eternal conscious torment :: The Tentative Apologist

Post tagged with eternal conscious torment

The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 11)

September 09th, 201107:06 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

Hell. It had to come up sooner or later. And it takes center stage in Keith Parson's contribution to The End of Christianity, chapter 10, "Hell: Christianity's Most Damnable Doctrine". I took away one important lesson from this chapter: Keith Parsons doesn't like Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin. In fact, I thought these were the two best lines in the e...
Must Hitler burn forever?

June 08th, 201109:43 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

In case you've been thinking about hell a lot lately, or even if you haven't, have I got a rather sobering treat for you. Today I am making available for you free of charge a thirty-three page chapter I wrote on the doctrine of hell for a book manuscript called The Crazy Things We Believe. Thus far I've written three of an anticipated seven chapter...
Do people in hell continue to curse God?

February 05th, 201012:04 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

I have been engaging questions over the justice of the doctrine of hell as eternal conscious torment with the main suggestion being that this appears deeply morally problematic. MGT2 demurs. From his perspective, people choose to be in hell as they pile up sins eternally: Why does God allow people to continue to suffer in hell? And why does God pu...
Is hell merely the sum total of our poor choices?

February 03rd, 201004:45 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

In the last post I raised the question of the justice of hell. In short, what could justify punishing a person eternally? One of my readers, MGT2, offers the following reply to this question: I look at it this way. Two boy scouts, boy A and boy B, both standing before a bonfire with their troop leader. The boys are playing a game of chicken to see...
When there is hell to pay: On the problem of eternal punishment

February 01st, 201005:26 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

In the last post I turned to the most difficult of Christian doctrines, the doctrine of hell as eternal conscious torment. There certainly are passages that seem to suggest this doctrine. For instance, consider Jesus' chilling words in Matthew 25:41: "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire...
Hell: Christianity's most burning issue

January 28th, 201010:25 PM ET

By Randal Rauser

It could be a conspiracy of silence. More likely it is an egregious case of conformity to the wider culture. But whatever the reason, there can be little doubt that the topic of hell, once the mainstay of the fire and brimstone revivalist preacher, has been for some time conspicuously absent from the vast majority of pulpits. Corroboration for the...