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This post is in response to an email I received regarding the eternal nature of Hell and if the unborn are its inhabitants.

At first, I was just going to send you a link to an article, a video, or debate but I’ve decided to write about this myself, which is what is taking me more time than usual to forward you a response.

Some aspects of these questions and where these questions may lead I’ve already discussed somewhat in previous blogs.

jesusandjews.com/wordpress/2011/10/31/what-the-hell/

jesusandjews.com/wordpress/2009/05/17/pain-suffering-and-evil/

In respect to your first question, some would like to support the idea of Annihilationism as an immediate or finite consequence as corresponding to the finite sins committed during a finite existence on Earth and some will go as far as to even entertain Universalism, both of which, conflict with God’s justice. Others may take a more modified version of these positions such as a purgatorial realm with a redemptive purging of sin through a time of suffering, or an earthly confined karmic debt, before finally becoming released to a heavenly habitation or a nirvanic state.

The former assumes that sin is only finite, and yet, according to the biblical description, continues in hell indefinitely, as we are all immortal beings. And then the objection might be that sin is trivial compared to eternal punishment as with an imbalance of power, as the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime, and yet the most grievous of all sins of infinite consequence and proportion comes when rejecting and rebelling against the God who not only created us but made the necessary provision towards resolving our sinful rebellious state by giving us the precious innocent life of His Son to ensure our redemption and subsequent transformation as with the Holy Spirit in reconciling mankind unto Himself so that we are without excuse.

As a further matter, Purgatory, is not orthodox Christianity (Hebrews 9:27), thou accepted by Roman Catholicism and actually challenges the efficiency of Christ’s sacrificial atonement as given ‘once for all’ as in Hebrews 10:10, as well as, challenging eastern religion with its endless ongoing cycles of rebirth which is unlike the immediate righteousness or right standing that comes in relationship as we are rightly related to God through Christ as justified according to Christ’s perfect work or merit on earth, not our own.(Read Romans)

As a thought experiment, it may be hard to grasp this concept, especially if we accept a popularist view as excusing ourselves as, ‘we’re only human’ but I’ll try anyway. So just imagine a human parent, who is made a little lower than the angels, who sacrifices themselves with great love, thou imperfect, for the sake of their child who having reached an appreciable age of maturity as a grown up to then hate and murder the parent; it would then be no surprise that such an act as putting them in prison for life or even death row is not an unreasonable response to such a grievous sin committed. Thus to correlate this analogy with God, is that, we’ve affixed a cross to the greatest being as a sin of cosmic treason and then upon finding out that this sacrifice was purposed only for our benefit, as to remove all of our sins, even the previously mentioned parenticide, we then persistently neglect or reject so great a salvation, which comparably speaking to a human counterpart, is an infinite and unforgivable sin which has an infinite consequence of which we often underestimate, John 3:18. Furthermore, if the former knew the consequence of their sin as a prison term or perhaps even the death penalty but disregarded the law anyway then that makes it even more punishable and guilty as they become more conscionable of the crime as committed not only against the parent but against society that values human life. So when guilt is confirmed by the conscious, and Hell spoken according to the testimony of a biblical witness as the consequence of violating the eternal Son; then it’s not only a sin against Christ but against the entire Godhead as utmost in its severity, especially, when rejecting the One who holds the keys to Hell as to release you from its imprisonment.

As an afterthought, one other thing a person should consider is why some would have no problem in including the damnation of other rebellious created beings, namely the devil and his angels, while excluding themselves as rebellious creatures, Matthew 25:41.

Lastly, this analogy is probably insufficient or incomplete in its comparison, which at best may only be a hint or possibly an approximation towards the weight and truth of this matter.

Now regarding the unborn, infants, or even small children, as being the inhabitants of Hell; this is something the Bible is mute about and perhaps it’s because it’s not a live option or a real issue of consequence. If it were, it would seem that it would have been dealt with extensively considering the gravity of such a matter especially as Hell is discussed even more so than Heaven in the New Testament.

