ATHEISTS RELUCTANTLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHURCH

By His Mercies Alone, Daniel

For more great blogs such as this one go to:

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Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az-EgTU0DTg&feature=youtu.be

Atheists Reluctantly Acknowledge the Superiority of the Church

The contempt that atheists have for religion is well know. The Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology (DCM) contains a typical quip:

• The difference between faith and insanity is that faith is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence, whereas insanity is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence. (Quoted from Pique: Newsletter of the Secular Humanist Society of New York, Sept 2012. All other quotes are taken from this newsletter.)

In other words, faith is insanity! Likewise, atheist Walter Balcerak writes, “As a secular humanist, I believe religions are mainly harmful delusions.” Surprisingly, he acknowledges that some good comes out of religion. Balcerak quotes the atheist professor of psychology, Jonathan Haidt:

• According to Haidt, religion does more than unite people. He says studies indicate that religiously observant Americans “are more generous with their time and money, especially in helping the needy, and they are more active in community life.”

• Research on 19^th century communes demonstrates the cohesiveness of religious groups, he asserts, because they were much more likely to survive than secular ones. Of the 400 communes studied, 20 years after their founding only 6 percent of secular groups had survived, compared to 39 percent of religious groups.

The difference between the experience of the Secular and the Christian (I’m assuming that almost all of what are called “religious” are Christian) groups is profound. However, Balcerak and other atheists believe that secularism can merely borrow certain techniques from these Christian groups, like brushing your hair to the left instead of the right side. The secularist can easily implement this change, but it’s doubtful if this will favorably impact secular communities.

Atheist Sara Robinson goes even further:

• There is simply no other organizational form that encourages people to share their time, energy, and resources so quickly, completely, or enduringly; or aligns so much conviction toward the same goal.

Most atheists seem to think that all they merely need to change the “organizational form” – a mere superficiality – and they will experience the same benefits. However, Robinson acknowledges that change will require more than a mere face-lift:

• If you want to change the world, this is the kind of group – deeply bound by faith, trust, love, history, and a commitment to each other and to the world they envision that transcends life and death – that’s most likely to get it done. Religion is the best way going to get people to consecrate themselves, body and soul, to a larger cause; and to take on the kind of all-or-nothing risks that are often required to really change the world.

This is where Robinson parts company from the New Atheists. Consequently, the editor of Pique appends the article with a “solicitation”:

• Okay, readers, now that you’re outraged, send your rebuttals – approvals? – to editor@shsny.org.

Nevertheless, Robinson regards religion as a matter of “superstition,” and superstition is a matter of delusion, even “insanity,” according to DCM. We are therefore left to wonder how being insane and the deluded:

• Is the best way going to get people to consecrate themselves, body and soul, to a larger cause; and to take on the kind of all-or-nothing risks that are often required to really change the world.

Since when does “insanity” and delusion produce such good results?

WHY WOULD GOD WANT TO FORGIVE?

Today's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big

Why would God want to forgive?

"I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth — blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There will be people on Mount Zion in Jerusalem who escape, just as the Lord has said. These will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called."

Joel 2:30-32 NLT

If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.

1 John 1:8-9 NLT

Bound by His Word

"Why would God want to forgive people who have spent a lifetime denying him and hurting him? Why doesn't He just zap them? In our humanity we say that certain people don't deserve forgiveness. In His sovereignty and perfect love. God says, "I love and forgive those who, to others, appear unsalvageable." This is just one of the ways in which God's thoughts are beyond our own. His mercy is so overwhelming that it can seem unreasonable to us. Are you willing to let God's mercy do as it wishes — with anyone?¹

---

If His conditions are met, God is bound by His Word to forgive any man or any woman of any sin because of Christ.

Billy Graham²

¹from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 760
²quoted in Wise Words & Quotes by Vernon McLellan (Tyndale) p 102

 

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

A TWO-WAY STREET

Today's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big

A two-way street

"Come now, let us argue this out," says the Lord. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool."

Isaiah 1:18 NLT

"Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

About this week's promise:

"The situation referred to in these verses is what we call a "two-way street." We move in humility and repentance toward God, against whom we have sinned. In turn, God moves toward us with forgiveness and restoration. When we obey God, he will send blessing. And when we disobey God, we have the option of humble repentance. Blessings can flow again if our repentance is genuine and not merely a ploy to get "back on God's good side."

