Required reading
Dogmatic Theology Vol 2 by William G.T. Shedd (Available from Amazon or here) - Commence Chapter VI 'Hell' by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'The epithet aionios ("everlasting") is of prime importance.' (page 682 of my edition)
My summary
Today Shedd begins teaching us about hell by giving us a review of the views through church history.
Then Shedd moves to looking at the Biblical arguments for the doctrine of eternal punishment starting with the teachings of Christ. The Old Testament receives a brief mention and then a few of the New Testament proofs which we'll look at more next week.
What grabbed me
I enjoyed the rhetorical questions Shedd used after he quoted the words of Christ: 'Let the reader now ask himself the question : Do these representations, and this phraseology, make the impression that the future punishment of sin is to be remedial, and temporary? Are they adapted to make this impression? Were they intended to make this impression ? Is it possible to believe that that Holy and Divine Person who uttered these fearful and unqualified warnings, eighteen hundred years ago, respecting the destiny of wicked men and devils, knew that a time is coming when there will be no wicked men and devils in the universe of God, and no place of retributive torment ? Did Jesus of Nazareth hold an esoteric doctrine of hell : a different view of the final state of the wicked, from that which the common and natural understanding of his language would convey to his hearers, and has conveyed to the great majority of his readers in all time ? Did he know that in the far-off future, a day will come when those tremendous scenes which he described — the gathering of all mankind, the separation of the evil from the good, the curse pronounced upon the former and the blessing upon the latter — will be looked back upon by all mankind as "an unsubstantial pageant faded," as a dream that is passed, and a watch in the night ?'
What a way to grab the reader's attention!
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter VI 'Hell' by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'The form of Universalism which is the most respectable, and therefore the most dangerous, is that which concedes the force of the Biblical and rational arguments respecting the guilt of sin...' (page 693 of my edition).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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