Monthly Archives: October 2014

What does the Bible teach about hell and eternal punishment?

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Apologetics, Theology

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I have published a short $2.99 Kindle ebook entitled The Bible’s Teaching on Endless Punishment, and Objections to It—just in time for Halloween. (No, you don’t need to own a Kindle device to read it—there are free Kindle readers for computers, tablets, and phones.) A few thoughts excerpted from the book:

  • The Bible describes three compartments in the underworld: Hades, the abyss, and the lake of fire. Most modern writers use the term “hell” when referring to any or all compartments of the underworld.
  • People who say that a loving God would not send people to hell generally also struggle to explain the existence of evil and suffering in the world in which we live. How can a loving God permit so much pain and wickedness in the world? This is a real problem for people who deny a literal hell because if justice is not served in this life then it is not served at all, and it obviously is not served in this life. God’s tolerance of evil in the world can only be explained if it is recognized that every sin will someday receive the punishment that it deserves.
  • People would not get upset about the Bible’s teaching on hell and eternal torment if there were no such thing in reality. If hell really were a ridiculous, fairy-tale concept, unbelievers would not care if some people accept the idea. The reason it bothers them is because they have an inner sense that it is real (Heb 2:15; 10:27).
  • Pastors who believe in annihilationism or universalism lose the ability to preach with authority. They can only make recommendations regarding what people should be doing, but can never say they must do it, and cannot prove that the way we live life has any eternal significance. One formerly universalist pastor says, “My religion was reduced to a self-help methodology, a happy way to cope with life. I became a moralist, a counselor, a two-bit pop psychologist” (David Hanson, The Art of Pastoring [Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1994], 85).
  • Objection: The New Testament reveals the love of God in Christ in a way that is incompatible with a doctrine of hell and eternal punishment. This is the official position of the Church of England. The problem with it is, the New Testament contains many more references to hell and eternal punishment than the Old Testament (234 out of the 260 chapters in the New Testament say something about judgment), and the majority of these New Testament references are statements made by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Those who say that Jesus is too loving to send anybody to hell are selectively choosing to accept only those sayings of Jesus that they like, while rejecting or ignoring the ones they find offensive. The New Testament actually gives a much clearer and fuller revelation of the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment than the Old Testament, and it does so primarily through Jesus’ direct teaching. Also, the message of the gospel is that Jesus had to die for the sins of the world because sin demands punishment, and the only punishment that will satisfy the demands of justice is death. The cross is robbed of its purpose and significance if there is no such thing as a second death. If God does not give those who reject Christ’s atonement the same penalty for sin as was applied to His Son, then there never was any real need for a sacrificial death to atone for sin, and there is a real question as to the fairness of the cross itself.

This is objection #1 that I present in the book, but I believe the real objection is #7: The lake of fire is horrible and disturbing beyond comprehension, and I cannot accept a doctrine that is so appalling and awful. An even deeper objection lies behind this one—I like to sin, and I want to believe that I can get away with it. You can read my answer to these objections and more in the book.

A biblical perspective on the World Series

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Bible, Current events

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Game 6 of the World Series is tomorrow, and millions of Americans will be watching. Nearly everyone in America (or, at least, nearly every male) spends a significant amount of time watching sports of some kind year-round, whether it is baseball or one of the seemingly endless variety of other athletic competitions that are televised today. But did you know that the early church was opposed to sports? (Read Tertullian’s On the Games/De Spectaculis, for example.) Sports were also rejected by observant Jews before the time of Christ’s first advent, in part because training in sports and participation in the games was one of the major emphases of Antiochus IV’s attempt to Hellenize the Jewish people.

What does the Bible have to say about sports? First, the Bible is clear that God is not impressed by athletic ability, but only by godly character. Psalm 147:10-11 says, He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His lovingkindness. When the prophet Samuel was initially very impressed by the physical appearance of David’s oldest brother Eliab, and assumed that Eliab should be anointed king on this basis, God told Samuel, Do not look at his appearance, or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For [the LORD sees] not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Sam 16:7).

I have a very hard time believing that God is impressed by how hard a pitcher can throw a baseball, or by how far a batter can hit it.

