CHURCH OF ENGLAND DENIES ETERNAL HELL

[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Copyright 1996. These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our primary purpose is to provide information to assist preachers in the protection of the churches in this apostate hour. If you desire to receive this type of material on a regular basis, e-mail us, tell us who you are and where you are located, and request to be placed on the list. Also include your postal address and the name of the church of which you are a member. Some of these articles are from the "Digging in the Walls" section of O Timothy magazine. David W. Cloud, Editor. O Timothy is a monthly magazine in its 14th year of publication. Subscription is $20/yr. The Way of Life web site is http://www.wayoflife.org/.]

March 25, 1996 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Church of England's Doctrine Commission reported in February that Hell is not eternal torment. The statements on Hell were contained in a report entitled "Thy Mystery of Salvation." Consider what these theologians have concluded:

"Christians have professed appalling theologies which made God into a sadistic monster. ... Hell is not eternal torment, but is the final and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God so completely ... that the only end is total non-being."

Retired Anglican Bishop David Jenkins commented to Ecumenical News International, "We wanted to say that final judgment is there, but torment does not go on and on and on forever. Others could not be in bliss knowing that this were so. ... Wrong-doers may suffer in ways we cannot know but which go beyond non-being. I don't believe in eternal torment, though."

In a report on this entitled "Hell Is Empty," Terry Mattingly, writing for the Scripps Howard News Service, noted that many Evangelicals have also taken an allegorical approach to Hell.

"Meanwhile, some traditionalists now emphasize images of loneliness and silation. Asked why he rarely preaches about a fiery hell anymore, the Rev. Billy Graham once told me that he believes the best image for damnation is that of a soul dwelling in 'outer darkness,' far from God's eternal light. Or perhaps, the evangelist said, hell is like the old joke about a man who going on a boat cruise, complete with wine, women and song. Somehow, he got on the wrong boat. 'The other boat was for a Sunday school picnic from a Baptist church,' said Graham. Before long the man was sick of it. He said, 'Man, this is Hell to be in with this crowd. They don't smoke, they don't drink, they don't tell dirty stories. ... But the Baptists were having a wonderful time. It was like heaven to them.'"

To deny that Hell is eternal fiery torment is open denial of the Bible. "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name" (Revelation 14:10,11).

The proud, unbelieving theologian smiles at verses such as this and says, "Yes, but that is symbolic language, my dear ignorant Fundamentalist friend." One day the proud smirk of modern scholarship will be gone and such a one will believe the Bible. But it will be too late. Friends, there is an eternal fiery Hell. Do not be deceived. Jesus died to save men from Hell.

David Cloud dcloud@wayoflife.org http://www.wayoflife.org/
1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277

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