The following is a debate held November 12, 2012 between Thomas Talbott (The Inescapable Love of God) and Jerry Walls (Hell: the Logic of Damnation) on the nature of Hell held at Malone University entitled “Go to Hell?”
(Video has been deleted from public view for reasons unknown.)
Interestingly Dr. Walls recently published a book presenting a Protestant take on “limbo” called Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation. Jerry Wall’s faith in man’s “free-will” has forced him to suggest a work of sanctification post-mortem. It appears to be yet another attempt to reconcile the unreconcilable: an eternal hell of torment for most of mankind against a loving God on the one hand and trying to hold fast to His sovereignty on the other.
If you want to begin to explore the idea of a non-Catholic view of a post-mortem refinement (that is, not a payment for sins but rather a sanctifying work) read on…
Scot McKnight reviewed Walls’ book here and it elicited primarily the following response: if people knew they had another chance (by going to “purgatory”) then why would anyone change now? Where would the urgency be in this life? McKnight led the trajectory by entitling the post A Protestant Affirms “Second Chance” Purgatory. (We will answer this notion of “second chances” in another post)
Richard Beck also wrote an article after reading Walls’ book on the idea of Purgatory here
I’d like to believe that God really is love and that love never fails. Thanks for posting this great discussion!
http://www.whatthehellbook.com
Hello Jackson…we have ‘met’ before on your blog and various forums and I am so glad you stopped by! I spent a good amount of time on your site when it was up and appreciate your book and your passion to share the message of God’s unfailing love!
Grace and peace to you bro!
It’s good to hear from you again, I hope all is well. After a 6 month sabbatical, the blog is up and running again :)
David B. wrote:
“Inability to distill the escence of hell comes from overlooking the obvious. The only way a loving God can both punish and purify is in the place between heaven and hell called Purgatory. No, it is not named in the Bible like a lot of other dogma handed down through the ages (the Holy Trinity for one), but it is real. Purgatory is how the last become first and the first become last, everyone gets to serve their time. There God can love and punish, which are both part of his nature.”
Thank you David for your comment. (I moved it from where it was posted to the article that refers to your subject matter.)
I will answer briefly not knowing your background although you seem to be defending a more Catholic understanding of “Purgatory.” First as those who believe in Ultimate Reconciliation we would have to say that how God sanctifies mankind before He gathers all to Himself is as unknown a process as the Virgin Birth or how the atonement exactly takes away our sin. I don’t think we need to speculate on the details as some have.
Second, I would take serious issue with interpreting the sanctification process with that of “doing their time” as if it were equivalent to our human punitive jail sentence. God’s justice is restorative in nature and the process for the “purging” of sin will be no different from what the prodigal experienced in “a far country” before he “came to his senses.” It will not be serving time as if it were a judgment of “an eye for an eye.” It will be all of grace from a loving God. It will “good, but not safe” as was said of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia.
See our article here on Justice=Righteousness
I lean on universalism on these points. 1. The original new greek testament does not say forever, eternal, or everlasting. It states eons of eons or the age of ages. If you look up the definition of this word it means a long period of time with a definite ending. I believe that the bible indicates 5 eons of time. The first one is 1Cor. 2:7 time before the eons therefore, Not eternal. The second one is Gal 1:4. The present eon in which we are living in the present time. The third eon is found in the oncoming eon Eph:2:7 when our great God and savior return. The fourth eon is the conclusion eon Mt. 13:39. The fifth eon the secret concealed from the eons. Eph. 3:9. My point here is these eons have a definite beginning and an ending, which indicates that the nonbeliever’s fate in hell will not be eternal, rather when that eon has an ending. All aions will come to an end as indicated in 1Cor: 10:11. I believe that hell is a definite place and a geniune fate for those who do not believe on earth in Christ. But God’s mercy and love will triumph in the aions to come.