Bird's Nest

“Just oooone drop!” My knee-high nephew had deep dark nightmares after being persuaded to pray the sinner’s prayer by means of a most unsettling demonstration.  I was yet a youngster myself when the horrors of hell compelled me to try to rescue my unwary relative from its fiery grasp. It was that terrifying story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 that gave me the chilling idea.   This was years before the Partnership for a Drug-Free America launched its iconic egg in the frying pan campaign in 1987. Remember that? How could you forget? “This is your brain” the man says as he holds up an egg. “This is drugs” he adds as the camera zooms in on a red hot pan. Then after he cracks the shell to drop its contents into the searing skillet, he grimly intones, “This is your brain on drugs.” The vivid visual ends with several seconds of sizzle.  Effective! Well, my wee nephew’s eyes arched about as oval as eggs while I narrated the piteous pleas of the wealthy dead ...

How did holiness ever become the scapegoat for Hell ?  In Scripture holiness is clearly connected to mercy, not wrath.  That’s right - holiness is tethered to mercy.  God is a holy God of mercy, not a holy God of wrath. God is holy, but His holiness compels His mercy to limit His wrath: “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth…(would those who hold to eternal torture wish to end the verse here as proof that God’s holiness demands endless torment?  But we read on and learn the wonderful reason to sing:) “For his anger endureth but a moment” (Psalm 30:4, 5).  “His holiness” is hinged (“for”) to the merciful limitation of his anger, which “endureth but a moment.”  His “anger endureth but a moment,” but His “mercy endureth for ever.”  God is holy, but His holiness does not induce His wrath to continue unabated through the unfathomable reaches of eternity.  His holiness compels ...

Is EVERLASTING BURNINGS proof of endless torment? The following passage was shared with me as proof of ceaseless suffering: Isaiah 33:12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? But don't stop there.  A question is asked.  Let's hear the answer: 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. So the answer is that only the righteous ("H...

After over twenty years of faithfully upholding the traditional view, and with a pillow soaked with the tears of agonizing contemplation, I privately wrestled for ten plus years with the subject of our discussion. With complete confidence in the final authority of Scripture, I diligently searched to see "whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Four discoveries led to a departure from what I had always been taught: 1. I could not find Scriptural validation for the immortality of the soul, but rather abundant testimony against it. 2. I found that Scripture clearly and consistently taught that the wicked will perish, burn up, die, be destroyed, consumed, and be no more. 3. I was overwhelmed with the continual presentation of eternal, everlasting life as the gift of God given only to those in Christ, and this in constant contrast to the fate of the wicked who would finally and truly perish. 4. I was startled at how weak or contradictory our "proof-texts" were for en...

I do not engage with time-wasters with any delusion of convincing them. But what I have found as effective is the obvious contrast in the interaction that persuades others who are looking over our shoulders. And it has often been communicated to me that a point used in vain against a time-waster, nevertheless bore fruit in someone else genuinely considering the matter. The first person I directly convinced of CI over twenty years ago was not so much convinced by my acumen, but by the clear contrast of evidentiary exegesis vs. the parroted creedal assertions of my antagonists. Luther won more converts in heated engagement with his enemies than he did with civil discourse with his friends. But I am trying to learn to not take the heated interaction too personally, nor respond in kind. I'm not fully there yet, but I am improving. And I hope we can all be patient with each other. Our unique styles are clearly not one-size-fits-all, but I believe we can all be effective in our own...

CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY. The most familiar verse in the Bible teaches the conditional immortality of believers and final destruction of unbelievers:  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not PERISH, but have EVERLASTING LIFE" (John 3:16).  Conditional Immortality is the belief that immortality (not being subject to death) is conditional upon being in Christ:  "And this is the record, that GOD HATH GIVEN TO US ETERNAL LIFE, and THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:11, 12). ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST. Conditional Immortality maintains that eternal life is not the intrinsic possession of the soul, but the gracious gift of God, "Who ONLY hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16).  We do not receive it by our first birth in Adam, but by our second birth in the second Adam, Christ! "For as IN ADAM ALL DIE, even so IN CHRIST S...

There is an Old Testament precedent for a non-literal afterlife allegory. Isaiah 14 presents a remarkably similar story of reversal of fortunes, and a clearly figurative fable of dead bodies in the gravedom of Hell.  Talking trees and dead kings rising from their thrones enhance this enchanted Lord of the Rings type macabre tale, furnishing an illuminating template on how to interpret the rich man and Lazarus. It should be abundantly obvious that neither of these stories are newspaper type accounts. Comparisons: Isaiah 14: Luke 16: The condition of the righteous in this life 3: thy sorrow, and... thy fear, and… hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve 20: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus… laid at his gate, full of sores 21: And desiring to be fed with crumbs… the dogs came and licked his sores The condition of the wicked in this life 2: oppressors 4: oppressor 11: pomp… the noise of thy viols 16: the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms 19: T...

 

"Unquenchable fire" is by no means an expression of ceaseless suffering. Even by itself it would speak of things burning up because the fire can't be put out. But put chaff - thin, dry, extremely combustible husks - in a fire that can't be put out and you should certainly get the picture. But in the bizarre chance you don't, John the Baptist unmistakably spelled it out: "He will BURN UP the chaff with unquenchable fire." John the Baptist: 1. UNQUENCHABLE - things burn up in fire that can't be put out 2. CHAFF - things burn up in a fire that can't be put out, especially something this extremely combustible 3. BURN UP - things burn up in a fire that can't be put out, especially something as extremely combustible as chaff, but in case you don't get that clear picture, the chaff will BURN UP

The book of Hebrews gives three instances where “eternal” (aionion) refers to the result and not the process, the end and not the means: “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him” (5:9) “Of the doctrine… of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment” (6:2). “he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (9:12)  It is eternal salvation, not eternal saving; eternal judgment, not eternal judging; eternal redemption, not eternal redeeming.  And it is everlasting punishment, not everlasting punishing; everlasting destruction, not everlasting destroying.  Each of these has a limited duration as to process (how long it takes), but an unlimited extent as to the end result (how long it lasts).   The process of redemption was in what Christ once obtained, but the result of redemption is eternal, therefore it is truly eternal redemption.  Here scripture gives us such a clear ...

 "Fool."  A piece of paper was left on the pulpit to rattle the preacher. He picked it up and saw one word: “Fool.” Quick witted, he wondered aloud, “Well, how about that? I’ve received messages before without anyone signing their name, but this is the first time someone signed their name but didn’t write a message.” My endless torment friends perform a comparable antic with their interpretation of “from the presence of the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. The phrase is smack dab in the very middle of the very apparent presence of the Lord, yet proponents of a torture chamber somewhere away from His presence use this phrase about his presence to say He is not present.  Confused? It is confusing. Granted, believers have often sensed the Lord’s presence when He wasn’t visibly there, but this is the first time He’s visibly there but is supposedly not present. The passage in question says that those “that know not God… shall be punished with everlasting destruction from th...