A troubling question: Must we conclude that God, who gave his Son for sinners, will keep billions of them alive- to torment them without end?
This is from The Lanier Library Lecture Series titled The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment by Edward Fudge given Sep 24, 2011. The lecture was limited to 800 persons and was closed off several weeks beforehand. It was attended by a broad spectrum of folks on this issue yet the lecture was warmly received by all.
Around the world today, evangelical Bible scholars are giving hell a serious second look. Would the God who gave his Son to die for sinners finally keep billions of them alive forever to torment them without end? Does Holy Scripture require such a conclusion—or offer a different vision? The story of how the great majority of Christians came to teach unending conscious torment is as fascinating as any mystery or “Who-done-it.” In this lecture, Edward Fudge will identify scores of generally-overlooked Scriptures, then lead a tour through some paths of church history that are less well travelled, and which are haunted by pagan philosophy, medieval law and Reformation politics.
For more infomation on the Lanier Theological Library:http://www.laniertheologicallibrary.org/”
About Edward Fudge
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The “eternal age” is the ” life of the age to come” argument
is true, it’s even important, but it doesn’t get to people’s concern
if our life is eternal, then their death must be eternal
or
if their death is not eternal, then maybe our life is not eternal
or
if they need to fry forever so we can live forever, so be it
and once we get past the
callous self-interest
and learn the Bible way of talking about ages
we still need to answer their questions
1. the life is permanent, the death is permanent, so why are they
different?—because death is not life in misery
death is not life
2. and the question is not what’s good for us, what makes it sure we live forever
the question is what the sovereign God judges to be just
if God says the wages of sin is death
who are we to say:
we want more than that, that’s not enough
who are we to say, death is not death?
mark mcculley