THE GOD of Christendom, judged by the alleged lot of the
unbeliever, is a fell fiend, more ferocious than the gods of the heathen. The God of the
Scriptures is love, more marvelous than the mind-reach of mortals. I have read quite a
little about the demons and the idols representing them, which are worshiped in other
lands and at other times. Some of them are cruel, but I have never heard of one that
condemns all who do not believe, young and old, small and great, ignorant and wise,
innocent and crime- ridden, to eternal torment, so terrible that only a callous mind and a
hard heart can consider it seriously and not go insane.
THE FATE OF INFANTS
It is to their credit that
some, at least, refuse to believe that infants are included. But they can give no valid
ground for excepting them, for the creeds of Christendom do not. No one who does not
accept the damnation of infants has a right to call himself orthodox. He cannot quote a
single text in the Bible that distinguishes between the fate of the babes and the aged.
Nowhere is there a hint of "the age of responsibility," before which children
are exempt from an eternal hell, and after which they are certain to be damned if they do
not hear and believe the gospel.
THE DESTINY OF THE HEATHEN
We are glad to acknowledge that
the hearts of some are not so hardened as to insist on the damnation of the heathen who
have not heard the gospel. Ask them why they make this distinction and they cannot cite a
single decisive text. In fact there are places in the Authorized Version which seem to
clinch the matter, such as Psalm 9:17: "The wicked shall be turned into hell,"
and "all the nations that forget God." Of course it should read returned,
and the stress should be laid on the fact that only nations that have known God can forget,
and that "hell" is oblivion. There can be little doubt that, in this matter, the
Bible is translated to support the damnable doctrines of malevolent men, rather than the
righteous revelations of a benevolent Deity. In truth the Scriptures know nothing of
"heathen" in contrast with "Christians," or "gentiles" in
contrast with Jews. The Greek word is ethnos, and denotes nation, and
may be used of Israel itself, as a nation, but usually embraces all other
nations, "Christian" as well as "heathen." Orthodoxy has drawn a false
line between the heathen and Christendom, just as they have between infants and adults, in
order to conceal the barbarous brutality and outrageous wrongs of the creeds. The
unscriptural terms "heathen" and "gentile" are needed to express
error, not the truth, hence we usually avoid them.
"CHRIST REJECTORS"
It may be that we could do a
great service to the adherents of orthodoxy if we pressed them to take a public stand as
to the fate of infants and the heathen. It should reveal to them how vulnerable their
position is, and how far their creeds have departed from the Word of God. Some have taken
refuge in the phrase "Christ rejectors." That is, only those are damned who hear
the gospel and refuse to believe. But this is not only outside the Bible, but serves to
create further difficulties. If the heathen are not eternally damned, neither are they
saved. What, then, is their fate? This theory forces us to leave God's revelation for idle
speculation. As with the age of responsibility, which is not revealed, the question would
arise, when do they hear the "gospel?" I, myself, reject a great deal that is
called the gospel today, when it is based on man's works, not on God's grace. There is no
way out of it. The Scriptures leave all unbelievers for judgment, whether they have heard
the evangel of God or not. That can only affect the measure of judgment.
THE AWFULNESS OF ORTHODOXY
The enormity of this slander
against God and His Word is beyond our grasp. It may help us to get a little glimpse of it
if we simply look about us in the world today and see how many millions are to be
consigned to everlasting woe even in a "Christian" country, that sends out
missionaries by the hundred to the "heathen," and looks back to a beginning when
it was the asylum of fugitives who fled from their native land in order to worship God and
obey His Word. It is said that only eight per cent of the people in the United States go
to church on Sunday morning. This would be about ten million. A hundred and twenty million
are not interested. But how many of these ten million are really acquainted with God and
know Christ as their Saviour? Alas! God only knows. Judging by my limited experience there
may be many of them whose religion consists mostly of self-righteousness. But we will be
safe in assuming that there are at least a hundred million in one "Christian"
land whose orthodox destiny is endless agony and everlasting anguish. Every year about
three million beings like ourselves, 300,000 a month, 10,000 a day, 400 an hour, and 15 a
minute are hurled into an "eternity" of awful and unutterable woe.
