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Burning Questions
answered by Rev. Colin Le Noury
Should
We Believe in Hell,
or is Annihilation more Christian?
Back
in the Middle Ages religious art was largely dominated
at that time by pictures of heaven and hell. Those
of heaven displayed cherubs and heavenly creatures
inhabiting a place of golden bliss.
On
the other hand, hell was usually portrayed with
images of fire, demonic beings and, of course, the
devil himself as a hideous horned creature with
a long tail and a fork in his hand.
These
artistic images coloured the minds of people for
centuries and have influenced our conception of
heaven and hell. But how correct are they?
In
more modern times we have seen trends develop which
suggest that the images mentioned above are outdated
and old fashioned. In a modern world, having commenced
a new century and millennium, we are urged to present
a 'people friendly' gospel with a God
of love who wouldn't send anyone to hell or
any place remotely like that which our ancestors
believed in.
Much
emphasis has been placed on the love of God as opposed
to His holiness or justice. This has resulted in
the rejection of the traditional Christian
belief in hell.
Ever
since the proliferation of the cults, many of which
began during the mid C19, the doctrine of annihilation
has gained popularity replacing belief in a literal
hell. Most of the major cults espouse annihilation,
and sadly, in recent years it has
been adopted by some evangelicals including some
very eminent names.
So
then, where lies the truth? Obviously belief has
to be based on scripture and what it says
on the subject. John R. Rice in his excellent booklet
makes the remark, 'Jesus Christ was the greatest
preacher on hell of all bible preachers - His message
of warning against the terrible consequences of
sin was the plainest and sharpest in all the
bible.'
Let
us consider some of Jesus' words:
'But
whosoever shall say "Thou fool" shall
be in danger of hell fire". (Math. 5 v 22).
'Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell'. (Math. 23 v 33).
'The
Son of man shall send for His angels, and they shall
gather out of His kingdom all things that offend
and them which do iniquity; and cast them into furnace
of fire; there shall wailing and gnashing of teeth
(Math. 13 v 40, 42).
These
statements are by no means exhaustive. Many other
similar statements came from the lips Jesus. He
obviously believed in hell and eternal
punishment. There is no hint of annihilation in
Jesus' words.
Belief
in hell is intrinsically linked to what we believe
about origin sin, the deity of Christ, the atonement,
the attributes of God and His eschatological plan.
Many of the tenets of Christi theology stand or
fall together which is why belief in hell, in my
mind, is so very important. This precisely why the
devil delights in deceiving people into believing
substitute theories like annihilationism.
Hell
is a literal place. Jesus parable of the rich man
and Lazarus speaks of it in literal
terms. In this parable, as in the rest of scripture,
there is no hint of the doctrines of purgatory or
limbo as espoused by the Roman Catholic church.
There is just a sense of final destiny.
The
great issue, of course, between traditional belief
in hell and annihilationism, is whether there
is any sense of ongoing consciousness in eternal
punishment. Annihilationists would claim that
their belief is tantamount to eternal punishment.
Indeed it may well be, but it is
the issue of consciousness which is in question.
Again
we must be guided by scripture on this one. All
the evidence suggest that eternal punishment will
involve a sense of consciousness. This was certainly
so in the aforementioned parable where the rich
man is said to have uttered, 'I am tormented
in this flame'.
The
same truth is borne out in scriptures like:
'It
is better to enter into life maimed than having
two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall
never be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is never quenched' (Mark 9 v 43, 44).
'And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night
for ever and ever' (Rev. 20 v 10).
'And
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence
of the lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth
up for ever and they have no rest day or night,
who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name' (Rev. 14v 10,
11).
"Back
in the Middle Ages religious art was largely dominated
at that time by pictures of heaven and hell. Those
of heaven displayed cherubs and heavenly creatures
inhabiting a place of golden bliss.
On
the other hand hell was usually portrayed with
images of fire, demonic beings and, of course,
the devil himself as a hideous horned creature
with a long tail and a fork in his hand."
Furthermore, the Christian message, or gospel, constantly
contrast eternal life with eternal punishment. Logic
alone suggest that if we believe eternal life to
I an ongoing conscious state, then by the same means
interpretation we must conclusion that eternal punishment
is also ongoing consciousness. This quite contrary
to the annihilation theory.
Annihilation
should be soundly rejected as unbiblical. It
demeans the divine nature, it undervalues
the atoning work of Christ and nullifies the unrepentant
sin into thinking that dying with Christ may not
be as previous imagined. The devil himself must
rejoice at annihilation teaching.
Traditional
hell fire preaching is not popular in this modern
world but scripture warns us that for says that
in the last days 'they shall not endure sound
doctrine' and that 'they shall heap to
themselves teachers; having itchy ears'. Annihilationism
may be popular but it insidiously
undermines biblical truth.
Many
of the great revivals of days gone by were characterised
by the clear, unambiguous preaching of divine judgement
as one side of the gospel message. Could be that
this is the missing note today's evangelism?
It is necessary for us in these last days of this
dispensation of grace blow the trumpet with a certain
sound.
PW
10/99
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