We continue with the subject of,
The Millennium and the End of Sin
The Resurrection of Condemnation
We continue once again with our look at the Millennium and the Judgement to come.
"Are There Few That Be Saved?"
The following excerpt comes from a book entitled, Future Probation in Christian Belief by Albert O. Hudson
Since the Apostles "fell asleep" a number of Christian scholars, particularly those living during the 18th and 19th centuries, testified to their belief in a hope which extended beyond the grave --that probation for eternal life does not end for all mankind when this present earthly life ends. While such scholars, in other respects, were not fully aware of the truths in the Divine Plan which have been unfolded in the clearer light of our day they, nevertheless, did see and preached this hope.
"I have eight thousand souls in my parish whom I want to get to heaven. It seems to me at the present time only about two percent will for certain arrive there!"
So wrote a Bristol vicar, despondently, in his parish magazine some years ago. One can sympathize with his solicitude for the salvation of those unheeding parishioners.
But -- is this the right view of the matter?
Is it true that the mass of unbelieving mankind is headed straight for Hell, or whatever the equivalent which modern times have substituted for the old-time fire and brimstone, and only a relatively few pious individuals manage to escape to Heaven, as it were by the skin of their teeth?
Are we to conclude that Divine wisdom and power is unequal to any more than this scanty fruitage of all that God has said and done since the dawn of history?
Is this hopeless creed really what Christianity is all about?
In this skeptical age questions like these demand answers. Of those who do stop to think about the matter at all, a great many just will not accept that if there really is a supreme Deity who created all things, he couldn’t possibly be so petty and vengeful as our forefathers believed. If we truly do owe life and being and all that we are and have to an all-wise and all-powerful Creator, such will argue, he must have brought us into existence for a purpose; we must have been created primarily for life and not for death. This is sound argument; there is such purpose, a purpose that will be achieved! So far from only two percent getting past the "pearly gates," it is much more likely by the time the Divine Plan for mankind is fully affected that considerably less than two percent will have failed to respond to the appeal of Christ, in such failure proving themselves unworthy of continuing life. We may be sure of that.
The idea that only a relative few will win Divine approval and eternal life, and the greater part of mankind, at the close of a usually unsatisfactory and generally unhappy earthly experience, be cast off forever, has grown up and become a feature of Christian belief through the centuries, but it was no part of the message of Christ. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, to draw all men to himself, not to condemn the world but to save it (Luke 19:10; John 12:32; John 3:16, 17). One might reasonably expect, surely, that the return upon such an outlay of Divine love and power is going to be a lot more than two percent. The traditional Christian view is well-founded when it lays stress upon the necessity of faith in Christ and loyalty to God as the essential prerequisites for eternal life, but it is unnecessarily pessimistic in its estimate of the effectiveness of God's methods in dealing with the consequences of sin.
It is likely that the present generation is able more readily to accept that man was created and intended for a definite purpose and place in the Divine scheme of things than were those of earlier centuries. People of medieval times thought of the future life mainly in terms of standing around the Heavenly Throne playing harps and blowing trumpets to all eternity -- occupations which must surely pall after a while! Our modern wider knowledge of the visible universe, and our deeper conception of the infinite Intelligence and Power that is God, logically leads to the realization that this present earthly life is but a stage -- the first stage, a very important stage – in a continuing experience which will progress through constantly expanding spheres of development and achievement in eternity.
Whether that destiny involves a future and everlasting life on this material planet, or upon another like it, or in a sphere of life based upon fundamentally different environmental conditions from the one we know, and involving a form of life which may be quite incomprehensible to us in our present state, does not affect that cardinal principle.
The Apostle Paul declared that there do exist such different worlds and spheres of life when in First Corinthians Chapter 15 he spoke of a celestial world and a terrestrial world, celestial beings contrasting with human, a world whose life forms have little or perhaps nothing in common with the atomic structure to which terrestrial creatures owe their organisms and environment. And our Lord is authority for the fact that there is no sin in that other, celestial world, only goodness, harmony, and order. He told us, too, to pray for the day when the same happy state shall subsist upon this earth (Matt. 6:10). St. Paul tells us, further, that in the "fullness of time" God will unite in Christ all things in heaven and earth (Eph. 1:10).
That not only implies the eradication of sin, and of irrecoverable sinners, from Divine creation, but also points to the fundamental truth that only "in Christ," by belief in him and acceptance of him and devotion to him, can any of God's created sentient beings, whether terrestrial or celestial, receive and enjoy continuing, "eternal" life.
