Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-03T10:23:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-26T21:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/07\/arnold-300x273.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/\",\"name\":\"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-03T10:23:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-26T21:32:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)","description":"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)","og_description":"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-08-03T10:23:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-26T21:32:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/07\/arnold-300x273.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/","name":"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-03T10:23:59+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-26T21:32:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"By Jeff Cook Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18973,"date":"2011-08-03T05:23:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T10:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=18973"},"modified":"2011-07-26T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2011-07-26T21:32:11","slug":"erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/03\/erasing-hell-might-makes-right-jeff-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasing Hell: Might Makes Right (Jeff Cook)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By Jeff Cook<\/p>\n

Erasing Hell \u2013 Might Makes Right<\/p>\n

Hell is making us all think really hard about God. In order to push our thinking I am working through a few big ideas in Dr. Preston Sprinkle and Francis Chan\u2019s recent book, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and What We Have Made Up<\/em>. I have deep admiration and respect for these two men, and their book is worth our careful reading and engagement.<\/p>\n

To get things going let me float our question right up front: Does God\u2019s immense power and knowledge give him \u201cthe right\u201d to do whatever he wants?<\/strong><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>A central claim of Chan and Sprinkle\u2014which creates their foundation (and breathing room) for embracing the traditional view of hell as eternal conscious torment\u2014is the idea that whatever God chooses to do is, by definition, \u201cright\u201d. At the outset, the writers in defining the purpose of their book say,<\/p>\n

\u201cThis book is actually much more than a book on hell. It\u2019s a book about embracing a God who isn\u2019t always easy to understand, and whose ways are far beyond us; a God whose thoughts are much higher than our thoughts; a God who, as the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, has the right to do, as the psalmist says, \u201cwhatever He pleases\u201d (Ps. 115:3). God has the right to do WHATEVER he pleases. If I\u2019ve learned one thing from studying hell, it\u2019s this last line. And whether or not you end up agreeing with everything I say about hell, you must agree with Psalm 115:3 (p.17, emphasis theirs).<\/p>\n

Though the word \u201cright\u201d (which adds a moral element) does not appear in Psalm 115, this is a foundational idea at work in Erasing Hell<\/em>. The writers fall back on this argument and use the language of God having the \u201cright\u201d to do whatever he wishes throughout the text, and from this argument they establish that, because God is supremely powerful and all-knowing, God has the moral authority to create a state of eternal conscious torment if he so desires.<\/p>\n

The authors\u2019 most thorough construction of this argument comes in chapter 6\u2014the most important and philosophically-charged chapter in the book\u2014in which they examine a portion of Romans 9. Referring to a metaphor used by Paul, they say, \u201cWe need to surrender our perceived right to determine what is just and humbly recognize that God alone gets to decide how he is going to deal with people. Because He\u2019s the Potter and we\u2019re the clay\u201d (131).<\/p>\n

Now, is this a worthy use of Romans 9? Morally, can a creator do whatever he wishes with his creation?<\/strong> I\u2019m not sure this is a principle Paul would affirm.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s imagine that I have the power to create 3 year olds out of thin air. Because I am the \u201ccreator\u201d of such three year olds, do I then have the moral \u201cright\u201d to do to those 3 year olds whatever I wish? Push them in front of busses for fun? Poke out their eyes to defend my glory? Molest them to my heart\u2019s content? How about in the case of God? Let\u2019s imagine that God creates a little kid (that looks an awful lot like a kid you care about), and he chooses to place them in a microwave on low for entertainment until they explode. Because God is \u201cthe Potter\u201d does he have the moral right to do this with his \u201cclay\u201d?<\/p>\n

Well, if by \u201cright\u201d we mean \u201cthe ability to do so,\u201d then I suppose he does. God is quite powerful. But if by \u201cright\u201d we mean the moral authority to do whatever one wishes and remain good, act justly, be kind and compassion\u2014this is an obvious problem. How can one act in violent, abusive, seemingly negligent and self-serving ways and remain \u201cgood\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What Chan and Sprinkle are in essence defending is a \u201cmight makes right\u201d principle.<\/em> They consistently assert that because God has immense power and knowledge, everything he does is morally praise-worthy.<\/em> As such they ask questions like, \u201cWhat if God, as the sovereign Creator of the universe, decided to create \u201cvessels of wrath prepared for destruction\u201d? \u2026 What would you do if He chose to do this? Refuse to believe in him? Refuse to be a vessel of mercy? Does that make any sense? Would you refuse to follow him? Really? Is that wise?\u201d (130)<\/p>\n

The answer is of course, \u201cI reject a \u201cmight makes right\u201d theory of moral goodness, I think God agrees, and as such I think your interpretation and use of Romans 9 must be flawed. But supposing the kind of deity you are describing does exist<\/em>, sure I might follow that deity out of fear, out of self-preservation, or in a state of confusion\u2014but sheer power and knowledge do not make a god worthy of worship or affection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, after rejecting the \u201cmight makes right\u201d principle, we undercut the argument in Erasing Hell<\/em>, and we may take the next step and affirm that\u2014because a supremely good and loving God exists and would not actualize repugnant states of affair like the eternal conscious torment of a few million souls\u2014we have another good reason to reject the traditional interpretation of passages on hell.<\/p>\n

Jeff teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado, pastors Atlas Church (Greeley), and is the author of <\/em>Seven: the Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes (Zondervan, 2008) and <\/em>Everything New (2012).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"