The apostle Paul once participated in an athletic competition, though not by choice: he evidently was thrown into a ring with wild beasts at the Ephesus amphitheater and was forced to fight them in a life-or-death match as a public spectacle, as a punishment for preaching the gospel (1 Cor 15:32; cf. 2 Cor 1:8-11). But in describing this event in 1 Cor 15:32, Paul says that if he fought with wild beasts “after the manner of men” it would have been of no profit for him. That is, had Paul fought with the motive of the gladiators—worldly fame and fortune, or a love of sport—it would not have been of ultimate value for him, because the world’s glory is passing away. However, Paul fought with wild beasts with the motive of serving the risen Christ, which has an eternal reward. He was fighting by compulsion, not by choice, and he glorified God by demonstrating that God could deliver a man who was in his fifties and not trained as a gladiator from the mouth of the lion (cf. 2 Tim 4:17). The inspired view of sports which Paul gives in 1 Cor 15:32 is that if sports are played for any of the usual motives for which sports are played—to win fame, glory, money, and so forth—they are unprofitable for the players. They are, in a word, worthless.

Even non-competitive bodily exercise, which clearly has health benefits, is said by Paul to be merely of “a little” profit in comparison to the more important exercise of one’s faith unto godliness, since godliness has value both for the present life and for the life to come in eternity (1 Tim 4:7-8).

In the grand scheme of things, it is stupid to be awed by someone’s ability to whack a golf ball or to toss a basketball. It is stupid for coaches, fans, and players to treat the games they play with great seriousness and passion, as if they are a very significant thing. Sports competitions accomplish nothing of any value, since they are worthless insofar as eternity is concerned, and they cannot even be considered productive work vis-à-vis the present world. (Yes, everyone needs a break from work, but do we “need” professional sports?) In fact, sports glorify man, rather than God, and they set up a conflict between rival players and fans for no good reason. Even from the standpoint of fitness, sports create frequent injuries and long-term wear and tear as players push their bodies to the limit and do things that the body was not designed to do. It is better to follow a simpler exercise regimen, and to do so only to maintain one’s health for service to God.

Whether the subject is sports or something else, the things we really care about should be the things that really matter.

Why isn’t Islam in Bible prophecy?

24 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Bible prophecy, Current events

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I grew up in a strong Bible-teaching church that emphasized Bible prophecy, and I have been a student of Bible prophecy all of my life. Given the amount of time that I have spent studying biblical prophecy, I find it curious that I cannot find a reference to the Islamic religion anywhere in the Bible. Currently, and for some time in the recent past, Islam has been a focal point of the world’s attention, due to the rise of militant Islamists who are responsible for a disproportionate number of terrorist attacks, civil strife, and wars in the world. Muslims also currently dominate the Middle East, and the Middle East is the focal point of biblical prophecy. But the Bible presents Israel as living in complete physical peace with its neighbors around the time of the antichrist’s rise to power (Ezek 38:11-12)—something which is not possible so long as radical Islam is present in the region.

So what will happen to Islam? In the absence of any clear biblical statement, it is hard to say with certainty. Maybe all the radical Muslims will become moderates. But it seems to me that Islam is in the process of collapsing, or of self-destroying. Recent events have shown that committed Muslims have a tendency to radicalize, which means waging jihad (war) against the infidels. (Christians are engaged in a spiritual battle, not in a battle against “flesh and blood” [Eph 6:12]; but many Muslims see their religion as indeed a “flesh and blood” struggle for survival and expansion.) The “infidels” include not only people from other religions, but also those from rival sects of Islam. In fact, the radicals tend to fracture into different groups which declare all others to be infidels, including other radical Islamists. More Muslims (and new converts to Islam) continue to radicalize, since the radicals have been able to argue convincingly that the Islamic religion does in fact teach the philosophy they espouse.

Western leaders portray the radicals as not representative of “true Islam.” They essentially want Muslims to hold values that are very close to those held by the Western secular majority, and to make Islam little more than a cultural identity with some belief in a higher power. However, their efforts to promote so-called “moderate Islam” are failing, since the claims about Islam made by Western leaders merely represent what they want Islam to be for political reasons. Claims about “true Islam” can really only be made by presenting a detailed analysis of the theological underpinnings of the Islamic religion, and Western leaders have failed to present such theological argumentation. Modern Muslims who want to become more religious tend to radicalize, and to turn violently against the West.

I believe there is a massive collapse coming in Islam, due largely to disillusionment when the goals and aims of the Islamists are totally frustrated. If the Islamist forces are crushed on the battlefield all over the world, and if Israel wins some sort of total victory, this would create a crisis of belief in the Islamic world. The Islamists themselves are creating disillusionment among many Muslims who are repulsed by what they are doing. Perhaps the West (and China) will even launch a concerted campaign to stamp out Islam someday, possibly as part of a broader campaign against conservative monotheistic religions.

What religious system will replace Islam in the Muslim countries of the world? I pray that the church will make a great effort to reach Muslims with the gospel as they are driven to search for truth and answers.