Only one small corner of the earth -- Eastern
Europe -- can make as good a showing as this. The tremendous populations of Asia --
Japan, China, India -- would probably reduce the ratio of the saved to the damned below
one per cent. Each one of these billion souls is a world all to himself. Each one is
capable of loving as well as hating his Creator. And all will agree that most of them
suffer so much misery that the love of God seldom comes within the range of their
perception. Frantic appeals have been made, based on their great danger, and the terrible
torments, that await them, as well as their unending banishment from God, but the general
response has been insignificant in comparison with the awful situation. This does not in
the least criticize or condemn the missionary effort that has been made and the noble
sacrifices that have been endured. But it is totally inadequate. The population increases
faster than the number of converts. Every second sees another soul sent to certain and
ceaseless doom.
If the orthodox realize this in their heart,
what shall we think of them? Are they not the most callous and culpable of all God's
creatures? They ought to suffer for their apathy in allowing their friends and
neighbors to plunge headlong into everlasting torment without making any serious effort to
stop them. But hold! If these same sinners were about to topple over a literal brink into
a tangible conflagration, nearly every orthodox church member would make a heroic effort
to save them. Some would even risk their own lives to rescue a friend from a burning
building. Why is there such heroism on one hand and cowardice on the other? Because
they do not really believe their own doctrine! It is so unreasonably excessive, so
abominably inordinate, that their hearts revolt. Their minds may formally assent, but
their feelings find the strain too great, so that, in most cases, they develop a coating
of callousness. The zealots among them will fight for their precious damnation doctrine,
but the great mass cannot get enthusiastic about such a horrible thought. Most of their
paid preachers have seen that it is best to use the soft pedal when referring to it.
"FAITHFUL" GOSPEL PREACHING
Some, indeed, who earnestly
seek to faithfully preach the gospel, have tried to respond to the awful load laid upon
them by this dread doctrine. Those who have done so have been led away from the evangel
found in the Scriptures. I have listened to the "faithful" preaching of hell
fire for months. The best preparation for preaching, I was advised, was to "take a
look over the brink of hell." The frenzy induced by the sight of the damned, writhing
in unbearable agony, was said to be the best inducement to a faithful heralding of God's
love and grace! Yet, when I came to study the Scriptures in order to preach like the
apostles, I found that they never used the word "hell" in any of their
evangelistic work, so far as the record goes. Peter, at Pentecost, did not threaten his
hearers with "hell," or promise that Christ would save them from it. On the
contrary, he announced that Christ had gone to "hell," and had been
saved from it (Acts 2: 27,31). None of the other apostles even mention "hell,"
except John (AV, Paul, 1 Cor.15:55) (Rev.1:18, 6:8, 20:13,14), and then it has no
connection with the evangel in any case. In his extended discussions of the various
evangels, Paul does not refer to "hell" at all. It is not even a
"gospel," but an excrescence, a tumor, which poisons God's gracious message. In
the evangel, God wins men by His love. He does not hound them with His hate.
VARIOUS FORMS OF PURGATORY
As a result of the intolerable
dogma of an eternal hell there have been many attempts to mitigate its horrors or to
modify its injustice. The Roman Catholic church has its purgatory, in which the suffering
of the sinner at least accomplishes something, and, as a result, may come to an end.
Because it substitutes the suffering of the sinner for that of the Saviour in salvation, I
reject it absolutely, yet I must admit that it is immeasurably preferable to the
protestant doctrine of eternal damnation, because it does not do such irreparable injury
to God's character or so finally rob Him of His creation.
Others have tried to find a solution by
reasoning from the Scriptures. The fact that sulphur or brimstone is called theion
(divine), because it was used in the lustrations of the gods of the nations, has been
employed to prove that the lake of fire was divine and, in some way, beneficial. The
clearest intimations of the Scriptures are laboriously reasoned away, and the rules of
logic are generally reversed. The fact that the lake of fire is called the second
death is used to prove that it is not death, whereas sanity insists that is
called the second because it is a repetition of the first.
SALVATION BY WORKS
There has even been an attempt
to prove that some who stand before the great white throne are not cast into the lake of
fire, but receive eonian life as a reward for their good conduct. This seems to be based
on fallacious reasoning from the negative, that only those not found written in the scroll
of life were cast into the lake of fire (Rev.20:15). It is even claimed that all were not condemned
(verse 13) because some manuscripts have it simply judged, notwithstanding the
plain passage in Romans five which makes the scope of condemnation and justification the
same, including all mankind (Rom.5:18). The idea that anyone could actually earn
eonian life by means of his own acts ought to be so abhorrent to everyone who has tasted
of God's grace that all would reject it without investigation.
