Basic HTML Version
A Goodness in God’s Justice, June 19
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell.
Matthew 10:28
.
How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our
sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with
fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief
earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live....
Where, in the pages of God’s Word, is such teaching to be found?
Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and com-
passion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be
exchanged for the indifference of the stoic, or the cruelty of the savage?
No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God....
The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that con-
stitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon.
When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the char-
acter of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared,... even
hated?
The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught and exemplified
by our Saviour, are a transcript of the will and character of God.... God
executes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe, and even
for the good of those upon whom His judgments are visited....
Those who have chosen Satan as their leader, and have been con-
trolled by his power, are not prepared to enter the presence of God....
Could they endure the glory of God and the Lamb? No, no; years
of probation were granted them, that they might form characters for
heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love purity; they have
never learned the language of heaven, and now it is too late.
To sin, wherever found, “our God is a consuming fire.”
He-
brews 12:29
. In all who submit to His power the Spirit of God will
consume sin. But if men cling to sin, they become identified with it.
Then the glory of God, which destroys sin, must destroy them.
[177]
182