The Problem With Hell...

The Word "Hell" and the Book of Revelation - Brian Zahnd

I know that many people come to this blog and leave unhappy or angry with my Universalism. I'll admit that I'm often unfocused and that the blog posts are often kind of random and not original. But I think that that Universalism gives us something to talk about from many angles and has a Scriptural basis and that it provides an opening for many people who struggle to believe.

From Richard Murray's "Four Reasons the Early Church Did Not Believe “Hell” Lasts Forever"

Read the scholarly and well-reasoned article "Four Reasons the Early Church Did Not Believe “Hell”by Richard Murray here at Progressive Christian.

Here is a thought-provoking  excerpt:

Well, the majority of the early Church believed that Hell was place where God would rescue, reform and reconcile all lost sinners back unto Himself. The process of Hell was intense, thorough, critical, painful, agonizing and anguishing. But, it was ultimately restorative as each and every sinner was led through and past their own Hellish valley of sin and death, and into a deep and heartfelt place of Godly repentance.

The early Church had a significantly different view of Hell than much of the Church does today. Hell’s purpose, for the majority of the Church fathers, was seen as purifying rather than punishing, restoring rather than torturing, healing rather than destroying. They believed Hell was “God’s crisis-management for lost souls.” Hell was for all those who did not authentically receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during their earthly lives.

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?---By Heather Hahn (UM News)

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?

By Heather Hahn
April 22, 2011 | UMNS

 "He descended into hell."

That's one possible explanation of what Jesus did between Good Friday and Easter.

For more than a millennium, Christians have uttered some version of that phrase as part of the Apostles' Creed. And for nearly just as long, theologians have wrestled with what the phrase means or whether it should be included in the creed at all.

Early Methodist hymnals omitted the phrase altogether. The 1989 United Methodist Hymnal includes the likely more accurate translation, "He descended to the dead," and mentions "descended into hell" only as a footnote.

But including any mention of descent in the creed says something about how Christians over the ages have come to understand God's saving work, say church scholars.

"It means there is no part of human existence to which Christ did not 'descend,'" said the Rev. J. Warren Smith, associate professor of historical theology at United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

"It's what it means for Christ to take upon himself ... the punishment of sin, which is death. If Christ really dies, then that means he (journeys) all the way to the place of dead."

Read the rest of the article here.

God's Love and Justice - Sharon L. Baker Putt

 

A Journey Into Christian Universalism - Marz