WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?
Let God's inspired writers be heard in opposition to heathenish church traditions, and let reason judge which is the sensible and Godlike view, and which the unreasonable and devilish. The prophets of the Old Testament do not mention a word about eternal torment, but they do repeatedly mention destruction as the sinners' doom, and declare over and over again that the enemies of the Lord shall perish. The Law given to Israel through Moses, never hinted at any other penalty other than death, in case of its violation.
The warning to Adam when placed on trial in Eden, contained not the remotest suggestion of eternal torture in case of failure and disobedience; but on the contrary, it clearly stated that the penalty would be death--"In the day that thou eat thereof, dying, thou shall die."(Gen 2:17).
Surely if the penalty of disobedience and failure is everlasting life in torment, an inexcusable wrong was done to Adam, and to the patriarchs, and to the Jewish people, when they were misinformed on the subject, and told that death was the penalty.
Surely Adam, the patriarchs, or the Jews, should they ever find themselves in eternal torment, where the various sectarian creeds shamelessly and falsely assert that the vast majority will find themselves, will have sufficiently good ground for an appeal for justice. Such, no less than the heathen billions who died without knowledge, and hence surely without faith, would have just ground for cursing the injustice of such a penalty as a most atrocious misuse of power--first, in bringing them into a trial subject to such an awful and unreasonable penalty, without their consent; and secondly, for leaving the one class wholly ignorant of such a penalty, and for deceiving the others by telling them that the penalty of sin would simply be death, to perish. It must be admitted that the presumption to declare that death, destruction, perish, and other similar terms, somehow means life in torment, belongs squarely to word-twisting theologians since the apostles' days.
Look next at the New Testament writings: Paul says, he did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), and yet he did not write a single word about eternal torment. Neither did Peter, nor James, nor Jude, nor John; though it is claimed that John did, in the symbolic figures of Revelation.
But since those who make this claim consider the Book of Revelation a sealed book, which they do not and cannot understand, they have no right to interpret any portion of it literally in violation of its stated symbolic character, and in direct opposition to the remainder of the Bible, including John's plain non-symbolic epistles.
Since the apostles do not so much as mention eternal torment, all truth-seekers, especially Christians, should be interested to search what they do teach concerning the penalty of sin, --remembering that they, and not the apostate church of the darker ages, taught "the whole counsel of God."
Paul states the matter thus: --"The wages of sin is death;" The disobedient "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power;" and "Many walk who are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction."(Rom 6:23; 2 Thes1:9; Phil 3:19)
John says: "The world passes away and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God abides forever…He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil…He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in Him…He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."(1 John 2:17; 3:8, 14, 15; 5:12).
Peter says: The disobedient "shall be destroyed from among the people:" that the evil-doers "bring upon themselves swift destruction;" that the Lord is "not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(Acts 3:23; 2 Pet2:1 and 3:9)
James says: "Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." "There is one law-giver who is able to save and to destroy." (Jas1:15; 4:12)
Continued with next post.
Let God's inspired writers be heard in opposition to heathenish church traditions, and let reason judge which is the sensible and Godlike view, and which the unreasonable and devilish. The prophets of the Old Testament do not mention a word about eternal torment, but they do repeatedly mention destruction as the sinners' doom, and declare over and over again that the enemies of the Lord shall perish. The Law given to Israel through Moses, never hinted at any other penalty other than death, in case of its violation.
The warning to Adam when placed on trial in Eden, contained not the remotest suggestion of eternal torture in case of failure and disobedience; but on the contrary, it clearly stated that the penalty would be death--"In the day that thou eat thereof, dying, thou shall die."(Gen 2:17).
Surely if the penalty of disobedience and failure is everlasting life in torment, an inexcusable wrong was done to Adam, and to the patriarchs, and to the Jewish people, when they were misinformed on the subject, and told that death was the penalty.
Surely Adam, the patriarchs, or the Jews, should they ever find themselves in eternal torment, where the various sectarian creeds shamelessly and falsely assert that the vast majority will find themselves, will have sufficiently good ground for an appeal for justice. Such, no less than the heathen billions who died without knowledge, and hence surely without faith, would have just ground for cursing the injustice of such a penalty as a most atrocious misuse of power--first, in bringing them into a trial subject to such an awful and unreasonable penalty, without their consent; and secondly, for leaving the one class wholly ignorant of such a penalty, and for deceiving the others by telling them that the penalty of sin would simply be death, to perish. It must be admitted that the presumption to declare that death, destruction, perish, and other similar terms, somehow means life in torment, belongs squarely to word-twisting theologians since the apostles' days.
Look next at the New Testament writings: Paul says, he did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), and yet he did not write a single word about eternal torment. Neither did Peter, nor James, nor Jude, nor John; though it is claimed that John did, in the symbolic figures of Revelation.
But since those who make this claim consider the Book of Revelation a sealed book, which they do not and cannot understand, they have no right to interpret any portion of it literally in violation of its stated symbolic character, and in direct opposition to the remainder of the Bible, including John's plain non-symbolic epistles.
Since the apostles do not so much as mention eternal torment, all truth-seekers, especially Christians, should be interested to search what they do teach concerning the penalty of sin, --remembering that they, and not the apostate church of the darker ages, taught "the whole counsel of God."
Paul states the matter thus: --"The wages of sin is death;" The disobedient "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power;" and "Many walk who are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction."(Rom 6:23; 2 Thes1:9; Phil 3:19)
John says: "The world passes away and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God abides forever…He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil…He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in Him…He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."(1 John 2:17; 3:8, 14, 15; 5:12).
Peter says: The disobedient "shall be destroyed from among the people:" that the evil-doers "bring upon themselves swift destruction;" that the Lord is "not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(Acts 3:23; 2 Pet2:1 and 3:9)
James says: "Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." "There is one law-giver who is able to save and to destroy." (Jas1:15; 4:12)
Continued with next post.