This two-way principle is also at work in all our human relationships. When sin has damaged a relationship, we can be restored through honest repentance, met with forgiveness. Sometimes, both parties must repent and forgive, because the fault is shared.

from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 381

For more on this week's promise, check out these Tyndale resources:

Radical Forgiveness by Julie Ann Barnhill - for Women (2004)
Forgiven by Karen Kingsbury - Fiction (2005)
Why Sin Matters by Mark McMinn (2004)

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS AND MERCY

Today's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big

A prayer for forgiveness and mercy

Nothing can ever separate us from His love…

Romans 8:38 NLT

For the honor of your name, O Lord, forgive my many, many sins… Turn to me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and in deep distress. My problems go from bad to worse. O, save me from them all! Feel my pain and see my trouble. Forgive all my sins.

Psalm 25:11, 16-18 NLT

Like dominoes…

Have you ever felt as though the problems in your life were like a series of dominoes? One domino falls down, and it sets off a chain reaction that knocks down the rest of the dominoes. David felt that his problems were going from bad to worse — his enemies had surrounded him, waiting for his ultimate demise. David could see no way out. But even in his despair, he knew there was one whom he could always trust to help him. He turned to God, confessed his sins, asked for forgiveness, and pleaded for mercy.

When we are separated from God because of our sins, we need to repent and ask for forgiveness. Then, with a clean heart, we can come before him and ask for help. He will hear and answer us "for the honor of his name."

A prayer for today:

Dear God, for the honor of your name, please forgive my many, many sins and have mercy on me…

from The One Year Book of Bible Prayers Bruce Barton, general editor (Tyndale) entry for October 10

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

FORGIVING YOURSELF: A VIRTUE OR A VICE?

By His Mercies Alone, Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to:

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Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az-EgTU0DTg&feature=youtu.be

 

Forgiving Yourself: A Virtue or a Vice?

Psychotherapists would have us learn to forgive ourselves. However, shouldn’t we instead seek forgiveness from the offended party? If you just robbed the local convenience store and beat up the clerk, self-forgiveness represents a refusal to acknowledge culpability, a denial of the obvious. Instead, you first have to be reconciled to the victim, as Jesus taught:

·        “If you are offering your gift at the altar [or are performing any spiritual exercise] and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

We cannot forgive ourselves until we deal with the circumstances of our guilt. Clearly, there are objective moral debts that first have to be paid. Certainly, the clerk would not be overjoyed to hear of the abuser’s self-forgiveness as long as the actual offense is ignored. In fact, the refusal to objectively deal with the offense just compounds it. It is no better than an adulterer taking a drug to assuage his guilt. Rather than silencing his conscience, he must listen to it!

This has been on my mind because I just heard a sermon ending with the benediction to “forgive yourself.” While I am sure that the pastor wasn’t talking about a self-forgiveness apart from taking responsibility for the sin, she seemed to be leaving an important ingredient from her equation.

I’m referring to God. When we transgress, we also transgress against the Law-Giver. Therefore, if self-forgiveness is both inappropriate and offensive when it ignores the offense and the offended, it also offends God.

I know that it sounds medieval, archaic and guilt-producing to suggest that God is also offended by our sins, but why shouldn’t He be? He is righteousness, and He is love. When we are victimized, we tend to look favorably upon a God who is equally disturbed by our victimization, One who suffers along with us. We want justice and also a God who promises justice in the form of punishment.

The imposition of justice brings peace and the possibility of reconciliation. I have heard of many cases where the victim lovingly reached out to the now convicted prisoner. However, I have never heard of a case where the rape victim reached out with love to the defendant who had beaten-the-rap. Instead, the victim is understandably left with the burning feeling that justice must first be done.

If we are created in the moral image of God (Eph. 4:23-24), then we shouldn’t expect that God lacks a moral compass, moral sentiments, and perhaps even a sense of moral outrage. Instead, the entire Bible confirms the fact that He is deeply offended by sin. If this is the case, what does this suggest about self-forgiveness? It suggests that exonerating ourselves without first checking in with God about our guilt-status is terribly offensive to Him.

Well, how can we first be reconciled to Him and forgiven? For one thing, we need to recognize the seriousness of the offense. A man who had an affair with a married woman cannot pay-off the aggrieved husband. Such a payment cannot compensate for the enormity of the offense. It fails to recognize its enormity and just compounds the insult.

If God loves His children more than the husband loves his wife – and He does - it is even more futile to attempt to buy-off God.  Meanwhile, forgiving yourself for the affair is an utter abomination in His eyes. No amount of self-adulation could possibly lift the weight of the offense.

