I just gave Christianity Today my "what for" after reading their April 2002 "Good Question" column by J. I. Packer who was asked "How will people in heaven feel, knowing some of their loved ones are stuck in eternal hell?" Packer said the people in heaven will be too busy praising God and loving each other to worry about that sort of thing. In fact, Packer added, "love and pity for hell's occupants will not enter our hearts."
So, I HAD to write
Hell's Final Enigma or "The Abominable Fancy" Redux?
There is nothing more horrific to my mind than J.I. Packer's recent response to this month's "Good Question." His response was that throughout eternity, "love and pity for hell's occupants will not enter our hearts." Such a "love" is no better than any in-group who naturally love themselves and do not allow love or pity for "outsiders" to ever enter their hearts, and it echoes the horrific teachings of theologians from Augustine onward:
AUGUSTINE
They who shall enter into [the] joy [of the Lord] shall know what is going on outside in the outer darkness. . .The saints'. . . knowledge, which shall be great, shall keep them acquainted. . .with the eternal sufferings of the lost.
[The City of God, Book 20, Chapter 22, "What is Meant by the Good Going Out to See the Punishment of the Wicked" & Book 22, Chapter 30, "Of the Eternal Felicity of the City of God, and of the Perpetual Sabbath"]TERTULLIAN
What a spectacle. . .when the world. . .and its many products, shall be consumed in one great flame! How vast a spectacle then bursts upon the eye! What there excites my admiration? What my derision? Which sight gives me joy? As I see. . .illustrious monarchs. . . groaning in the lowest darkness, Philosophers. . .as fire consumes them! Poets trembling before the judgment-seat of. . .Christ! I shall hear the tragedians, louder-voiced in their own calamity; view play-actors. . .in the dissolving flame; behold wrestlers, not in their gymnasia, but tossing in the fiery billows. . .What inquisitor or priest in his munificence will bestow on you the favor of seeing and exulting in such things as these? Yet even now we in a measure have them by faith in the picturings of imagination. [De Spectaculis, Chapter XXX]THOMAS AQUINAS
In order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned. . .So that they may be urged the more to praise God. . .The saints in heaven know distinctly all that happens. . .to the damned.
[Summa Theologica, Third Part, Supplement, Question XCIV, "Of the Relations of the Saints Towards the Damned," First Article, "Whether the Blessed in Heaven Will See the Sufferings of the Damned. . ."]JONATHAN EDWARDS
The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. . .Can the believing father in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in Hell. . . I tell you, yea! Such will be his sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish his bliss.
["The Eternity of Hell Torments" (Sermon), April 1739 & Discourses on Various Important Subjects, 1738]During America's "Great Awakening" the popular hymn writer, Isaac Watts (1674-1748), even set Christians' feet to tapping with this crisp little verse:
What bliss will fill the ransomed souls,
When they in glory dwell,
To see the sinner as he rolls,
In quenchless flames of hell.This "abominable fancy" was based on various Bible verses:
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
- Psalm 58:10Let the wicked perish at the presence of God. . .But let the righteous. . .rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
- Psalm 68:2-3,22-23In Isaiah 30:31-33 a human sacrifice takes place (the "man" who is killed represents the nation of Assyria), and the act is accompanied by festival songs, gladness of heart, the sound of the flute, tambourines and lyres. Moreover, "the Lord" performs the sacrifice.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me.
- Isaiah 66:24A man suffering in "Hades" sees another man luxuriating in "Abraham's bosom," and vice versa.
