"The Hell," you say?

Evangelical theologians are notoriously politically correct within the system. Question an archaic doctrine that at the very least needs clarification is ministerial suicide for some. Take, for example, the doctrine of Hell. Question that in light of “only God has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16)” and see how far you get in average Evangelical circles. Need I go any further?

Some of the greatest minds in theology have expressed contradictory views vis-à-vis Evangelical “orthodoxy” such as: Hans Urs von Balthazar, C. S. Lewis, John R. W. Stott, William Barclay, Clark Pinnock—needless to say, also, that the Church Fathers both early and late did not agree on this, nor did the Reformers; they did, however, discuss the issue. May I quote just one of the greatest theologians of all time, who wrote: “In Hell there is no true eternity but rather time (St. Thomas Aquinas)?” Most assuredly St. Thomas Aquinas must have had the same thought in mind as did Isaiah who wrote much earlier: “Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end (Isaiah 60:20)?”

In Scripture, Hell (or the fires of geennan/γέενναν) is confined to a cycle of days and nights; whereas, Heaven has no night, only day, for “He is the light thereof (Revelation 21:23).” Not so with Hell which is confined to a determine cycle of day and night until it is thrown into the Lake of Fire; after which, it can be argued only the “smoke of their torment (from the fires of geennan) (Revelation 14:11)” can be seen as a proof of the effectiveness of this consuming fire.

Now, consider with me for a moment what the implications of these verses of Scripture are—keeping in mind, of course, that sola scriptura does not take place in a vacuum. Reason has its proper place in theology as well, as does moral justice and fairness. Well, for one there is a judgment day and that there is punishment is a given, as Immanuel Kant pointed out so many years ago. However, we Protestants have thrown the baby out with the bath water and restricted that punishment to punitive punishment only. Remedial punishment a more sensible recourse is completely off limits.

Do I buy into the whole “liberal” approach, lock stock and barrel? Certainly not. However, perhaps it would serve us well to take into consideration that it took at least three-and-one-quarter centuries for the doctrine of the Trinity to essentially take its final form. Some would argue, however, that the controversy would only be settled in the west under the tutelage of the Cappadocian Fathers (roughly 330-395 A.D.) when it really blossomed into its final form.

Now in this instance we are only talking about the Trinity, but we could also open up discussion as to why it took until the Reformation to come up with the so-called 5 solas: Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone"); Sola fide ("by faith alone"); Sola gratia ("by grace alone"); Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone"); and Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone"). The point being, that on such an important and controversial subject as Hell, we have shut the door without having defined its parameters. It is one thing to say that, ‘Yes, there is a Hell and bad people go there,” but quite another to identify all of these bad people as those who do not agree with our little small brand of Christianity. Perhaps, we are right, but there are millions of Hindus, Buddhists, and yes, even Muslims that deserve to be told why. That we have not effectively answered yet.

JimR__/