Eldon Woodcock - Hell: An Exhaustive Look at a Burning Issue

Eldon Woodcock, Ph. D.

Hell

An Ex ha ustive Look
at a
Burning Issu e

Copyright 2012 Eldon Woodcock, Ph. D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-4054-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4055-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4053-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903211

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/02/2012

Contents

A. Introduction

B. Trivializing of Hell Terminology

C. Decline of Belief in Hell

D. Exploring Some Important Questions

E. Competing Views with Regard to Hell

F. The Importance of Scripture in Relation to Truth

G. The Effects of Denying Hell as Eternal Punishment upon Other Doctrines

H. Plan for this Book

I. Conclusion

A. What Happens to People After They Die?

B. Pointers to Hell

C. Conclusion

A. Basic Terms and Concepts

B. Old Testament Emphasis

C. Plan

D. Gods Concern for the Nations of the World and his Call to Israel to be his Witnesses to Them

E. Israels Rejection of her Calling to be Gods Witness to the Nations

F. Some Hebrew Witnesses for Yahweh

G. Judgment/Redemption Patterns

H. Conclusion

A. The Old Testament Apocrypha

B. The Qumran Scrolls

D. Rabbinic Literature

E. Conclusion

C. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

D. Rabbinic Literature

E. Was Ancient Judaism a Missionary Religion?

F. Conclusion

A. Abyssos

B. Tartarus

C. Hades

D. Gehenna

E. Conclusion

A. Conditionalist Interpretation

B. Traditionalist Interpretation

C. Physical Death

D. Destroy/Perish

E. Ruin/Waste

F. Lost

G. Ultimate Lostness: Destruction/Damnation

H. Conclusion

A. Fire

B. Gloomy Darkness

C. Conclusion

A. Introduction

B. Key Terms

C. Key Texts

D. Conclusion

A. Rationale for Gods Judgment

B. Deliverance from Gods Judgment/Wrath

C. Conclusion

A. The Threat of Hell in Relation to Witness

B. New Testament Terminology for Christian Outreach

C. The Great Commission

D. Elements of Mission: Romans 10:13-17

E. Conclusion

A. Prerequisites

B. Motivation

C. Gods Empowerment

D. Conclusion

A. Doing the Work of the Lord

B. Preaching/Teaching

C. Argument

D. Witness

E. Evangelism

F. Invitation

G. Literature

H. Conclusion

A. Avoid Sinful Attitudes/Actions

B. God-centered Living

C. Develop a Worthy Lifestyle (Walk)

D. Conclusion

A. Metaphors of Witness

B. Difficulties

C. Results

D. Conclusion

A. The First Three Centuries

B. The Fourth Century

D. Conclusion

A. The Medieval Period (ca 500 - ca 1500)

B. The Protestant Reformation

C. The Modern Period

D. Conclusion

A. The General Picture

B. Dogmatic Universalists: Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834)

C. Hopeful Universalists

D. Conditional Immortality

E. Traditionalists

F. Conclusion

A. The General Picture

D. Conditionalists/Annihilationists

E. Traditionalists

F. Collections of Essays on the Issue of Hell

G. Tours of Hell

H. Conclusion

A. General Observations

B. The Relevance of Scripture

C. God

D. Doctrine

E. Hell De-emphasized

F. The Gospel

G. An Expression of Postmodernism

H. A New Kind of Christianity

I. McLarens Misuse of Speech-Act Theory

J. Conclusion

A. Universalism

B. Religious Pluralism

C. Conclusion

C. Inclusivism

D. Postmortem Evangelism

E. Purgatory

H. Infant Salvation

I. Those Ignorant of the Gospel

J. Conditional Immortality/Annihilation

A. Biblical Imagery

B. Duration of Punishment: Eternal

C. Eternal Punishment: Process or Result?

D. Immortality

E. Moral issues

F. Gods Victory over Evil

G. Exclusivism

H. Attitude

J. Evangelism/Mission

K. A Missionary Mandate

This book is dedicated to

My wife Elizabeth who spent many tireless

Hours in typing the numerous editions of

This manuscript

And

My daughter, Ruth Woodcock Chanowitz

Who gave generously of her time

And technical support

Without these contributions,

Publication of this book would not

have been possible.

Bible Translation: Unless otherwise indicated, biblical quotations will be from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, a division of Good News Publishers, 2001). This essentially literal translation follows closely the 1971 RSV text. It is less literal than the NASB and more literal than the NIV.

In December, 1999, when I was in the Nyack College Library, K. Neill Foster, CEO of Christian Publications approached me with a request. He was deeply concerned that there was an overall softening of the doctrine of Hell in the evangelical world. He felt that this softeningeven to the extent of believing in annihilation of the wickedwas a serious and dangerous departure from Scripture. I agreed. He asked me to write a book based on the biblical doctrine of Hell to counter a weakened form of Hell.

Since some theologians were writing compelling arguments that veered completely away from the traditional view of eternal conscious torment in Hell, it was necessary to write a thorough work. Nothing less would be sufficient. This I have tried my best to do.

Unfortunately, before I completed my research and original writing of the manuscript, Neill Foster retired and later died. Some time later Christian Publications went out of business. Since that time, I have edited the work from seven very long chapters into 24 much more reader-friendly chapters. The following pages are the result of my efforts to stem the tide of the slippery slope downward on the reinterpretation of biblical teaching on the doctrine of Hell.

There are many convincing reasons to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow him. For example, Christ loved us enough to leave Heaven and come to earth as a man in order to redeem us. For the saved, the Lord is with us, guiding and comforting us throughout our lives. However, there is no greater urgency to be saved than to avoid Hell. Remove Hell and that urgency is gone.

I pray, dear Reader, that the clear teaching of Scripture will determine your belief in the doctrine of Hell. --Eldon Woodcock

Chapter 1
Introduction

A. Introduction

You look like hell! gasped a young woman to the wet and disheveled man who had just entered the room. This scene from a soap opera shown in a waiting room grabbed my attention and made me wonder. What did she mean? What did she think hell looked like? Did her empathy for his disheveled appearance justify her picturing him as looking like hell? What did the term hell contribute to her portrait? This was an example of the worlds trivializing a once powerful term merely to denote a mans disarrayed appearance.