A biblical perspective on Ebola

19 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by in Current events

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Most of us have a tendency to become very concerned when we have a serious illness or health problem. Sometimes we even worry over minor health problems, or just the possibility that we may have a health problem. Concern is a natural human reaction that prompts us to take good care of our bodies, though the overreaction of worry is sinful and unhelpful.

Over the past several months, the world has become increasingly concerned (or worried) about Ebola—especially after the disease spread beyond the borders of a few small countries in West Africa and has begun to impact countries in Western Europe and North America. Ebola is now a major crisis in the minds of most people in the West, and enormous resources are, quite sensibly, being poured into the fight to stop it.

What does the Bible have to say about Ebola? Nothing directly, of course, but Mark 2:1-12 describes a somewhat parallel situation involving a man who had a major health problem, which he and his friends viewed as a significant crisis. This man had some sort of paralysis, and had to be carried around by four friends on a stretcher. They heard that Jesus, the great Healer, was in town; however, the house where He was teaching was so packed with people that they could not carry their friend through the crowd to Jesus. The paralytic’s friends devised an ingenious solution to the problem. They carried their friend up the stairs on the outside of the house to its flat roof. Then they opened up a hole in the roof, and used ropes to lower the man on the stretcher directly to Jesus. Jesus recognized this as an act of great faith—the paralytic had no doubts about Jesus’ ability to heal him through the power of God. On this basis, Jesus immediately pronounced the man’s sins forgiven, without healing his paralysis. It was only after Jesus’ pronouncement generated a negative reaction among some people in the crowd that Jesus healed the man of his physical disability, for the purpose of demonstrating that He has the power to forgive sins.

What is interesting about the story in Mark 2:1-12 is that when Jesus was presented with a man who had a severe physical disability, He saw the man’s real and most urgent need as spiritual, and it was the man’s spiritual need that He immediately met. Didn’t Jesus care about this man? Of course He did, which is why He pronounced his sins forgiven. The healing of the man’s physical disability seems almost like an afterthought in the story; or, at least, a matter of secondary concern. This is exactly the opposite of the way in which we naturally think, since we have a tendency to focus on the visible and tangible. The lesson for us is that man’s most basic need is spiritual, not physical. Compared to eternity in a world of glory, all the sufferings of this life are light and temporary, and really are of little consequence (2 Cor 4:17-18); conversely, feeling healthy and comfortable in this life will do nothing to ease the pain of eternal torment in hell if a person does not repent and believe the gospel (Luke 13:3-5; 16:19-31).

Why is it that great multitudes thronged Jesus to receive physical healing, but only a few came to Jesus to ask Him to forgive their sins (Luke 7:36-50)? Why is it that so many people in America today are obsessed with the health crisis caused by Ebola, but so few are concerned about the spiritual crisis in America that is causing people to live in darkness and die without Christ? Why aren’t internet billionaires pouring millions of dollars into the fight to save souls? Why isn’t the media running stories about the grave dangers of America’s departure from a historically Christian culture? Why do people go to the hospital when they are physically ill, but most do not go to church or read the Bible to seek healing for the sickness of their souls? Clearly the world’s perspective is badly skewed; most people are completely blind to their real need, which is spiritual.

Ebola is indeed a serious problem that deserves a strong response, and the deaths of thousands of people is a great tragedy. But the greater tragedy is that the world continues to be focused almost exclusively on physical issues such as health and wealth, while ignoring their infinitely more serious spiritual problem of sin and separation from God.

What if God offered to give you any (good) thing?

17 Friday Oct 2014

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For today’s post, I want to share a devotional/exegetical reflection from 1 Kings 3.

In 1 Kings 3, we encounter a young and prosperous Israelite king named Solomon, who loves the Lord. He goes to the great high place at Gibeah, and offers a thousand burnt offerings before the Lord. The Lord appears to him in a dream at night, and says, “Ask what I should give you.” What an offer! Most of us are familiar with Solomon’s answer: Solomon asks for, literally, a “hearing heart”—a Hebrew idiom for wisdom. First Kings 3:10 says the Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this thing, and Solomon was granted his request.

For a long time I assumed that Solomon had given the right answer, and that if God were to make me the offer that He made to Solomon, I should ask for wisdom. Over the years, however, I slowly began to question this. Solomon gave a good answer, to be sure, but was it the best answer? And if it was not the best answer, then what is the best answer? I think I finally have it.

