The nature of hell
Some of you may have seen that Barbara Walters is airing a special about heaven on ABC tonight at 9/8c. The show is almost certain to play up a "many paths" story, but I'm not too interested in what Richard Geer thinks about heaven.
I have been thinking about heaven and hell recently, though. I spoke with a few friends about a blog post I read the other day so I wanted to put it up here for comment. The article concerns whether or not hell could be redemptive. The author seems to lean toward the answer yes, but I also get the sense that he might be avoiding a hard answer to a hard question. Still, he makes some good points that are beyond my ability to answer (like the meaning of Greek words for example). So I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially those of you with seminary learn'n (Burly). Here's the link:
http://natebostian.blogspot.com/2005/12/could-hell-be-redemptive-and-not.html
It's not "incoherent babble" as his title suggests, but rather seems to be a selective systematic theology. He's pointing to meanings of Greek words at times (sorry, no examples ... I'm at work and can't switch back and forth) without contexts. I admire the attempt. None of us (I don't think) want hell to be a real FINAL place ... except for Hitler et al. There are a few other passages (e.g. parable [and yes I know it's a parable] that speaks about the man calling out from hell ... not calling out for his own salvation ...). The main issue here is that God sees the heart ... THAT is missing from the discussion. My answer isn't particularly systematic either ... but I can sympathize with the attempt he makes (though it is far less than convincing to me). Gotta run ...