Hell & Election Flashcards
Outline the concept of Hell
- Seperated from God for eternity
- Place of eternal pain and punishment
What does Hume argue about Hell?
David Hume argues the whole concept of Hell calls God’s justice into question because a finite sin can never deserve an infinite punishment.
Who’s ideas supports Hume’s
John Hick further rejects this idea because it is incompatible with the belief of a God of love.
He argues that this view was developed as a form of control, encouraging people to be fearful of disobeying religious authorities.
John Hick brings in more of a political standing point - the Marxist idea of how Hell was used as a way of manipulating people.
(+ Catholic sales of indulgences )
Hick questions how a God of infinite love and mercy could co-sign his creates to punishment from which they have no hope of escaping.
And further to this, what would eternal punishment actually achieves if there was no chance of redemption?
Who is believed to have raised a lot of the beleifs surrounding Hell? What is the issue with this?
Often, it’s believed to be St.Augustine that actually raised a lot of ideas surrounding Hell - where it is an eternal place of torment and pain.
This isn’t really biblically supported
How is Hell sometimes described as in the Bible
- A rubbish dump
- A lake of fiery Sulphur in Revelations
Other than these two descriptions, Hell is infrequently referred to in the Bible
So who goes to heaven and who goes to Hell?
(Predestination)
Quotes
“And those he predestined, he also called” - Romans
“Having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” - Esphesians
“All are not created on equal terms, but some are predestined to eternal life, others to eternal damnation’ - John Calvin
Predestination definition
God chooses the eternal destiny of each human
God chooses, before the beginning of time, who will be damned are who will be saved
Gods omniscience means literally that nothing is unknown for God
Limited election
Salvation is limited to Christians - but not even all Christians are saved
What is the attitude towards election or predestination
Election or predestination is one of the most controversial ideas in Christian theology
Not a universally accepted view because it removes the idea of the free-will and through faith and goodwill you can build a relationship with God.
St Augustine on Limited election
When Augustine was alive, a popular view called Pelagianism (Born Rasa tabla - blank slate) which Augustine rejected because of his beliefs surrounding the Original sin
We are born with Conscupience - drawn towards sin due to the fallen state of humanity
At first Augustine believed that God knew our freely chosen actions
Later in life Augustine believed that only God’s grace decided who will be elected - God chooses
Augustine recognised this was harsh but a sign of Gods grace.
Argument pro pelagianism
What is the purpose of Jesus’ death on the crucifix - Augustines view seems overly fatalistic when a core concept of Christianity is that Jesus died to save us from all of our sin and to rekindle mankind with God.
John Calvin (which century was he active) and what were his views on predestination
The 16th century
God predestined some for eternal punishment others for eternal life with God
God is in absolute control
Very influential especially on the Protestant tradition - present in Protestant practices such as Sola Scriptura
What inspired Calvin to conclude that we are all predetermined for salvation or damnation
He believed the humans had an innate depravity which meant we could not reach salvation through our own efforts.
Unlimited election
Karl Barth
Jesus brought salvation for the whole world (found in his famous works Church dogmatics)
Through Jesus you can be elected
This means Barth promoted ‘limited election’ only to followers of Christ but because Christ died for everyone can be seen as ‘unlimited election’
Evaluation
- Quite clever in avoiding being accused of limited election (he is) as salvation is only available to Christians, he’s sugar coated it by saying it’s available to ‘everyone’
John Hick on election
Universalist belief that God will save all people, whatever their beliefs
Hick was an evangelical Christian
Believed everyone will reach God in the end
The afterlife is a place where people can develop their faith and grow towards making a choice for God (he took an Iraneaus perspective - the idea of growth)
He believed that different religions are just different expressions of the same universal God so there is no right or wrong religions but simply different tradition based on cultural differences (Islamic analogy of this)
Who rejected Hicks Universalist view?
Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, argued that thus view made Christ’s death on the cross futile.
If everyone is saved regardless of faith than Jesus is reduced to just one of many ways to access heaven.
Link to Sheep and the goats parable: Jesus never mentions ‘faith’ in it, he only mentions good deeds?
