Stop me if you’ve read this one before.
From March 2, 2009, “H-E-double hockey sticks“:
What I find most interesting in this whole saga is that Pearson was never condemned for his earlier heresies, which strike me as more extravagant. He began his ministry, after all, as a protege of Oral Roberts and for years taught a variant of Roberts’ “prosperity” doctrines. Going around and telling people that serving Mammon is the same as serving God apparently doesn’t get you in hot water with the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops. Denying the existence of Hell does.
That’s curious, since the Bible spends much, much, much more time on the dangers of chasing money than it ever does on the subject of eternal torment. The Bible’s priorities, however, have been inverted by evangelicals, for whom Hell has become a central, essential doctrine.
I’m not sure how that happened. St. Paul had precisely nothing to say on the subject of Hell. He had a lot to say about death, resurrection and the kingdom, but not one word about Hell. The Nicene Creed, similarly, mentions heaven three time, but never mentions Hell at all. The Apostle’s Creed mentions it. Once. It says Jesus went there. (Yes, that Jesus).
Yet ask any evangelical Christian about their faith and Hell is one of the first things they’ll mention. And they know all about the subject. They can describe Hell, earnestly providing details from Dante or Fantasia while dimly believing these come from the Bible (you know, the Epistle to the Ghibelines or something).
So let’s take a quick look at what the Bible actually does have to say on the subject of Hell. Specifically, let’s look at three passages that Carlton Pearson has been condemned for not “interpreting literally.”
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