STT, I’m going to copy your post here for my own convenience. I know I’ll be saying some of the same things others have said, so please forgive me for that. I just don’t have time to read this whole thing.
I think this is precisely what has happened. People have an innate desire to know that some are “IN” (including themselves of course) and that others are “OUT,” particularly including those who have acted badly. They want their version of justice to be served. GOD’s version of justice is so much higher than ours, however, that it’s difficult for us to even comprehend it. God’s version of justice requires that everything be MADE RIGHT. Justice is not only that the wicked be made to pay for their crimes (which doesn’t happen with substitutionary atonement in any case), but that the effects of the crimes be reversed and that the wicked be restored to their former victims as the good and loving brothers/sisters they ought to have been to them from the start.
If my child betrays me, I don’t want my child to be destroyed in “just” punishment. I want her to be corrected and healed of her wickedness and RESTORED to me as the good and loving daughter she ought always to have been and never to have stopped being. Only in that way can justice truly be served. God has said He will wipe the tears from all faces. That means He will make ALL THINGS anew. He will make all things good and lovely in their time. Many, many people say they cannot stomach that state of affairs. How, they ask, could Himler be pardoned? Yet these same people allow that if Himler prayed the “sinners’ prayer” before he died, Himler is saved. At the same time, if one of Himler’s victims did NOT pray that prayer before she died, that victim is condemned to never-ending hell in anguish and torment. THAT is NOT justice. That is not making all things new. THAT is not the action of a God who is love.
I believe that the doctrine of Hell as traditionally taught IS the doctrine that appeals to itching ears. People want to hear that THOSE wicked people who hurt them will be consigned to eternal hellfire. They think this will satisfy justice. It will not. It cannot. It does not restore; it only perpetuates the agony.
The true doctrine, according to Jesus, is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Then Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan and the needy Jew (the injured man). The Jews considered the Samaritans to be outcast to God. Yet the Samaritan (symbolic of Christ) ministered to the needs of a man who considered himself the enemy of Samaritans. He loved his enemy so much that he risked his own life and spent his own substance to care for the needs of his enemy. If the Samaritan loves his enemy so truly, how can he be served by a future in which his beloved enemy is tormented for all eternity?
The pleasures we must shun are those that hurt ourselves or others. If a pleasure (for example, drinking alcohol to excess) is harmful, then it is not consistent with loving our neighbor as ourselves. If a pleasure is wholesome, then it IS consistent with love and is not forbidden, but encouraged. At God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore, according to King David. Pleasure is a good thing, not a bad thing. Twisted and selfish pleasure is evil and harmful both to you and to others. Maybe it will make you feel “good” for a little while, but its fruit is death–not because it is forbidden, but because it is poison. If it is forbidden, it is forbidden BECAUSE it is harmful and will bring torment, NOT because it is fun.
Old Testament Judaism had little to do with a future life after death. The overwhelming focus with the Old Testament was life in THIS age. There was some talk of an age to come, but this comes chronologically late in the OT, and still appears to bespeak an earthly age which would affect the readers’ offspring, not the readers themselves.
Again, this is talk of an earthly, not a heavenly age. Carcasses are just that; carcasses. It bespeaks earthly ruin.
Aion means “world” or “age.” It’s a noun. It’s usually translated in one of these two ways, or something that means basically the same thing, but works better with the English grammar of the sentence.
Aionios is an adjective and as such, it is modified by the noun it modifies. Let me give an example. Let’s use the adjective “blue.” It means different things depending on the noun it modifies. If I’m in a blue mood, that means I feel sad. If I speak of the men and women in blue, I’m talking about police wearing a uniform that is usually, but not always blue in color. If I speak of the blue Caribbean, that’s a different blue than the blue I mean if I speak of the midnight sky. Aionios, when applied to God, means forever, simply because God, by His nature, has no beginning or end. Aionios punishment refers to the kind of punishment meted out by the Aionios God. It is the punishment of the Olam (Aionios) fires rained down on Sodom. The fires do not burn today, despite the fact they are described as Olam (Aionios). The punishment is Olam, even though according to Ezekiel, Sodom will be restored when Jerusalem is restored. It is punishment that comes from God and has the nature of God–that is, corrective punishment and not hopeless (and therefore pointless) punishment.
It’s my understanding (but Jason has probably already touched on this better than I could) that even aidios was not always (or perhaps even usually) used to mean what we today mean by “eternal.” Again, it is an adjective modified by its noun. As for the “eternal chains” holding the angels, they only last until the “judgment of the great day.” They’re not eternal either–not in the way WE mean “eternal.”
Bottom line is love. God commands us to love our enemies. Does that mean we ought to torture them forever, or annihilate them when we COULD save them? We are commanded to love our enemies so that we may be LIKE our Father in Heaven. Therefore, we must suppose that Jesus said what He meant–that GOD loves His enemies. WE were His enemies until He sent Jesus to reconcile us to Himself. NOTE: God does not say that HE needs to be reconciled to US, but that WE need to be reconciled to HIM. HE is not OUR enemy. WE are HIS enemies. The enmity is on OUR side, not on HIS.
If God loves His enemies, what does that look like? CAN He save His enemies? Well, is He all powerful or isn’t He? CAN He save His enemies without violating their free will? I submit that He saves His enemies (us) by MAKING us FREE. Paul was pretty clear about this. “The thing that I want to do, I do not do, and the sinful thing that I hate, THAT, I do. Oh wretched man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?” Paul said it was sin, dwelling in him doing the deeds he hated. In other words, Paul was NOT FREE. Jesus said, “Whom the Son sets free, that one is free indeed.” We think we are free, but that’s just our problem. WE are slaves to SIN. We’re not free at all. Jesus Christ came to set us free from sin. Yes, we can put Him off for a while, but as we become freer and freer–as we see ourselves for what we are, and sin for what it is, we will inevitably come to the point that we are willing to break free from the slavery and bondage of sin. It is CHRIST who sets us free. We are not free–we must BECOME free enough to take His hand and allow ourselves to be lifted up out of the mire and muck of sin. THIS is, I believe, the true meaning of “free will.” It is something to attain; NOT something we already have. Jesus came to make us free, and when we are free enough, we will turn our backs on sin and walk out of our prison, holding onto Him who strengthens us.
