Earlier today I read two articles as they were making their provocative way through the viral atmosphere. Both of them were written by people I believe are Americans. Both articles were characterized by a hopelessness caused by an inability of their writers to comprehend the things of God. I am writing in response to one of those articles that carried the name reflected in my chosen title for this article.
I believe that in some way the author, one Oliver Thomas, wrote with the specific intention of being the devil's advocate and in more ways than one open the religious version of Pandora's Box. However, I believe the article in itself is a potential cause for the "speculations" and hopeless futility that he intended so scathingly to address.
In the article, published in the USA Today online edition of August 8, 2011, Mr Thomas asked the important question of what happens after death. But as one reads the article it becomes clear that he is not so much concerned with providing an answer to the question as he is with attempting to prove that Christians and believers in Jesus Christ have been surely misled due to the misinterpretation of Jesus' words as they referred to hell.
The author suggests that a God who will punish an act of evil for all eternity is not as terrible (and somehow I infer he means obtuse) as the people who will actually believe in such a God. He used his parenting code to suggest he will only punish his daughter with an action that fits the disobedience. He refuses to believe that a place of eternal punishment exists, claiming that the "Christian Old Testament" only talks of the dead existing in a "dreamlike place." One of the things about reading informatiion is that one can select bits and pieces to drive one's point home. And generally Christians quote scriptures to get their message across.
However, Oliver Thomas basically condemns the believers in the Bible for their vulnerable gullibility because they believe something just because the Bible teaches it. But then he goes and quotes from the very same Bible he is claiming is erroneously misinterpretted and indicates that Solomon in Ecclesiasties proclaimed that "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for there is no activity or planning or wisdom in Sheol where you are going." This he says, clearly trying to convince the really undecided and scared readers that no real action comes after the human heart stops.
Article comments
1 - Jon Sobel
I believe Mr. Thomas made the mistake of trying to appeal to logic. Where religious belief is concerned, it's useless to appeal to logic. Faith and logic don't mix.
2 - Dr Dreadful
No, the rich man from the parable is not burning in eternal torment today, for one simple reason.
He didn't exist.
Jesus's parables do not describe true events: they are fictional tales told to illustrate or clarify a point he was making. So there was no real Good Samaritan, no real Prodigal Son - and no real rich man.
3 - Baronius
I'm with Dread on the small point, Ashford on the big one. Jesus makes a lot of references to punishment after death. And let's grant USA Today's Oliver Thomas the possibility that hell isn't permanent (although I don't think he has a leg to stand on, theologically): so what? If Jesus came to warn us about a temporary place of wailing and grinding of teeth, should we not be afraid of it because it's temporary? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, not its end, but fear is a fitting thing. Justice demands that we be afraid, because humans are pretty lousy. Even if you believe that hell is a passing thing, Jesus is offering us a pass from standing in the garbage pit.
4 - Ashford Daniel
First of all I thank both of you for using your "non-refundable" time to read my article; however, I just have few questions:
1. If hell is indeed a passing or temporary state then why did Jesus subject Himself to the passion week? I mean, after a temporary time in hell, man will not be punished any more hence the need for a Saviour is useless. So you are both saying that Jesus wasted His time dying on the cross.
Hmmm...
2. If hell is a temporary existence then it is fair to say that heaven is also a temporary existence as well, right?
3. My final question to you, gentlemen, is this: Why is it that even with several documented instances of people being raised from the dead throughout the Bible, the writers documenting those events never recorded the experiences of the resurrected ones? (The "never happened" parable I used in the article holds the answer.)