Solomon’s request pleased the Lord, because he had asked for an excellent, selfless thing—a thing which would enable him to serve the people of the Lord more effectively. His prayer for wisdom is rightly memorialized in Scripture as a great expression of a heart devoted to God. But wisdom is not the only virtue in the world, and surely there are other good things which Solomon could have asked for, which also would have pleased the Lord. As the story of Solomon’s life unfolds in the pages of Scripture, it becomes clear that he did not in fact ask for the best possible thing, though he did ask for a good thing and is not to be faulted for it. Solomon’s wisdom did not prevent him from turning away from the Lord in his later years. This shows that Solomon would, in the end, have been better served by a request for a perfect heart, than by a request for a hearing heart. If the Lord were to make me the offer which he made to Solomon, my prayer would be an adaptation of Jeremiah 31:33-34—”O Lord my God, put your law in my inward parts, and write it upon my heart, that I may know you perfectly and serve you perfectly all of my days.”

That this is the best thing that could be asked for is confirmed by Jesus’ identification of the two greatest commandments of the Law as the commands to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-31). These are the things which have real and ultimate significance, more than the cares of this life—and more, in the final analysis, than even wisdom itself, though wisdom cannot be separated completely from sanctification. Even wise old Solomon himself affirmed the paramount importance of fearing God and keeping his commandments as the conclusion of his great investigation of human life, in Ecclesiastes 12:13. Wisdom is very important, useful, and necessary, but nothing is more important than sanctification.

A Christian perspective on the Hong Kong protest movement

14 Tuesday Oct 2014

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The Hong Kong pro-democracy protests that have been in the news since September 26 seem to be losing steam. They do not have the widespread support that they had initially, and most of the protestors’ barricades have been torn down. It is possible that there could be some sort of violent confrontation with the police in the coming days, with many arrests. These “occupy” protests are illegal, but the protesters say they had exhausted all other avenues for change, and so were forced to resort to civil disobedience.

As someone who has been to Hong Kong and who has a family member living in Hong Kong, I have a special interest in these protests. Coverage of the protests in the West has generally been supportive of the protesters, who want unfettered democracy in Hong Kong, while coverage of the protests by official media outlets in China has either been nonexistent or strongly opposed. But since all of these news sources are secular, none of them evaluates the protests by the Bible.

The New Testament shows a striking disinterest in political issues. It teaches that Christians have a responsibility to submit to and obey their government and the laws of their land (Rom 13:6-7). A Christian who opposes government opposes God, and will pay for it (Rom 13:1-2). Whether government officials are good or bad, they need our prayers to help them do their jobs (1 Tim 2:2). Christians are commanded to honor the governing authorities (1 Pet 2:13-17)—including, in the context of 1 Peter 2:17, Emperor Nero. The apostles were neither political agitators, nor social reformers; they were heralds of the gospel of salvation, and their mission was to save individual souls, not the government or society. While the New Testament does not prohibit Christians from being involved in government or politics, Romans 13:1, Titus 3:1, and 1 Peter 2:13 clearly imply that political activism must be done in accordance with the laws of one’s country; civil disobedience is sinful as a form of political activism.

I do not question the sincerity or good intentions of the Hong Kong protestors. But the only biblical justification for Christians to disobey the law is when the law prohibits something that the Bible commands or commands something that the Bible prohibits. The government of the Roman Empire under Nero was incredibly wicked, openly immoral, cruel, and anti-Christian, yet the apostles never lifted their voice in protest. Instead, they commanded meek submission and honor to the governing authorities.

On the other side of the coin, unrighteous rulers will have to give an account to God for their actions. But it is the exclusive prerogative of God (and, in some cases, of rulers who stand in God’s place) to set up and remove kings (Dan 2:21; 4:17). The frustration of people with their governments is often understandable, but rebellion is not a Christian solution to the problem. It is well known that the Chinese government officially espouses the false religion of Communism, and also that the government has a lengthy track record of persecuting the Christian church. But the Roman government to which the apostles commanded submission possessed similar faults, and one would be hard-pressed to identify any “Christian” government in the world today.

I do, like the Hong Kong protesters, have political views and a desire to make government better. But what happens in the political arena is a secondary issue for the Christian. Our job is to be faithful to God’s instructions for us in the Bible, and these instructions are concerned with spiritual, not political, reform. While many reasons have been put forth to justify civil disobedience in certain contexts, these justifications do not come from the New Testament.

Why do the Saudis view history as a threat to their religion?

12 Sunday Oct 2014

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One of the things that makes Christianity different from other religions is that it is essentially a religion of history. That is, the core tenets of the Christian faith are not philosophical ideas or theories, but are historical events and historical realities—such as the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and His future return in glory. Even justification by faith is something that involves an actual change in the justified individual, who receives a new nature through regeneration at the same time as he is made right in his standing before God. Christians have always had a fascination with archeology, because of the way in which archeological discoveries illumine the Bible and corroborate Christian beliefs.