On the other hand, if the aggrieved husband has also been unfaithful on several occasions, he might be easier to placate. However, God has never been unfaithful. He has birthed us, feed us, sustained us, and has planted His truths within us. He cannot be placated by any amount of gifts. (Even self-sacrifice is futile!) He made them all and is able to give Himself far greater gifts than we can.

Even our best offerings are “filthy rags,” the garments of adultery, before our perfect and all-sufficient God. In light of this, our only hope is in His mercy. Although we cannot buy-off God, He has bought-off our sins by paying the price for them on the cross. An adequate payment had to be made, and only He was able to make it.

Instead of crying out for mercy, any attempt at self-forgiveness or even restitution is a grave insult to Him and a minimization of our culpability.

If virtue and relational restoration are measured by an appreciation of the enormity of our sins, then Western society and secular psychotherapy have taken us in the wrong direction.

EXPOSING HYPOCRISY

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Exposing hypocrisy

"But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves."

Romans 1:18 NLT

 

The Lord hates those who don't keep their word, but he delights in those who do.

Proverbs 12:22 NLT

 

One day, we'll all "face the music"

"The expression "face the music" originated in Japan. One man in the imperial orchestra couldn't play a note, but as a person of great influence and wealth, he demanded to be given a seat; he wanted the emperor to see him "perform." The conductor agreed to let the man sit in the second row. He was handed a flute, and when a concert began, he'd raise his instrument, pucker his lips, and move his fingers. He went through all the motions of playing but never made a sound. His deception continued for two years.

Then a new conductor took over. He told the orchestra that he would audition each player personally. One by one the musicians performed in his presence. At last came this flutist's turn. Frantic with worry, he pretended to be sick — but his lies caught up with him. The doctor who examined him declared him perfectly fine. Finally the pretender had to admit he was fake. He couldn't face the music.

Ready or not, all of us will one day face the music. We will all appear before the Lord, without masks and without deception. Better that we show our true faces to the world now than have someone ask on that day, "Who was that unmasked man?"

from Breakfast with Jesus by Greg Laurie (Tyndale) pp 149-50

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHAT'S WRONG WITH A LITTLE PLAGIARISM?

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

What's wrong with a little plagiarism?

"I hate and abhor all falsehood, but I love your law."

Psalm 119:163 NLT

 

Kidnapping of the Brainchild

"In an essay for Time magazine, Lance Morrow writes about "kidnapping the brainchild":

book critic for a newspaper plagiarized an old essay of mine. Someone sent the thing to me. There on the page, under another man's name, my words had taken up a new life — clause upon clause, whole paragraphs transplanted. My phrases ambled along dressed in the same meanings.…It argued and whistled and waved to friends. It acted very much at home. My sentences had gone over into a parallel universe, which was another writer's work.…The thoughts were mine, all right. But they were tricked up as another man's inner life, a stranger's…

The Commandments warn against stealing, against bearing false witness, against coveting. Plagiarius is kidnapper in Latin. The plagiarist snatches the writer's brainchildren, pieces of his soul…

The only charming plagiarism belongs to the young. Schoolchildren shovel information out of an encyclopedia. Gradually they complicate the burglary, taking two or three reference books instead of one. The mind (still on the wrong side of the law) then deviously begins to intermingle passages, reshuffle sentences, disguise raw chunks from the Britannica, find synonyms, reshape information until it becomes something like the student's own. A writer, as Saul Bellow has said, "is a reader moved to emulation." Knowledge transforms theft. An autonomous mind emerges from the sloughed skin of the plagiarist."

Lance Morrow, "Kidnapping the Brainchild,", Time, 3 December 1990, 126. Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale) p 133

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

COME TO YOUR SENSES

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Come to your senses

"When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger!"

Luke 15:17 NLT

 

Resisting forbidden fruit

"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first volume of C. S. Lewis's famous Chronicles of Narnia series, which features four British children during World War II who are magically transported into the world of Narnia. There they are given the heroic task of helping to undo the curse cast by an evil witch, which has kept the land frozen in a perpetual winter.

Soon after arriving in Narnia, Edmund is separated from the other children and encounters the White Witch. She offers him a magical candy that he finds addicting; eating it puts him under her power. With deadly accuracy Lewis paints a picture of the way sin affects us. It doesn't announce itself as sin; it draws us in with something that seems pleasant and comforting but becomes addictive, blinding us to what is good and attracting us to what is evil.

