Seeing this is the hot topic on my blog right now let's continue.
Video 3 -- Greg Boyd and Eternal Punishment
Greg is wrapping up and drawing his conclusions to their final end:
1. His final conclusion is one of 'annihilation' that is anything that does not line up with God's will has its ultimate and complete end. The punishment still is eternal -- that is once a person gone they are gone for eternity.
2. Regardless of what way you interpret these things there are three things that are true:
a) We were created for eternal life, b) The consequence of rejecting god is hell -- regardless of what you mean -- and it is not a good thing. c) The sure way to avoid hell is to completely submit to the Lordship of Christ and thus join the church which is predestined for salvation.
Now, I am going to admit that Greg Boyd's view has a lot of merit. It considers the more common uses of eternal punishment and uses a lot of Scripture. It's one weakness overall is its treatment of Luke 16:19-31 as a parable. It certainly has given my cause for pause to rethink the merits of the annihilist position. As I have done osme historicla research -- the fact si that the early church supported both views. The nature of hell was a big debate.
Next: The Nature of Hell -- Biblical Considerations
The nature of Hell was indeed a big debate in the early church, and I'm sure that debate will continue until there's no more room for debate. Currently I've been reading some theories which conclude that Hell may actually be a place where the unregenerate will prefer to be. Interesting stuff!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is and it is also the most perplexing. That's probalby why Iam studying it. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteSorry sounds' like you have created a belief about the Bible that suits your purpose. There is very little evidence for Greek influence on the gospels seeing that four of them were written by the disciples of Christ and one by a close associate of Paul.
Luke 9:51-56 is authentic but 16:19-31 isn't on what basis? Why can't it be the other way around? Sorry no evidence for this -- go to Bible colelge and take a basic course on textual criticism. You ahve no EVIDENCE of Greek influence. You jsut want their to be so you can dismiss hell.