Liberal theology on hell

[bbbbbbb]

Usually not. I'd be surprised if the UCC, for instance, thought so. Even Pope John Paul II suggested that those who'd never had a chance to know Jesus but were otherwise ethical and loyal to their cult, etc. could be saved by the sacrifice of Christ. That's not exactly the issue you posed for us, but neither is the Roman Catholic Church thought of as liberal.

The Roman Catholic Church assuredly has some of the most liberal theologians in Christendom (as well as some of the most traditional) so I view it as a mixed bag. In its official statements concerning non-Catholics there is a great amount of ambiguity.

Liberal denominations such as the UCC and the PCUSA are often equally ambiguous. The PCUSA, which has a package of Confessions, tends to gloss over the older confessions on this issue and focus on Confessions such as that of 1967 which are unclear, at best.

In the PCUSA church of my youth, which was across the street from a PCUSA seminary, the thinking tended toward a form of universalistic election. This means that God, from eternity past, has chosen individuals for salvation. God is also all love and goodness and desires all men to be saved. Therefore, God has chosen all of humanity for salvation.

Even B. B. Warfield, a fundamentalist Presbyterian theologian, promoted universal salvation as occuring at the end of the Millenium (he was post-Millenial in his theology).

 

[IOWLBNIF]

hell is real...

where real fire will kill real people



Christ said he is the way the truth and the life.....



If your not following his way........you aint gettin life......


its pretty clear if you guys actually look at scripture and see what it says...

 

[Exjunkman]

You guys have to remember that the bible you are reading is in the King's English.
The original languages do not contain the word "Hell". It is taken from the Anglo Saxon word Hellja meaning "one who covers up or hides something".
Its a very different word meaning from the modern Dante's Inferno meaning.

It was not until nearly 500 AD before Augustine presented a notion that people who would not submit to the holy catholic church would be burned alive forever in this hell.

 

[ViaCrucis]

You guys have to remember that the bible you are reading is in the King's English.
The original languages do not contain the word "Hell". It is taken from the Anglo Saxon word Hellja meaning "one who covers up or hides something".
Its a very different word meaning from the modern Dante's Inferno meaning.

It was not until nearly 500 AD before Augustine presented a notion that people who would not submit to the holy catholic church would be burned alive forever in this hell.

Virtually none of this is accurate.

1) I read several translations of Scripture, none of them are in the English of the 17th or 18th centuries.

2) The Germanic "Hel" was much like the Greek "Hades", it referred to both the underworld itself and the ruler of the underworld. Thus it was a rather convenient translation for the Greek Hades.

3) St. Augustine lived between 354 and 430. Likewise, he didn't invent anything concerning Perpetualism. Perpetualism is one of a few positions that are equally ancient in the witness of the Church. Additionally, you'd have to deal with the very simple fact that St. Augustine held virtually no influence in the Eastern Church--even to this very day.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[rebecca1918]

Jesus is quoted to say in the Bible " I am the wy the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except by me." I don't mind if other people feel differently... but because of these words... I believe he is the only way.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Jesus is quoted to say in the Bible " I am the wy the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except by me." I don't mind if other people feel differently... but because of these words... I believe he is the only way.

Though, it's probably important to understand what He meant by this.

Rather consistent through John's Gospel is its presentation of Jesus as the Incarnate Word, sent by God, who reveals God to us and communicates God to us. In this particular instance, Jesus has identified Himself as the One who makes God known, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father" "I and the Father are One" etc. Now Jesus is saying that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father save through Him.

Namely, not only does He show us God, revealing God, He is the One who takes us to God.

It is impossible to truly know God apart from and outside of Jesus, as Jesus is God's Logos, the Word, made flesh; Jesus is the One who truly knows the Father (since He is the Son of the Father) and thus alone can make the Father known to us. If we have seen Him, we have seen the Father, because the Son makes the Father known. And, likewise, we can only know the Father, come to the Father, if He makes it so.

This isn't necessarily in contradiction to the standard contemporary usage of this text, but it is important to understand what this means within the context of John's Gospel.

-CryptoLutheran