Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!gatech!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ssc-bee!ssc-vax!carroll@cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: the love that is forced Message-ID: Date: 27 Jun 91 06:38:31 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics Lines: 32 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article harling@pictel.uucp (Dan Harling) writes: >_The Great Divorce_ should be part of a recommended-reading list for >this newsgroup; it seems everyone keeps referring to it. Is anyone >interested in discussing the book? Not the book *per se*. It's a nice story, but Lewis explicitly tells the reader not to take it too seriously. I'm more interested in the fundamental issue the book seems to raise - the idea that a Jonathan Edwards type of God is not required in Christian theology. It seems that maybe better than 50% of the traffic in this newsgroup is generated by people sending the unorthodox and the doubting to Hell In A Handbasket. I've floated the issue before, and it's sunk of its own weight, but I'll try again. Is the concept of Hell required by orthodox (as opposed to Orthodox) Christian theology? -- Jeff Carroll carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com [My impression is that most people who participate here would like nothing more than to be able to assure people that there is no hell. The basic problem is that Jesus is not shy about talking about reward and punishment in the hereafter. Among the more explicit is Luke 13:23, where someone asks whether many will be saved and he says many will try to enter and not be able. Or the business about sheep and goats, or ... This makes it very hard for most Christians to avoid some concept like hell. I may say something more in a posting under my own name when I have time. But this seemed like an obvious enough answer that I don't really want 200 identical responses quoting the zillions of passages that talk about judgement. --clh]