The charms of the magical candy eventually wear off. The turning point comes when Edmund is finally moved to compassion for someone besides himself. The story echoes the parable of the lost son, who succumbs to sin and then comes to his senses, repents, and returns home to his overjoyed father."

adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 625-26
With the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe available, now is a good time to read this classic tale and some of the many helpful books about it, including Walking Through the Wardrobe by Sarah Arthur (Tyndale, 2005)

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

STAYING PURE

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Staying pure

"How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you — don't let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

Psalm 119:9-11 NLT

Piling on

In the game of football it's called "piling on": You're already down when suddenly you get pummeled again by your opponent. In real life it's called spiritual warfare, and it's often disguised. You're suffering through a hard time when suddenly the enemy comes at you with what actually looks like relief.

Ah, how vulnerable we are in such moments! After all I've had to endure lately, I think I deserve a little break! How easy it is to rationalize! Would it really be so wrong for me to ________? Why not?

Of course, this is the nature of temptation. On the front end, sin looks "heavenly." On the back side, it is always hellish and makes bad situations worse.

Our only hope is in living out the promise that God's Word can keep us from sin. By filling our hearts and minds with the truth of God's Word, we are able to recognize the enemy's lies. That is how we stay pure in hard, tempting times (see Matthew 4:1-11). It is how we avoid Satan's deceptive attempts to hit us again when we're down.

Praying God's Promise:
God, when I hide your Word in my heart, I can keep from sinning! Grant me the wisdom to seek you and to hide your Word in my heart. I need discernment to apply your truth to everyday situations, especially when I am going through difficult times.

from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 170-71

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

I JUST SAW JESUS

I JUST SAW JESUS

READ:
2 Corinthians 4:1-10

Always carrying about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body.
-2 Corinthians 4:10

Years ago I lost my job in my chosen profession due to circumstances beyond my control.  So I took on two lesser-paying jobs in order to try to make ends meet.  Yet it still was very difficult to earn enough to pay my monthly expenses.

Then I reconnected with Joel and Dave, two friends from my past.  Joel had become the pastor of a growing church in the suburbs.  Dave had become an overseas missionary, but he was visiting in the US at the time.  Both of them, recognizing my predicament, gave me money to help pay the rent.  I was deeply moved.  As I thought of my friends actions, I said to myself:  "I have just seen Jesus Christ!"

Just as I saw Jesus in my friends, sometimes others can see Him in us.  Paul speaks of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  He confessed:  "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me"  (Galatians 2:20).  And he also understood that different circumstances can be opportunities for "the life of Jesus [to] be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10).

Do you know someone struggling with physical or financial burdens?  Why not let the indwelling Christ express His love through you by meeting that person's need. -Dennis Fisher

If I can do some good today,
If I can help in what I say,
If by my deeds Your love convey-
Dear Lord, Just show me how. -Brandt
***********************************
Real love is helping others for Jesus' sake
even if they can never return the favor.

INSIGHT
Paul identified the devil as "the god of this age" who prevents people from believing the gospel (vv.3-4).  In the parable of the sower, he is "the wicked one" who "snatches away [the word of the kingdom] sown in [the hearer's] heart" (Matthews 13:19).  Thankfully, Jesus came to "destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8; cf. John 12:31; Hebrew 2:14).

Have a blessed day.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace

RESCUING HELL: DEFENDING THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

By His Mercies Alone, Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Rescuing Hell: Defending the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment

Hell is a notoriously difficult doctrine to defend. For one thing, in order to defend a doctrine, we first have to know what we are defending. However, no one here has ever seen or experienced hell. At least, there is no convincing proof of this.

Although the nature of hell or eternal judgment is somewhat unclear, it’s reality or existence is Biblically beyond dispute. Interpretive difficulties abound. For instance, do we interpret “the lake of fire” (Rev. 21:8; 20:10; Mat. 13:42) literally or figuratively? Does God literally stoke the fires of hell for all eternity, as some pejoratively suggest? If we take this description literally, what then do we do with the teachings that claim that the unrepentant will be cast into “outer darkness” (Mat. 22:13)? It is apparent that at least one of these descriptions must be taken figuratively.

As Christians, we want to have a coherent faith. We therefore want to understand how this concept of “hell” or “eternal judgment” fits together with the other doctrines we believe about God – His love, justice, omniscience and omnipotence. We also want to know how to answer militant atheists, like Robert Ingersoll (1833-99), who routinely denigrate our faith. He had reasoned that:

·        Eternal punishment must be eternal cruelty…and I do not see how any man, unless he has the brain of an idiot, or the heart of a wild beast, can believe in eternal punishment.

