Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: hell

  • Fred is Dead: A Christian Response to the Followers of Fred Phelps, Founder of “Westboro Baptist Church”

    Fred Phelps is dead.

    Phelps is best known for heading up the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). The WBC is infamous for preaching a message of hatred toward homosexuals (“God Hates Fags”) and picketing the funerals of United States military.

    Most people are shocked and appalled at the WBC. I do not fault them for that. However, I do fault them for substituting their subjective emotional responses for sound intellectual responses to the WBC. In a society where feelings matter more than substantial thought, even most Christians are satisfied with the purely emotional response to the WBC. But they should …

  • Debate: Annihilationism – Chris Date vs. Joshua Whipps

    Resolution: “The final punishment of the risen wicked will be annihilation, the permanent end to the conscious existence of the entire person.”

    The debate took place June 16th, and lasted just over 3 hours.

    Chris Date is the host of the Theopologetics podcast. Joshua is one of the contributors here at ChoosingHats. The debate was moderated by Dee Dee Warren, the hostess of the Preterist Podcast.…

  • Compare and Contrast: Date on Jude 7 and 2 Peter 2:6

    (24:33) What the Bible says is the nature of the final punishment: Jude assures his readers that the wicked will be punished, and tells us in verse 7 that Sodom and Gomorrah are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Of course, what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, the Bible records only their destruction, and no torment, in a short span of 4 verses, in Genesis 19 after which Abraham awakes the next morning to look out at the smoke rising from its remains. No wonder that 2 Peter 2:6 likewise uses their being destroyed

    …

  • Jude 7 and 2 Peter 2:6

    It is often asserted by annihilationists that the “example” of Sodom and Gomorrah, as seen in Jude and 2 Peter 2 are support for their position. This cannot possibly be the case, for a variety of reasons. Consider; if something is symbolic of, or is representative of something else – especially something eternal, as the fire is here – of what nature is the symbol in comparison to the actuality? Is it greater than, equal to, or lesser than? Biblically, all symbols of God’s acts and/or nature are necessarily lesser than the fulfillment, or that which is exemplified. The prefigure …

  • My Opponent’s Position, as Stated

    (22:14)First, I fully hold to the orthodox essentials of the faith and other important doctrines; I believe in the Trinity, the deity and virgin birth of Christ, the total depravity of man and salvation by grace through faith alone; Sola Scriptura, the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible. I’m not a Seventh Day Adventist, a Jehovah’s Witness, or a member of any other questionable denomination.

    Second, I have no emotional or philosophical problem whatsoever with eternal conscious torment; everlasting suffering has never seemed to me to be incompatible with the love and justice of God, nor does it today.

    …

  • Annihilationism, Conditionalism, Monism, et al.: The “Musty Canard” of the Alleged Platonic Dualistic Interpretive Lens

    Adherents to a number of theological positions that are often related to annihilationism posit that the vast majority of Christians throughout history have incorrectly read the anthropological and eschatological teachings of Scripture through the Greek lens of Platonic dualism such that they have also settled upon unbiblical conclusions regarding the constitution of the human being, the intermediate state, and the eternal punishment of the wicked.

    Even Greg Bahnsen gave some credence to this accusation (http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pa143.htm), though he continued to hold that there is an immaterial aspect to the human mind, an intermediate state in virtue of a temporary …

  • Sermon: The Morality of Knowledge

    I was once again invited to preach at Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Slidell. This week’s sermon was on Rom. 1:26-2:16. It is, additionally, the second installment of my adaptation of the paper in the first edition of In Antithesis.…

  • Exploratory Questions For Chris Date #2

    I asked some other exploratory questions here, previously.

    1) Do unbelievers suffer in the Lake of Fire?
    2) If so, are they then annihilated by or after this experience?
    3) Why are they thus annihilated?
    4) What is the significance of salt in Old Testament sacrifices, and what is the relevance to being “salted with fire” in Mark 9:49?
    5) Do you believe that the Reformed doctrine of the immortality of man is of Greek origin?
    6) What is death, per your position?
    7) What sense does “eternal punishment” have when without respect to an object of that punishment?…

  • Sermon: The Knowledge of God

    I was given the opportunity by the ever-gracious Eddie Exposito of Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Slidell, to preach in Romans 1 this morning. I appreciate the opportunity. It is, for those who follow the site regularly, an adaptation of my paper on Romans 1 that appeared in the first edition of In Antithesis. It also includes, for more recent followers, a bit of a discussion on the topic of my upcoming debate, and should be interesting in that vein as well. I will have further opportunity to preach again next Sunday. Again, I was most appreciative of the opportunity, and …

  • Exploratory Questions for Chris Date

    1) Do you believe that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were annihilated by God in Genesis 19?
    2) Do you believe that those who die the first death are annihilated?
    3) Do you continue to believe that there is no explanation/expansion of Old Testament texts by those who quote them in the New Testament?

    “I’m completely open to the possibility that New Testament authors, and the Lord himself, expanded upon Old Testament imagery; show me where they do that? They don’t, they just quote it. In Mark 9:48, Jesus simply quotes Isaiah’s language. What indication is there that the

    …