"EVERLASTING HELL IS TRUE FOR DENYING IT ACCUSES HOLY PEOPLE OF
LYING"
Hell is a doctrine of hate. Jesus said that unless we believe in him and get his
forgiveness we will go to Hell forever at death deprived of mercy for all
eternity.
The Handbook of Christian Apologetics insults our intelligence by claiming that
God punishes people forever in Hell for saying he doesn't makes liars out of
Jesus and the Christians.
It says that it is unthinkable that Hell could not exist for that makes Jesus
and the Christian Church liars. But not necessarily. They might be just
mistaken. And considering the kind of dishonesty the Church is riddled with
would it really be unthinkable for it to be lying? Also, to argue, "This
doctrine is totally evil if it is untrue. But we urge you to believe it for it
would be worse to accuse or suspect Christians who believe of being wrong" is
downright unfeeling and sanctimonious. That is not a reason for believing. You
need logical evidence. This is not an opinion poll. It is sectarian to say it
is unthinkable that the Church is lying for a member of any different religion
could say the same about the people who set up his religion. Are the authors
suggesting that the argument only applies to the Catholic Church for it is the
only good religion? They have to be!
It would be strange to argue that Hell is a wonderful doctrine even if it is
untrue.
The Handbook says that if we reject the doctrine of Hell because we cannot stand
it what is to stop us getting rid of other doctrines we cannot stand? But so
unprofessional is this book that it does not make a distinction between
doctrines that we should stand though we don’t like them and ones that we
shouldn’t endure. The adulterer would not be able to stand the ban on adultery
but he should. The adulterer should not stand it if society starts condoning
paedophilia.
The Christians will believe that Hell must exist because Jesus said so. This is
alarming. It is really no different to the following horror. A woman says her
husband raped children but must have intended some good for the children when he
said so. She says we must believe him for it is unthinkable that he was lying.
That kind of logic is disgusting. Jesus Christ and the Church are merely being
allowed to pollute human decency.
No genuinely good person would say that we must be capable of hating everybody
for all eternity just because we can't call Jesus and the Church liars. If the
pope said that paedophiles want to become demons at death to possess children
what would we think of somebody who argued that we must accept this for we must
not call the pope mistaken or a liar? It shows plenty of concern for defending
the doctrine-maker but none for the slander of the human race. It is no excuse
to say that no specific person is being accused. To say any person could choose
to be evil for all eternity insults us all for you could be speaking about
anybody.
As we tend to adopt the beliefs of the majority of people we encounter, clearly
we lazily think that most people will not fool us. That is no excuse for
believing nasty doctrines. It is a proof that we shouldn't.
FURTHER READING
APOLOGETICS AND CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, Most Rev M Sheehan DD, M H Gill & Son,
Dublin, 1954
APOLOGETICS FOR THE PULPIT, Aloysius Roche, Burns Oates & Washbourne LTD,
London, 1950
ENCHIRIDION SYMBOLORUM ET DEFINITIONUM, Heinrich Joseph Denzinger, Edited by A
Schonmetzer, Barcelona, 1963
GOD IS NOT GREAT, THE CASE AGAINST RELIGION, Christopher Hitchens, Atlantic
Books, London, 2007
‘GOD, THAT’S NOT FAIR!’ Dick Dowsett, [OMF Books, Overseas Missionary
Fellowship, Belmont, The Vine, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3TZ] Kent, 1982
HANDBOOK OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS, Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli, Monarch, East
Sussex, 1994
HAVE WE TO FEAR A DEVIL? Fred Pearce, The Christadelphian Office, Birmingham
HEAVEN AND HELL Dudley Fifield, Christadelphian Publishing Office, Birmingham
HELL – WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT IT, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord,
Murfreesboro, 1945
JEHOVAH OF THE WATCH-TOWER, Walter Martin and Norman Klann, Bethany House,
Minnesota, 1974
LIFE IN CHRIST, PART 3, Fergal McGrath SJ, MH Gill and Son Ltd, Dublin, 1960
RADIO REPLIES VOL 1, Frs Rumble and Carty, Radio Replies Press, St Paul,
Minnesota, 1938
REASON AND BELIEF, Bland Blanschard, George Allen & and Unwin Ltd, London, 1974
THE BIBLE TELLS US SO, R B Kuiper, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1978
THE DEVIL, THE GREAT DECEIVER Peter Watkins, The Christadelphian Birmingham,
1992
THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BIBLE DIFFICULTIES, Gleason W Archer, Zondervan, Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 1982
THE FOUR MAJOR CULTS, AA Hoekema, Paternoster Press, Carlisle, 1992
THE KINDNESS OF GOD, EJ Cuskelly MSC, Mercier Press, Cork, 1965
THE LIFE OF ALL LIVING, Fulton J Sheen, Image Books, New York, 1979
THE REAL DEVIL, Alan Hayward, Christadelphian Bible Mission, Birmingham
THE REALITY OF HELL, St Alphonsus Liguori, Augustine Publishing Company, Devon,
1988
THE SERMONS OF ST ALPHONSUS LIGOURI, St Alphonsus Ligouri, TAN, Illinois, 1982
THE TRUTH ABOUT HELL, Dawn Bible Students, East Rutherford, NJ
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HELL? Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
1986
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HEAVEN?, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 1988
WHY DOES GOD? Domenico Grasso SJ, St Paul Publications, Bucks, 1970