The doctrine of “eternal punishment” is part of the broader “problem of pain, suffering, and a ‘vindictive’ God.” Even “Christians” condemn the Bible for it’s teachings of a punitive God. Christian evolutionist and former co-head of the Biologos Foundation, Karl Giberson, approvingly quotes the militant atheist, Richard Dawkins, that the:

·        [OT God is a] “tyrannical anthropomorphic deity” [and] “commanded the Jews to go on genocidal rampages”…But who believes in this [OT] deity any more, besides those same fundamentalists who think the earth is 10,000 years old? Modern theology has moved past this view of God. http://biologos.org/blog/exposing-the-straw-men-of-new-atheism-part-five/

They often term God a “monster,” claiming that such a God lies beyond reason and morality. However, it is relatively easy to combat the Richard Dawkins of the world on this account. They commit the logical error of using God to disprove God. In essence, they claim that the God who sanctions eternal punishment fails to measure up to certain objective and absolute moral standards of love and justice. However, if there is no God, then there are can exist no objective and absolute moral standards by which to disqualify Him.

Consequently, when the atheist claims that the God of the Bible is “unjust,” I merely retort, “How can you accuse our God of violating an absolute standard of justice? You are a moral relativist and deny that there are any absolute moral standards.”

A minority of atheists will respond, “I do believe in absolute moral standards, and your God violates them.” I then can press them, “What are these ‘absolute moral standards’ based upon if you don’t acknowledge that there is anything that transcends this material universe?”

They cannot possibly identity an adequate moral foundation. Moral standards have to be absolute (above culture), unchanging, and universal. If the morals aren’t, then we are guilty of arrogance, arbitrariness, and judgmentalness when we judge with a merely subjective/personal standard. It would be like a math teacher grading students’ math exams with changing and subjective answers. The teacher could rightfully be accused of using an arbitrary and therefore unjust standard. To mark a student “wrong,” you need a perfectly right answer or standard. More laughably, it would be like a carpenter measuring a board with an elastic band.

Once the atheist rejects God, there can be no foundation for absolute moral judgments. Therefore, the thinking atheist might shift his attack. Instead, of claiming that God violates moral standards, he will argue that the God of the Bible violates the Bible’s own moral standards and its portrayal of God. His argument will then go something like this:

·        Premise #1: The Bible’s concept of “Hell” or “eternal punishment” is neither just nor merciful.

·        Premise #2: The Bible portrays God as just and merciful.

·        Conclusion:  The Bible’s revelation is contradictory and therefore shouldn’t be taken seriously.

This attack does an end-run around the atheists’ lack of an absolute standard by which to judge God. However, both of these premises are highly problematic.

Against Premise #1: According to the Bible, the punishment fits the crime. Jesus taught that there are many degrees of punishment:

·        "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” (Matthew 11:21-22)

For those who have more evidence, judgment will be more bearable than for those who had less evidence:

·        But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48)

I would ask the atheist, “What is unjust about the penalty fitting the crime? Or how does this teaching about punishment contradict God’s character?” He might respond that no God worth His salt would punish. However, this fails to show that there is a contradiction in Biblical revelation – the very thing that the atheist must demonstrate.

Against Premise #1: We do not know enough about hell to indict our Lord for “injustice” or to prove that the Bible contradicts itself. There are too many interpretive uncertainties. While the atheists focus only the most egregious aspect of the teachings – eternal burning - this might be figurative and might only apply to the worst offenders. In fact, Jesus associated the “weeping…and gnashing of teeth” of hell with their own regrets in having eternally missed out on the blessings of the kingdom, rather than any proactive divine torture:

·        "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” (Luke 13:28)

I would ask the atheist how this represents a Bible contradiction. Also, I think that we Evangelicals have been too quick to dismiss annihilationism as one possible form of eternal punishment – perhaps even the worst one. There is not a verse that actually rules out annihilation as one possible punishment out of many others! (Some Christians argue that we have an eternal soul, and therefore, it is indestructible, precluding any possibility of annihilation. However, this notion seems to be contradicted by numerous verses – 1 Tim. 6:16; 2 Tim 1:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:50-54).

Therefore, when the atheist rails against the injustice of God in sentencing unbelievers to eternal punishment, I ask them if their judgment would be any different if I would show them verses pointing to annihilation, and there are many. For instance:

·        “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

·        They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. (2 Thes. 1:9)

Perhaps these (and numerous other verses) are not teaching annihilationism, but the atheist must now answer whether he would consider this too as evidence of contradiction.

