Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares? (7 – My View: Purgatorial Conditionalism)

April 23, 2012 By Kurt Willems 13 Comments

© 2009 Creativity103 , Flickr | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The following is part of a series on Hell, partially as a response to the Love Wins controversy.  To catch up, go here.

As I stated in the first post, this section will be mostly based on Sharon Baker’s Razing Hell.

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As I’ve already stated, for some time the traditional view of hell contradicts the overall biblical witness. I resonate with Sharon Baker’s perspective in many ways, however with some nuances. I want to briefly describe two distinctions that I think complement her overall vision.

Distinction #1: Conditional Immortality

A presupposition of mine is the validity of what scholars call conditional immortality. Church Fathers such as Theophilus, Irenaus, and Justin Martyr argued this perspective.[1] Clark Pinnock states: “God created humans mortal with a capacity for life everlasting, but it is not their inherent possession.”[2] The idea that humans are innately immortal is foreign from biblical thought. Greek philosophy fuels this assumption.

Therefore, I am happy to agree with much of Baker’s emphasis on the final Judgment Day, but something needs to be explained. My view is that when a non-Christian dies (after taking into consideration the inclusive grace of Christ) that person is exactly that – dead. Remember, immortality is a free gift, so those who do not have it simply return to the dust. To experience “hell” is to die, be destroyed, or to perish. No one goes to a “place” called hell after death. They simply die awaiting Judgment Day. [Read more...]

Filed Under: (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares?, Afterlife, conditional immortality, Consummation, Hell, Interpretation, Jewish Roots, Kingdom of God, love wins, N. T. Wright, New Creation, Reconciliation, Restorative Justice, Rob Bell, Theology Tagged With: , , , , 13 Comments

Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares? (6 – Baker in Dialogue with Grenz)

April 21, 2012 By Kurt Willems 5 Comments

© 2011 | Eric Schmuttenmaer , Flickr | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

The following is part of a series on Hell, partially as a response to the Love Wins controversy.  To catch up, go here.

As I stated in the first post, this section will be mostly based on Sharon Baker’s Razing Hell.

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Stanley Grenz in Conversation with Baker

Now that we have explored the issue of hell through the work of Sharon Baker, it will be helpful to compare her “Jesus lens” to another theologian, in this case: Stanley Grenz. Grenz wrote a comprehensive introduction to the study of theology called Created for Community: Connecting Christian Belief with Christian Living. His primary “lens” for understanding theological issues is simply “community.”[1] His explanation of this intrigues me in light of the subject of hell, judgment, and wrath.

…[W]e will order our theological reflections around the concept of “community” understood as the goal of God’s program for creation. God is at working our world, we declare. And God’s purpose in this activity is the establishment of “community” – a reconciled people who enjoy fellowship with him, with one another, and ultimately with all creation…. God’s goal for creation is “community” – a redeemed people dwelling in a renewed creation, enjoying the presence of the Triune God (Ibid.). [Read more...]

Filed Under: (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares?, Hell, New Creation, Reconciliation, Restorative Justice, Rob Bell, Theology, universalism Tagged With: , , , , , 5 Comments

Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares? (5 – Razing Gehenna!)

April 20, 2012 By Kurt Willems 32 Comments

© 2005 Justin Rocha , Flickr | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

The following is part of a series on Hell, partially as a response to the Love Wins controversy.  To catch up, go here.

As I stated in the first post, this section will be mostly based on Sharon Baker’s Razing Hell.

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Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares?

Razing Gehenna

Sharon Baker recognizes the importance of Jesus’ warnings about the fires of hell. From her perspective, in order to understand hell in the gospels, we must realize that wrath in the Bible is twofold. First, wrath is what happens when God “gives them over” (Rom. 1). In other words, the pattern throughout Scripture is that God removes protection allowing people to experience the full consequences (on earth) for disobedient choices. Some might call this hell on earth. This is consistent with how God dealt with Israel in the Old Testament. Second, wrath is God’s purging love that burns away evil at the return of Christ (122).

Connecting hell, then, to Jesus must consider the twofold pattern above. The word in the New Testament for hell is Gehenna, which literally means: the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. This location is referenced throughout the Old Testament and is a valley outside of Jerusalem. It was a place of bloodshed (sometimes child sacrifice) that eventually was used to destroy dead bodies. The prophets speak of it as a place where fires devour corpses and the flames seem to burn non-stop (Isa. 30.33; 66.24). In this valley, the worms didn’t die and corpses were utterly destroyed. Some even believe that during the time of Jesus, this place became a trash heap of burning fire. We also know historically that when the Romans seized Jerusalem in 70 CE, they placed the dead bodies in the valley. Gehenna was a literal place of death and decay (128-129). [Read more...]

Filed Under: (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares?, Afterlife, Hell, Interpretation, Kingdom of God, Reconciliation, Restorative Justice, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , 32 Comments

Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares? (4 – A Judgment Day Parable)

April 19, 2012 By Kurt Willems 17 Comments

© 2009 | Jesus Solana | Flickr | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The following is part of a series on Hell, partially as a response to the Love Wins controversy.  To catch up, go here.

As I stated in the first post, this section will be mostly based on Sharon Baker’s Razing Hell.

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Hell Yes. Hell No! Or Who the Hell Cares?

Otto the Non-Believer at the Final Judgment

Baker invites readers to imagine a man named Otto: “an international leader who has launched preemptive wars and terrorized nations with his arrogant dominance, leading to the death of thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children” (115). Otto stands in God’s throne room on the final Day, not a Christian. He anticipates that God is going to give him his due for all the wrongs committed and therefore hates this God. As he approaches God, the heat from the flames of love gets hot. Baker explains:

His anger and rebellion turn to sheer terror. He moves closer to the flames, and as he does so, he realizes that the blazing fire is God. The closer he gets to God, the more deeply he feels, not God’s hatred or judgment, but God’s love. It is a love of such magnitude that, with its abundance, it act as wrath, judging him for his deficiency, and with its purity, it serves as a hell, punishing him for his depravity. God’s love and mercy, both acting as judgment, are so extravagant, so abundant, so incomprehensible that they completely overwhelm Otto. Then he hears a voice from that fire. He does not hear, “You evil, vile murderer! I am going to get you now. Revenge, punishment, and torture forever and ever!” Instead, he hears God say with sorrow forged from love, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. But look at your life; what have you done?” (115-116). [Read more...]

Filed Under: (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares?, Books, Community, Reconciliation, Restorative Justice, Rob Bell, Salvation, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 17 Comments
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