THE LOT OF THE UNBELIEVER
The unbeliever, no matter what
his age or condition, faces "hell," the judging, and the lake of fire, all of
which orthodoxy fills with dire dread. These are described as so fearful that both head
and heart refuse to face them. In fact, they are usually evaded. Yet orthodoxy must insist
that unbelievers go to "hell," and to judgment and to the burning lake, no
matter how young or innocent they may be. In order to drive away this fearful nightmare,
and justify the ways of God to some of the most helpless and harmless of all His
creatures, we will consider their lot in relation to each of these. In brief, we will find
that God's Word declares both "hell" and the lake of fire to be death,
a sleep, an oblivion in which no suffering is possible, and the judging a process of
correction that may be mild compared to that endured by infants in the orthodox
"hell." Indeed, we will rejoice, that our fellows have fallen into the loving
hands of God and are no longer in danger from the cruel claws of men.
CHRIST GOES TO "HELL"
The atrocious translation,
"hell," is unmasked by a single passage (Acts 2:27). God did not leave the soul
of Christ in "hell." Dare anyone say that He was punished and
tormented because of any evil He had done? On the contrary, He had not only lived a
perfect life, but had just accomplished His great sacrifice, the deed for which He will be
given the greatest reward in all the universe. Why should He be sent to "hell,"
when He deserved the highest heaven? "Hell" has come to mean almost the opposite
of the Greek word hades and the Hebrew shaul, which it translates.
Instead of a place of torment, it denotes utter unconsciousness. Those in the unseen
will perceive nothing. There is no knowledge in the "grave." The spirit goes
back to God at death, and the body returns to the soil. Their combination produced
sensation or soul. When they separate, sensation ceases. That is the real "hell"
of the Scriptures. Not only Christ, but every believer who dies goes to "hell."
It is not confined to the unbeliever.
"Hell" is simply the unperceived,
the unseen. In relation to human beings it is used to indicate the utter
cessation of consciousness in death. It returns the soul to its original state before it
had any separate existence, just as death returns the spirit to God, and the body to the
soil, The idea of suffering in this condition is preposterous, unless used in a figurative
sense. The opposite can be "proven" only by rejecting the literal assertions and
misusing the figurative. It is for saints and sinners alike. Jacob had no hesitancy in
saying: I will go down to "hell!" Our Authorized Version camouflages such
passages as these by translating them "grave." That is how we have been
deceived. Saints as well as sinners go to "hell." If Jacob has been suffering
the torments of "hell" for thousands of years, how can he have any place in
Christ's kingdom? If the billions of babes who have gone to "hell" for the last
six thousand years have been tortured so long already, why rouse them at the great white
throne, in order to judge them?
No mother who knows what "hell"
really is in God's Word will worry about her child going there. On the contrary, we who
wish to shield our children from all suffering, who would like to spare them the many
miseries of life, should rather rejoice that they have escaped the
"hell" of existence in this wicked and woeful world, with its dire
disappointments, its dread diseases, its immeasurable miseries, in the midst of human
beings, some of whom have fallen lower than the level of the beasts. It is mortal life
that brings weariness and woe. Death, however, brings rest and surcease from sorrow. There
may be all the difference between them that we feel between a day full of toil and travail
and despair, and a night of satisfying sleep. Which would we chose? So far as our feelings
are concerned, we would ratherÄÄa thousand times ratherÄÄsleep. Even a believer would
rather rest forever than return to such a scene as this, with the infirmity and the
senility and the decay of old age wrapping slimy tentacles about him.
Death is dreadful. But how unutterably more
terrible would it be if there were no death! Had Adam lived on until now, every day adding
to his weakness, helplessness and decrepitude, his body ruined by disease and racked by
pain, he would long to die. Who would care to live so long? Could any "hell" be
worse? Let us face the facts. Dreadful as death is, for mortals it may not be nearly so
dreadful as the slow dying process that we call life. If the world today were filled with
all the dead that lie in our cemeteries, with bodies foul with disease, with spirits
debased by sin, and souls tormented by their condition, it would be about as bad as the
"hell" of orthodoxy. Dying while we live is the source of all our tribulations,
and death is a cessation, not the commencement, of the woes of mankind. They must be
roused from death before the inflictions of judgment are possible. Why raise them if they
could be judged in the death state?
THE SECOND DEATH
And what is the lake of fire?
