- Author: Brad
- Filed under: eschatoloty
- Date: May 18,2008
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
What needs to be understood about the issue of hell is not whether we believe in a reality of hell – which all four authors agree on – but rather what is the nature of hell. What do the Scriptures say hell is? What is the outcome of those who are to be cast into hell? Just to say there is an imminent judgment in no way clears up the topic as to the nature of that judgment.
After reading the book with an open mind and heart, it could be said there is a strong case to be made in opposition to the “traditional” view of hell. Bearing in mind all the moral problems that the traditional view necessitates, why do so many still cling to it so persistently? In Four Views on Hell, Crockett seems to put forth a strong contention that Scripture does not justify such a stand.
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Part 1
John Walvoord advocates the conventional view, which embraces that Hell is literally a place of smoke and fire, where nonbelievers undergo physical and emotional agony throughout eternity. Verse upon verse is utilized to establish that the vengeance of God is more than sheer physical death. Words such as “olam” and “neash,” generally translated “ever”, are in some contexts limited as to duration in time (e.g. Ex. 27:21), but says Walvoord, “such termination is never once mentioned in either the Old or New Testament as relating to the punishment of the wicked… there is no intimation that this punishment should not be taken literally and continue eternally.”
William Crockett asserts that the Biblical representation of hell as fire is metaphor, symbolizing separation from God. While Crockett concurs with Walvoord that hell is a place of everlasting cognizant chastisement, he advocates that New Testament portrayals of both heaven and hell are fundamentally figurative and not an exact depiction of the worlds to come. He contends that ancient teachers used hyperbole to underscore the overwhelming dreadfulness of the judgment of God.
Zachary Hayes gives the purgatorial view of customary Roman Catholicism: that eternal fate is set irreversibly at the instant of death; that the majority of people are not corrupt enough to be relegated to a perpetual hell, nor are they good enough for heaven; therefore, some sort of “purification” process needs to take place between death and access into heaven. Roman Catholic theology affixes to this theory the likelihood of being aided in the cleansing method by those alive on earth.
Finally, Clark Pinnock offers the conditionalist view, oftentimes known as annihilationism, in which nonbelievers are eradicated entirely out of existence or after some period of conscious punishment. He acknowledges that this controversial view is extremely rare amongst early Christians, but rightly claims that tradition is not infallible, and thus the arguments for eternal conscious punishment must be considered on their own rights. Pinnock claims the innocent acceptance of the concept of the immortality of the soul, which is placed behind the conventional understanding of hell, direct traditionalists to ignore the literal meaning of many Scriptures. Pinnock then provides a good account of those key Scriptures that shore up the conditionalist view.
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Part 1
The majority of modern Christianity accepts the dogma of hell, but what exactly constitutes this place of torment has been debated throughout the history of the Church…
As a part of the Zondervan Counterpoints series, Four Views on Hell takes four authors – John Walvoord, William Crockett, Friar Zachary Hayes, and Clark Pinnock – and asks them to present their views and counterviews on hell. What follows is four, essentially evangelical, analyses on hell – the hellliteral, metaphorical, conditional, and purgatorialin doctrines – and the author’s interaction with each other on the issue. And though the authors display an admirable attempt to illustrate their observations, only one view exhibits a sound argument and sensible scrutiny when laid beside the others.
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