brimstone is defined as, “divine incense, because burning brimstone was regarded as having power to purify,
brimstone (theion) shares the same root word as “God” (Theos).
the Greek word for torment in the verse abo...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
A touchstone. Originally, a black, silicon-based stone used as “a touchstone” to test the purity of precious metals (like silver and gold). In the papyri,[‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡] basanos also means, “touchstone, test.”
The Greek word that was translated as “tormented,” not only has nothing to do with eternal conscious torment like we think of torment today (burning to a crisp in hell for all eternity), but is actually a process that tests purity,
verses like Revelation 20:10 suggest more of a refining and purifying process going on in people’s lives.
if it doesn’t make rational sense or fit the overarching, consistent character of a loving and inclusive God, it’s probably not true.
Scripture teaches of fire being a purifying agent, not a punishing, utter destroying agent.
Does man’s “free will” or even Satan’s will trump God’s
If you believe that billions of people are headed toward everlasting separation from God in fiery torment, perhaps most of them out of ignorance, or because of their bad or misinformed choices, or because Satan successfully deceived them, you essentially believe that Satan wins and God loses.
His children are nothing more than throwaways not worth fighting for. Do these sound like the traits of a loving and all-powerful Father?
Job says: God stands alone, does whatever He pleases, no one can ultimately oppose Him, and no plan of His can be thwarted or foiled (Job 23:13; 42:2).
Kent Whitaker,
in his book Murder by Family,
God would knit whatever happened into His plans for good.”
On his hospital bed, Kent sensed the unmistakable prompting of God, asking him to do the unthinkable—to forgive the murderer.
This forgiveness astounded me, because earlier I had experienced feelings of incredible sadness and intense anger—even the desire to kill the person responsible with my own hands.
As the investigation unfolded, the shocking truth emerged: the mastermind behind the murder plot was none other than his oldest son Bart!
Is there anything—as a functional, loving parent—that my children could do that would erase or cancel my love for them?
When Jews read the Bible, the God whom we Jews meet there is in the image of a father who loves his children with an overwhelming passion. This father has very high expectations of his children, but he also indulges them. He loves to treat them well and make them happy. Some Christians believe that the God of the Old Testament is a stern God of strict judgment without mercy, but a religious Jew would not be able to discover such a deity in the Hebrew Bible.[27]
In his 1843 book, The Plain Guide to Universalism, Thomas Whittemore wrote:
He would not have created intelligent beings, had He known they were to be forever miserable. To suppose that God would bring beings into existence, who He knew would be infinite losers by that existence, is to charge Him with the utmost malignity.
Loving parents make sure the punishment fits the crime.
In his book, A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer gives a most disturbing account of his childhood
in a household with three siblings, Dave was singled out for some of the worst abuse imaginable. He was starved frequently—up to two weeks at a time—while having to serve dinner to the rest of the family and do their dishes.
The horrendous list of abuses continued with probably the worst psychological abuse of all being that the mom demonstrated love and thoughtful care to the rest of the children in front of Dave, while snubbing him and requiring all of the other children to do the same.
Paul in Romans 2:12–16:
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness
“she loved the hate and rebellion right out of me.”[33] Datie then raised Jerome with the motto, “Don’t let your abuse be your excuse,”
If Christians are not walking as if they are clearly seeing God, then how can we expect an unbeliever to see God the way He truly is?
Who is Jesus asking His Father to forgive? His enemies—the ones who had just rejected Him, condemned Him, spit on Him, cursed Him, abused Him, and nailed
Hitler appears to be the “poster child” for the necessity of the doctrine of hell.