Thou it’s not conclusive, Jesus may confer or at least imply the status of innocence upon children, as stating to His disciples “unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”, Matthew 18:3, 19:14, 2 Samuel 12:23. The emphasis may well be on the child-like characteristics as reflecting a child like faith without addressing this question. The biblical fact is that we are born with a sin nature, Psalm 51:5, and thou the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23; it does not specify when the responsibility of sin occurs with those who are incapable of thinking abstractly about morality in relationship to God as having the maturity to behave with moral culpability. I think some have tried to deal with this problem through child baptism thou I don’t believe that’s necessarily biblical.

In Jewish culture when a person becomes bar mitzvahed they become a son of the commandment as morally responsible before God to perform mitzvoth, age 13 for boys, and 12 for girls. Christians loosely refer to it as the age of accountability?

Essentially the bible is quite and maybe I should be too. One thing the Bible is clear about is God’s goodness, which is both just and merciful, as the very essence of His nature.

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I took this picture thinking what a brilliant adaptation of survival as blending in so beautifully to its environ as even withstanding a torrential downpour as amazingly this moth hadn’t moved since I last took the picture and then all of sudden I had this rare moment of brilliance in which I finally realized that the moth must be dead. Makes me wonder how the observations of Darwinians are really dead theories which have been kept alive by their creative pictures. #pepperedmoth

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I just saw a documentary of Princess Diana and what caught my attention was how others reacted to her death. In retrospect,  I remember being in Paris right next to the location where this unfortunate accident took place and I’ve also have been in the area where Jesus was crucified but the tragedy between these two deaths were played out entirely different in that one was unintentional while the other was deliberately premeditated and planned.

In life, these two persons were only separated by a few years and over the course of their lives they were both royalty; one representing more of a human dynasty and the other a heavenly kingdom as King of kings and Lord of lords. Diana was regarded as a noble, whereas Jesus was unmajestically despised as He was neither born under royal conditions nor lead a royal life even thou He’s sovereignly royal in person and purpose.

Contrasting their lives there wasn’t always fanfare with Christ, as in Isaiah 53, where He is rejected as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and though the princess had many of her own personal problems, including the royal treatment (irony), the hearts of the people considered her to be the darling of Wales while He was just the carpenter’s son.

Anyway, it pained me to see the difference in how the people kept vigil in respect to the corpse of Diana, with lighted candles and offerings of flowers, while Christ’s followers were in hiding, as His triumphal entry was overshadowed by His death, followed by a sole individual taking possession of His body.

Strikingly, when Christ was condemned to die, His support was a jeering crowd to crucify Him, as parading His mangled body through the street, in dishonor, as the cheering voice of Hosanna faded away.He didn’t have a grand departure with the sympathy of a country responding in grief. He mainly received cursing, unlike the supportive crowds that applauded Diana, as the celebration of  His departure became a seemingly shameful end that was kept under guard.

In conclusion, Jesus was not an admired philanthropist like Diana but was scoffed at and chided according to His redemptive work, both then and now. Essentially, Diana made for good press while the good news of Jesus was often badly received.

At times you almost get the feeling that someone greater than Jesus had lived and died as she captured the heart of the world who looked on in support and thou Diana momentarily had the spotlight it will be the ‘Light of the World’ that will outshine all others with His glory as recognized by every tribe, tongue, and nation, for all time.

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I recently underwent hernia surgery and in the process they gave me certain drugs to block the nerve pain and then a general anesthesia, so I didn’t know or feel a thing until I woke up.

Upon reflection I realized that my temporary discomfort was nothing compared to the sufferings of Jesus who refused gall as to deaden His pain and for those who are familiar with the Passion Story, according to the biblical narrative or by watching a Jesus movie, they may not always fully appreciate the extent of His agony as our society has become so desensitized to violence due to our overexposure to mainstream media leading to very little thought of such a torturous death and unfortunately it’s not until we experience our own pain and suffering before we are awakened to at least empathize with such realities.