Of course, the atheist will retort, “If God is truly merciful, He would destroy no one.” However, we can simply respond, “Where in the Bible does it suggest that God must continue to be merciful towards those who continue to harden their hearts against Him?” Of course, God’s mercy makes no such guarantee! (Against Premise #2)

Against Premise #1: Although there will be a great and final judgment, it seems that before all else the damned are self-damned:

• For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict [or “condemnation;” KJV; “judgment;” NASB, ESV]: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:17-19)

Jesus taught that He will not “condemn the world.” Instead, the unbeliever is “condemned already.” How did this take place? He condemned himself through his love of the darkness and rejection of the truth (“light”).  Besides, if they reject the light in this world, how much more will they reject God in the next, where His light will beam even more intensely! They will continue to reject the light and run from it. How does this represent the injustice of God? How does this contradict God’s revealed character?

Indeed, there is a lot of Biblical evidence that when we embrace darkness, we hate the light that exposes it. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, they hid from God, lied to Him and even blamed Him. Never once did they repent and ask for another chance. And when they were promised death and expelled from the presence of God, they seemed to gladly accept the verdict (Gen. 3) in order to be free from God’s searing light.

In Jesus’ parable, when the unrepentant rich man cried out to God from his place of torment, he never once asked to be brought to where God is. Instead, he simply asked that he might be given some relief in hell (Luke 16:19-31). Such is the hatred of the light!

There are many other verses that suggest that the unrepentant are self-condemned in their flight from the light (Isaiah 33:14-15; 2:20-22; Psalm 1:5; 15:1-2; 24:3; Deut 5:25; Deut. 5:25; Mal. 3:2). What then should we make of the great judgment if humanity is already self-condemned (Rev. 20:11)? Perhaps they will merely flee away, unable to stand before a righteous God in view of their unforgiven sins.

Indeed, for us, the great judgment will merely confirm what had already been established (1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 John 3:2). Perhaps, also for the unbeliever, the judgment will merely rubber-stamp what has already become quite obvious.

Where then is the injustice? And how does this contradict the Bible’s claims about God? The atheist will then attempt to accuse God of lacking in mercy, “If God is all-powerful, then He could have changed everyone’s heart to love the light!” Once they do this, you can ask, “Why should God be merciful? According to you, there are no absolute standards, so why indict God for failing conform to your non-existent, non-objective standard?”

In addition to this, the atheists’ understanding of mercy isn’t the Bible’s understanding of mercy. Unlike justice, mercy can discriminate. The Bible never claims that God will be merciful to all in the end. (Against Premise #2). Therefore, there is no contradiction between hell and what the Bible claims about God.

Nevertheless, it does seem that, in the end, God will pour out His Spirit upon many people, and there will be a great salvation (Joel 2:28; Romans 11:15; Rev. 1:7; Mat. 24:30; Isaiah 66:22-23; Zech. 14:16-18)! Our God is indeed merciful!

Nevertheless, there is a hell and the prospect of landing there is a terror, as it should be:

• The study, appearing in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, found that criminal activity is lower in societies where people's religious beliefs contain a strong punitive component than in places where religious beliefs are more benevolent. A country where many more people believe in heaven than in hell, for example, is likely to have a much higher crime rate than one where these beliefs are about equal. The finding surfaced from a comprehensive analysis of 26 years of data involving 143,197 people in 67 countries. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/belief-in-hell-lowers-cri_n_1609247.html

Perhaps we need a greater dose of hell. Perhaps we need to revisit Jonathan Edwards and his sermon – Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. Nevertheless, this essay will certainly not relieve all of our dissonance and confusion on the subject. However, for some of us, it is sufficient to know that our Savior suffers along with us (Isaiah 63:9; Hebrews 4:15). Others are comforted in knowing that, in the end, He will reconcile all of the confusing elements. Indeed, our God has many secrets (Deut. 29:29), which He purposely keeps close to His breast. Consequently, we see only shadows (1 Cor. 13:9, 12).

Abraham saw only shadows when God asked him to go against everything he understood and to offer his promised son Isaac as a sacrifice. Our Lord also thrusts us into situations where understanding fails us, and we are forced to walk only by the light available in the “valley of the shadow of death.” However, we are able to find comfort knowing that He is at our side, and that, one day, we will see Him as He truly is.