It is the second death. This is God's definition (Rev.20:14). As the first death
closes the present life in merciful oblivion until the judgment, so the second death
succeeds the judging of the great white throne which again, in mercy, wraps up all in
oblivion, not for another judgment, but for an awakening to the salvation, the
justification and the reconciliation which is provided by the blood of the cross for the
whole Adamic race. When He Who is sitting on the great white throne, judges, or sets
right, all who stand before it, there is no more affliction or distress possible in
the lake of fire. The judging is past. All are ready for reconciliation. But this is not
due until an eon later. The same problem is presented as in the case of the former death.
Then it was, How can all be brought into the judging immediately after their life is
ended? Now it is, How can all who have been set right be ushered straight into the
reconciliation, when a vast epoch intervenes? They are simply dissolved in death, so that,
in their experience, there is no final eon, but they go from the judgment scene
right into the reconciliation, when God becomes their All.
The first death comes to men, no matter what
they do, because of what they are. Not only the confirmed criminal dies, but even
the innocent infant expires before it can do any harm. Of course there are accidents and
executions, but these abnormal incidents do not affect the great law that began with Adam
after he had sinned and had become mortal. Men may hasten their death by dissipation, but
no acts of theirs will enable them to escape the operation of death within them, which
they inherit from Adam. The point is exceedingly important, especially in connection with
the second death, which is usually taken to be the penalty pronounced at the great white
throne. There, as now, the suffering results from what was done, but the death
arises from the fact that none have their names in the scroll of life. We must keep both
the first and second death entirely distinct from the judging, for neither one is
concerned with the acts of unbelievers. If they were, we might expect
consciousness, for acts cannot be judged in oblivion.
DEATH BY FIRE
The first death is produced by
a slow, gradual, painful disintegration, as a rule; often accompanied by long periods of
infirmity, disease and distress. Some are bedfast for years, and some suffer excruciating
torment well-nigh unbearable before they finally find relief in the sleep of death. I have
been tempted to envy those who die suddenly, without, indeed, sometimes knowing what has
occurred to them. We may think such an end terrible, but they, when they
awake, will be thankful that they did not suffer the awful agony or prolonged pain that
some are called upon to endure. All of these sufferings have their proper place in God's
dealings today, when He is deliberately giving us the experience of evil in order to
humble us (Ecc.1:13). But no such object can be in God's mind after Christ has judged
mankind at the great white throne. Then this object will have been accomplished. The
second death is not accompanied by any prolonged, painful infliction. There is no
distressing delay or dread disease, but all are ushered into death in an instant.
I have just burned my hand, and it hurts. But I
am sure that, if I had jumped into a lake of fire, I would not suffer now, for I would
have been dead before I could feel anything. Such a death is practically instantaneous. It
is useless to discuss the length of time a human being would suffer in such a case. It
would be too short to reckon. In fact it could occur so swiftly that life would be extinct
before the nerves of sensation could function. It would probably stun them into
insensibility. For all for whom the lake of fire is the second death, who have been
set right by the great white throne judgment, the lake of fire is not a
place of torture, but the instrument of death. This must not be confused with its action
on the wild beast, and the false prophet, and the Slanderer or Adversary (Rev.19:20;
20:10). Nothing is said of death in their case. They have not gone through the judgment
session. They are the greatest of all the enemies of God, and receive a fate corresponding
to their deserts.
SAVED "BY" FIRE
The apostle Paul, in speaking
of the work of the believer today, says that fire shall try every man's work,
what sort it is. If any of it stands this test, he shall receive a reward. But if any of
it is burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire (1
Cor.3:12-15). Salvation by fire, especially the lake of fire, is only another
form of purgatory. But the passage speaks of the burning of unworthy works, not
of the believer himself. Works are judged at the great white throne, not in the lake of
fire. The word by is unfortunate. It should be through, as in the
Revised Version. No one is saved by fire, though many are destroyed by it. Those of our
works that are figured by "wood, hay, stubble," will be lost, not
saved, by fire. We will not be burned, but saved, as through fire. A man whose
house is aflame may lose some of his treasures in finding his way to safety. But that is
very different from being burned in order to be safe.
If the great white throne session simply passed
sentence on each one, and this was carried out in the fiery lake, as I once thought, then
we are confronted with an insuperable difficulty. Everyone, from the tiniest infant with
no acts to speak of to be judged, and the life-long offender, grown old in crime, would
get the same "punishment." The sentence could not be adjusted to the case. All
would share alike a fate so terrible that God reserves it for three supreme and superhuman
sinners. But if the judging occurs in the great white throne epoch, as is shown by the
form of the Greek word judging, rather than judgment, the Judge can deal
justly with each one, not with a view to "punishing" him, but in order to
"judge," or set right, all that is wrong. Then God will pay each one,
individually, according to his acts (Rom.2:6). We seek to do this with our children, from
earliest infancy, in order to bring them up to do right. But, alas! we often fail. Can we
not trust Him to do this, Who does not fail, and Who will succeed by this means in
bringing them to the very place, that we so ardently desire -- into complete harmony with
God, so that He may become their All?