- Luke, chapter 16Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
- Luke 13:28They shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever and ever. . .Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. . . And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
- Revelation 14:9-11; 18:20, 19:3Having such "inspired" verses behind it, this teaching did not grow out of favor with orthodox Christian theologians until the age of the Enlightenment when, for instance, Thomas Burnet punctured it with a prick of irony:
What a theater of providence this is: by far the greatest part of the human race burning in flames forever and ever. Oh what a spectacle on the stage, worthy of an audience of God and angels! And then to delight the ear, while this unhappy crowd fills heaven and earth with wailing and howling, you have a truly divine harmony. [De Statu Mortuorum & Resurgentium Tractatus, 1720]
RELATED ARTICLES
Roman Catholic Establishments
The burning of Aztec Libraries. Santa Rosa, patron saint of Lima. Inquisition in the South American continent by Catholics. The story of the miraculous Virgin of Guadalupe.The Inquisition
Excerpt: "The proudest nobles of the land held it an honor to serve as familiars of the Holy Office. In the midst of this external pomp, the impenetrable veil thrown over its proceedings took strong hold of the imagination, investing the tribunal with a sort of supernatural terror. An individual disappeared from the busy scenes of life... No one knew whither he had gone till he reappeared, clothed in the fatal garb of the san benito, to take part in the tragic spectacle of an auto de fé."
Events which occurred during the Inquisition, including the trial of Galileo.John Wesley And Organized Methodism
Excerpt: "Nothing can be more absurd," he says, "than to affirm that when 'something is required to be done in order to receive a favor, the favor loses the name of a free gift, and directly becomes a debt.' I say to two beggars, Hold out your hand, here is an alms for you. The one complies, and the other refuses. Who in the world will dare to say that my charity is no more a free gift, because 1 bestow it only upon the man that held out his hand? Will nothing make it free but my wrenching his hand open, or forcing my bounty down his throat?" "Suppose a schoolmaster said to his English scholars, 'Except you instantly speak Greek, you shall all be severely whipped,' you would wonder at the injustice of the school tyrant. But would not the wretch be merciful in comparison with a Saviour (so-called), who is supposed to say to myriads of men who can no more repent than ice can burn, 'Except ye repent ye shall all perish'? I confess, then, when I see real Protestants calling this doctrine 'the pure gospel,' I no more wonder that real Papists should call their bloody inquisition the house of mercy, and their burning of those whom they call heretics an auto de fé, or act of faith." "Let no one say that we wrong the Calvinian decree of reprobation when we call it a horrible decree, for Calvin himself is honest enough to call it so."
The rise of organized Methodism, a thing Wesley expresses having not planned. Life of John William Fletcher. Relationship with the Church of England, doctrines of Methodism, and hierarchal positions within the clergy.Protestantism in Spain
Excerpt: "Finally, having collected all possible information, the Inquisition made a sudden move, and filled its prisons to overflowing with those suspected of heresy. Now the wholesale sacrifice began. On the 21st of May, 1559, the first auto de fé for the execution of Protestants was celebrated at Valladolid. With the lavish pomp and ceremony peculiarly characteristic of Spanish taste in these matters, the friends of the gospel were led to the slaughter."..."A general auto," says M'Crie, "in which a number of heretics were brought out, was performed with the most imposing solemnity, and formed an imitation of an ancient Roman triumph, combined with the last judgment. It was always celebrated on a Sunday or holiday, in the largest church, but more frequently in the most spacious square of the town in which it happened to be held."
Writings of Luther make their way into Spain. The New Testament is translated into Spanish. The inquisition begins to stamp out Protestantism. The barbaric means employed to silence the movement and its adherents.Gleanings From Various Countries Under Romish Rule
Excerpt: "During the seventeenth century the auto de fé was much less of a factor in the religious edification of the Spanish people than it had been in the preceding century and a quarter. The maxims, however, which gave birth to this kind of spectacle, were in full force, and the spectacle itself was none too rare. The most celebrated instance occurred in 1680, when eighteen Jews and one Morisco were burned alive, and several score of Jews were sentenced to lesser punishments." ... "Though Philip V., the first of the Bourbon line in Spain, gave some tokens of disfavor toward the Inquisition, he conceded to it on the whole a pretty full scope, and the record indicates that its hand was not idle. According to Llorente, during the forty-six years of Philip V. (1700-1746), 782 autos were held in Spain, and 1,564 victims were burned alive."
The intolerance of religion was in full force. The purchase of souls from pergutory.
Article last updated October 22, 2005
Certified error free by http://htmlvalidator.com
 |
 |
 |
 |