Continued with the next post.
The Millennium and the End of Sin
The Resurrection of Condemnation
We continue once again with our look at the Millennium and the Judgement to come.
"Are There Few That Be Saved?"
The following excerpt comes from a book entitled, Future Probation in Christian Belief by Albert O. Hudson
Since the Apostles "fell asleep" a number of Christian scholars, particularly those living during the 18th and 19th centuries, testified to their belief in a hope which extended beyond the grave --that probation for eternal life does not end for all mankind when this present earthly life ends. While such scholars, in other respects, were not fully aware of the truths in the Divine Plan which have been unfolded in the clearer light of our day they, nevertheless, did see and preached this hope.
"I have eight thousand souls in my parish whom I want to get to heaven. It seems to me at the present time only about two percent will for certain arrive there!"
So wrote a Bristol vicar, despondently, in his parish magazine some years ago. One can sympathize with his solicitude for the salvation of those unheeding parishioners.
But -- is this the right view of the matter?
Is it true that the mass of unbelieving mankind is headed straight for Hell, or whatever the equivalent which modern times have substituted for the old-time fire and brimstone, and only a relatively few pious individuals manage to escape to Heaven, as it were by the skin of their teeth?
Are we to conclude that Divine wisdom and power is unequal to any more than this scanty fruitage of all that God has said and done since the dawn of history?
Is this hopeless creed really what Christianity is all about?
In this skeptical age questions like these demand answers. Of those who do stop to think about the matter at all, a great many just will not accept that if there really is a supreme Deity who created all things, he couldn’t possibly be so petty and vengeful as our forefathers believed. If we truly do owe life and being and all that we are and have to an all-wise and all-powerful Creator, such will argue, he must have brought us into existence for a purpose; we must have been created primarily for life and not for death. This is sound argument; there is such purpose, a purpose that will be achieved! So far from only two percent getting past the "pearly gates," it is much more likely by the time the Divine Plan for mankind is fully affected that considerably less than two percent will have failed to respond to the appeal of Christ, in such failure proving themselves unworthy of continuing life. We may be sure of that.
The idea that only a relative few will win Divine approval and eternal life, and the greater part of mankind, at the close of a usually unsatisfactory and generally unhappy earthly experience, be cast off forever, has grown up and become a feature of Christian belief through the centuries, but it was no part of the message of Christ. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, to draw all men to himself, not to condemn the world but to save it (Luke 19:10; John 12:32; John 3:16, 17). One might reasonably expect, surely, that the return upon such an outlay of Divine love and power is going to be a lot more than two percent. The traditional Christian view is well-founded when it lays stress upon the necessity of faith in Christ and loyalty to God as the essential prerequisites for eternal life, but it is unnecessarily pessimistic in its estimate of the effectiveness of God's methods in dealing with the consequences of sin.
It is likely that the present generation is able more readily to accept that man was created and intended for a definite purpose and place in the Divine scheme of things than were those of earlier centuries. People of medieval times thought of the future life mainly in terms of standing around the Heavenly Throne playing harps and blowing trumpets to all eternity -- occupations which must surely pall after a while! Our modern wider knowledge of the visible universe, and our deeper conception of the infinite Intelligence and Power that is God, logically leads to the realization that this present earthly life is but a stage -- the first stage, a very important stage – in a continuing experience which will progress through constantly expanding spheres of development and achievement in eternity.
Whether that destiny involves a future and everlasting life on this material planet, or upon another like it, or in a sphere of life based upon fundamentally different environmental conditions from the one we know, and involving a form of life which may be quite incomprehensible to us in our present state, does not affect that cardinal principle.
The Apostle Paul declared that there do exist such different worlds and spheres of life when in First Corinthians Chapter 15 he spoke of a celestial world and a terrestrial world, celestial beings contrasting with human, a world whose life forms have little or perhaps nothing in common with the atomic structure to which terrestrial creatures owe their organisms and environment. And our Lord is authority for the fact that there is no sin in that other, celestial world, only goodness, harmony, and order. He told us, too, to pray for the day when the same happy state shall subsist upon this earth (Matt. 6:10). St. Paul tells us, further, that in the "fullness of time" God will unite in Christ all things in heaven and earth (Eph. 1:10).
That not only implies the eradication of sin, and of irrecoverable sinners, from Divine creation, but also points to the fundamental truth that only "in Christ," by belief in him and acceptance of him and devotion to him, can any of God's created sentient beings, whether terrestrial or celestial, receive and enjoy continuing, "eternal" life.
Continued with the next post.