THE SECOND DEATH
The lake of fire is defined as
the second death. Could it be more explicitly stated that it is death,
and nothing else? Yet there is an elaborate argument that, being second, it is
not death, but life! In every other occurrence of second in the Scripture (and,
indeed, every-where else), the word second can be left out and the resulting
statement is true. The second child that was told to go into the vineyard, was
still a child, even if he was second (Matt.21:30). The second of the seven brothers
to marry the first one's wife was just as much a brother as the other six (Mark
12:21). The second watch was also a watch, even if it was not the first
or third (Luke 12:38). The second sign that Jesus did was no less a sign
than the first or any of the rest (John 4:54). If the second Man were not a man,
He would have no right to the title whatever. Peter's second epistle is certainly
an epistle. In every case we may omit the term second without affecting
the truth.
In English the word second often has the
figurative usage of inferior, a second grade product, a secondary
school, etc. Because the word first is so frequently used for the highest and
best, it is not possible for the word second to acquire the constant meaning of superior,
though it may be used of such, as the second Man, Who certainly is infinitely better than
the first man Adam. That this abnormal condition occurs oftener in Scripture than
elsewhere is easily explained by God's method of despatching the first, that He should be
establishing the second (Heb.10:9). But there are many cases where this difference does
not exist. In the parable of the two children, the first said `I do not want to,'
yet he went. The second said he would go, but didn't. Which was the better? The first,
not the second (Matt.21:28). There is no difference on record between the seven brothers
(Mark 12:21). The second watch was at a different time than the first and third,
but there is no evidence that it was preferable (Luke 12:38). Why should the healing of
the courtier's son be greater than the turning of water into wine (John 2:1; 4:46)?
The second death is no less death than the
first. There may be differences between first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and
seventh brothers, and undoubtedly there were. So also between the signs that our Lord did.
Especially is this the case between the first and second Man. But these differences do not
change them to something else. If the second brother had been a distant relative, he could
not have married the woman. So the second death also differs from the first in many ways.
The first death occurred before the second. Those in it died at greatly scattered
intervals, covering thousands of years, while all will suffer the second death at about
the same time. Those who enter the first death do so in a multiplicity of ways, by decay,
infirmity, disease, accident, violence, drowning and burning. The lake of fire knows only
one method, the last. Even this is vastly different from the slow torture of fire that
some have to endure, for, being a lake, it will consume in an instant. The second death
indeed differs from the first, but it still remains death.
Death is never beneficial. The lake of fire is
not a purgatorial cleansing agent for those who enter it. The conqueror of Smyrna has the
promise that he will not be injured by the second death. The second death injures
those who enter it. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, those who worked all
day considered themselves injured because they received no more than those who
were there only one hour (Matt.20:13). This passage shows that the Authorized Version's
change to hurt gives a wrong impression of physical suffering. The word injure
is literally UN-JUST, do an injustice, and does not necessarily imply that the lake of
fire will hurt, that is, cause physical pain or suffering. This comes out clearly
in the Authorized Version's own renderings: hurt not the oil and the wine
(Rev.6:6), hurt the earth (7:2,3), hurt the grass (9:4). Oil and wine
and the earth and the grass may be injured or harmed, but never hurt, because they cannot
feel physical pain. The first death does not necessarily hurt. Some die in their sleep.
Executions are usually carried out in as painless a manner as possible. But death is
always harmful, an injury, the greatest harm that can come to a living creature.
The actual length of time between the death of
an unbeliever and his final reconciliation may be many thousands of years. But in his experience
nothing will come between but the great white throne judging, which may be a comparatively
short period. So that God most marvelously brings His grand consummation very near to
every one of Adam's race, no matter when he lives. The time may be no longer for a sinner
before the deluge than for one who lives in the impending indignation. It is manifestly
wrong to punish a man before his guilt is proven. Many a man has suffered the injustice of
imprisonment for a lengthy period while waiting for a trial, but God is not guilty of such
a wrong. The moment a man dies, he is awakened to face the judge, along with all the rest
of the dead. The moment his judging is over, he is once more roused to enjoy the
reconciliation.
