A week or so ago, I finished my 84 Day reading plan which was an NASB OT-NT with Proverbs and Psalms every day. On April first I started an 85 day reading plan with my ESV but this time focused on chronology. But there are others out there who might want to read along so I’ve included the plan for you. None of this is original and can be found on the Logos Wiki.
This is a quote from a chapter of Systematic Theology (2004) by Wayne Grudem. The chapter primarily focuses on the atonement but it has this really good section (pp. 583-594) about hell that ties the entire week together.
This will serve as the series home for my posts on Hell.
Textually, as I covered in a couple of posts before this, I must affirm a literal hell which consists of judgment, separation from God, punishment, eternality and should be rightfully shunned. I think it is dangerous to say the place doesn’t exist when the volume of Scripture teeters with the weight of the matter. I also gave some responses to the nay-hellsayers and some broad theological reasons why we should affirm a hell. This was all consistent with the broad philosophical reasons I gave earlier which allow the doctrine of hell.
But in this last post, I wanted to touch on the fact that although we know certain things from the text, there are certain things we don’t know and can’t even really be sure. We might be able to posit careful answers but even then, those answers might need a lot of nuancing or niggling when we’re not forced to appeal to mystery. So if you wish, these are questions that may or may not have answers but I may not be as confident on them as the textual basis already listed.
I’ve touched on lots of Scripture (in both Testaments) but I needed to bring up some broad theological points. I didn’t want to make this a book, I just wanted to put up a few posts that pointed out that the Scriptures are fraught with the doctrine of hell and Christians should believe it. This second to last post is to affirm that the answer to the question “Do you seriously believe in hell?” should not be no, but yes (for all the reasons I’ve already stated but also) because: