Imagine There Is No Hell

Ross Douthat weighs in on the question that has been making the rounds in Christian circles these days, whether Hell is real?

( Excerpt )

It doesn't address my own point. Which is not that Hell would not be an appropriate place for some twisted souls. Remember I use the example of Hitler. My problem is with the idea that this horrendous punishment should be eternal.

A few thousand years in the lake of fire may not be so out of place for a Hitler or even your more garden-variety serial killer, but an eterntiy of such torture can begin to seem beyond any reasonable conception of justice. And, again, it's not like they would then have to be permitted into Heaven after their little roasting, but can simply burn off eventually into oblivion or absolute nothingness.

This would still give real bite to the issue of free will, without throwing into question the morality of our Christian coneption of God.

Imagine There Is No Hell

Ross Douthat weighs in on the question that has been making the rounds in Christian circles these days, whether Hell is real?

( Excerpt )

It doesn't address my own point. Which is not that Hell would not be an appropriate place for some twisted souls. Remember I use the example of Hitler. My problem is with the idea that this horrendous punishment should be eternal.

A few thousand years in the lake of fire may not be so out of place for a Hitler or even your more garden-variety serial killer, but an eterntiy of such torture can begin to seem beyond any reasonable conception of justice. And, again, it's not like they would then have to be permitted into Heaven after their little roasting, but can simply burn off eventually into oblivion or absolute nothingness.

This would still give real bite to the issue of free will, without throwing into question the morality of our Christian coneption of God.

Remembering Hitch

"There is, especially in the American media, a deep belief that insincerity is better than no sincerity at all."

-- Christopher Hitchens

Martin Amis seems to have written a pre-eulogy for Hitch. I can understand it. It's hard to think that we probably should have had another good twenty years of Hitch's commentary on the political and cultural scene, while someone like Rush Limbaugh will be with us forever. Talk about the dumbing down of the culture...

Remembering Hitch

"There is, especially in the American media, a deep belief that insincerity is better than no sincerity at all."

-- Christopher Hitchens

Martin Amis seems to have written a pre-eulogy for Hitch. I can understand it. It's hard to think that we probably should have had another good twenty years of Hitch's commentary on the political and cultural scene, while someone like Rush Limbaugh will be with us forever. Talk about the dumbing down of the culture...