In retrospect, maybe you don’t initially understand or agree with Christ’s sufferings, yet shouldn’t He at least be given some respect towards consideration as to the salvation that He’s personally offered to all; something that would have been gratefully given to anyone else as sacrificing their life for the betterment of humanity?

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My wife has been gone for the past several months and I wanted to do something special for her so I ended up taking her to a nice steakhouse in the little town of Ponder Texas.

Upon being seated at the restaurant we couldn’t help but notice some newspaper clippings and pictures on the wall and I figured there must have been someone famous who ate here. When I asked the waitress about it she had mentioned that the particular booth we were dining at was the one John Wayne used to sit in when he visited there. Then I noticed some pictures of the old Bonnie and Clyde movie with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty which included the bank of Ponder in its production. Come to find out the Ponder Bank may have been one of Barrow’s targets but supposedly the bank had gone broke before they arrived.

So who would have ever known that such a small community, near our home, would hold such great stories and we didn’t even know it?

Some may see the wonderment and excitement to visiting such a nostalgic place but I’m reminded that the Greatest of the great is all around us, every day, as there are signs of His glorious display, even though many have failed to take notice of such greatness. Thus the tragedy to this thought is that some would rather be awestruck by stardom than by the One who made the stars.

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I’m old enough to remember the black and white test screens that would interrupt the TV program to say this is only a test of the emergency broadcast system and is not an actual emergency. Well I think I had one of those the other day as I was watering the shrubs as a Mexican man approached me about needing to use my electricity for about an hour and as I began to contemplate the inconvenience of running his extension cord through my house, I initially responded, “I don’t think so,” and then in a flash I remembered I had an outside outlet and so I agreed. Well at first there was no power and I was looking on how to get him some juice when I realized that the GFI had tripped. After I reset it I could hear his electrical device start up and then only seconds later the power come on in his house and so it turned out that they didn’t need my electrical anyway.

When I went back into the house I began my reading for the day and one of the first things I came across was an article on selfishness, as essentially making ourselves the center of our lives, at the expense of God and others, thus it seemed providential to what I had just experienced.

Now some may claim that this is a moral dilemma for God in asking us to do something that He’s unwilling to do in seeking His own glory in what my nephew might refer to as something akin to a hero complex. But when you think of the ontological application of this term in its most supreme context, it can only truly apply to how  beings of a creaturely nature are to respond, who are lesser than (God) or equal to themselves (human) as even extending to their earthly role of stewardship. This isn’t a matter of exempting God by an executive order as God overruling his own ethics as the very nature of such behavior is love, of which God is, and to whom other should such love be ultimately directed, considering we owe Him our very existence, and furthermore He has no equal, outside the persons of the Godhead, nor is there anyone greater than Himself as He is the only one qualified to be the center of everything. This reminds me of the movie in which George Burns played the role of God and when he was brought under oath He could only swear by himself.

However, God’s character is selfless, not only through His interrelatedness among the Godhead, but also towards His creatures as with the supreme act of His love by means of the incarnation as leading to the sacrificial redemption of all mankind as well as His created order. You may think this was all just a set-up to make Himself look good as causing people to fail so that He can save the world but to make such a conjecture would be a violation to the perfection of His moral character in which He can not sin nor does he cause others to sin accordingly, James 1:13. Just because that’s how we may see a corrupt world behave through the abuse of leadership, as with the failures of human governments and false man-made religions, does not justify projecting this same error onto God.

What He could have done is just decided not to create at all at which point such an ungrateful argument would not even exist in order to be made and still His unselfish love would be sustained through the interactions between the members of the Trinity, but instead, such love came to include others to join Him in the fellowship of everlasting life. Finally, this salvation is something we didn’t even have to earn, but receive, and no wonder they call it Amazing Grace.

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