Recently there was an editorial in the New York Times, written by a Muslim, who says that “the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the clerics have a deep hatred of history,” and they have intentionally destroyed nearly every site of historical or archeological significance in Mecca. The structures they have razed in Mecca include ancient mosques, the houses of Muhammad’s wives and companions, and houses from the Ottoman era, among many others. In their place the Saudis have constructed an ultra-modern city of skyscrapers, highways, and luxury shopping malls. Muhammad’s house still stands, but it is off-limits and the Saudi clerics want it destroyed. Even the scenic mountains which once ringed Mecca are gone, having been flattened by Saudi bulldozers and demolition crews. The Sacred Mosque at the center of the hajj (pilgrimage) is now closely hemmed in by skyscrapers, including some of the world’s largest, and plans have already been made to demolish the ancient mosque itself and replace it “with an ultra-modern doughnut-shaped building,” according to the article. Muslims who come to Mecca for the hajj are now assigned to a tour group, which restricts their ability to move about and to interact with people outside of their group. This not only keeps visitors from looking for historical sites in Mecca, it also keeps the Saudi people from hearing alternative interpretations of Islam.

It is clear that the Saudis are trying to erase all traces of the past in Islam’s holiest city. But why? The Islamic religion, especially in its strict form practiced by the Saudis, is a religion of laws and principles, not history. A search for the historical basis for these religious principles would potentially undermine them. Rather than asking and investigating such questions as how the Koran was written and standardized, how Muhammad developed and promulgated his religious convictions, and how Islamic traditions subsequently developed, the Saudis want to focus on the Islamic religion as it is taught and practiced by them today, and they want to prohibit the expression of contrary ideas. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has also earned a reputation for hating history, and for destroying ancient mosques, churches, shrines, and archeological sites. Their creed is a philosophical system, not a history. History is a threat to them, since there are many historically dubious claims made in the Koran and other Islamic traditions, and the history of the development of Islam shows that it is a manmade religion. The attempt by the Saudis and other strict Muslims to erase all memory of the past in Islam speaks volumes for the largely unspoken problem of finding an authentic historical basis for the beliefs and practices of the Islamic religion.

The Other October 31st Holiday

10 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Church history

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This year, while most people are out at Halloween parties or trick-or-treating, a few of us will be celebrating another October 31st holiday: Reformation Day. October 31, 2014 marks the 497th anniversary of the day when Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses (Oct. 31, 1517), an event of profound significance for all subsequent Western history. The traditional story is that Luther himself nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, though it is more likely that servants of the university posted copies of the 95 Theses on church doors all over town at Luther’s direction; Luther himself sent a letter to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz the same day, enclosing a copy of the 95 Theses with the letter. Quite to Luther’s surprise, his 95 Theses were translated to German, printed, and disseminated throughout Germany within two weeks. In two months, travelers had spread copies of the 95 Theses throughout Europe.

Luther’s 95 Theses were a call for reform and debate within the Roman Catholic Church, which at the time was known simply as “the church” throughout most of Europe. Nowhere do the 95 Theses issue a call to break away from the Roman See and found a new Christian denomination; but when Luther’s proposed reforms were rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities—and especially after the pope had excommunicated him—he saw no alternative to organizing an independent church.

Pope Leo X (reigned 1513–1521), a member of the powerful Medici banking family, never took Luther seriously. His dismissal of Luther’s call to return to the Bible as the sole authoritative basis for Christian doctrine and practice helped to inflame the Protestant Reformation. Pope Clement VII (reigned 1523–1534), another member of the Medici family, also aided Luther’s cause by supporting the French king—and even the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent—against Emperor Charles V, whose power he feared. It was not until 1546 that Charles V was finally ready to take strong action against the Protestants, by which time it was too late.

For Protestant Christians, however, the success of the Reformation which Luther began is ultimately to be attributed to the power of God’s Holy Spirit, working in the hearts of individual people, to bring about spiritual revival. Luther’s study of the Scriptures led him to the conclusion that an individual’s right standing with God comes through belief in the gospel, as an act of divine grace, but can never be obtained by the works which the church taught were necessary to increase one’s merit (see Rom 1:16-17; 10:9-10; Eph 2:8-9). As Luther progressed in his study of the Scriptures, he concluded that many other teachings and practices of the church were also contrary to the Bible. The rallying cries of the Reformation were Sola fide! (By faith alone!) and Sola scriptura! (By the Scripture alone!).

As a Protestant Christian, I thank God for the work of Martin Luther and his fellow reformers, who suffered greatly for their call to return to the gospel of salvation by faith apart from works, and to bring the teachings of the church back into conformity with the Bible.