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Wyatt Graham

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Hell

A Review of David Bentley Hart’s “That All Shall Be Saved”

May 17, 2020 by wagraham 4 Comments

David Bentley Hart has faced the moral implications of the eternality of hell, found them wanting, and proposed that in the end, all shall be saved. At the heart of his argument lies, from his point of view, the moral hideousness of hell. 

Jason Micheli explains Hart’s moral vision well when recounting Hart’s experience of reading an article that detailed the death of a family:

The article highlighted a Sri Lankan father, who, in spite of his frantic efforts, which included swimming in the roiling sea with his wife and mother-in-law on his back, was unable to prevent his wife or any of his four children from being swept to their deaths. The father recounted the names of his four children and then, overcome with grief, sobbed to the reporter that “my wife and children must have thought, ‘Father is here . . . he will save us’ but I couldn’t do it.”

Hart wonders: If you had the chance to speak to this father in the moment of his deepest grief, what should you say? Hart argues that only a moral cretin would have approached that father with abstract theological explanation: “Sir, your children’s deaths are a part of God’s eternal but mysterious counsels” or “Your children’s deaths, tragic as they may seem, in the larger sense serve God’s complex design for creation” or “It’s all part of God’s plan.” 

This moral sensibility fills the pages of That All Shall Be Saved. Hart at once denounces the teaching of eternal conscious torment while affirming that in the end (even after a sojourn in hell) everyone shall be saved. 

Is he right?  [Read more…] about A Review of David Bentley Hart’s “That All Shall Be Saved”

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Hell, Universalism

Will We Remember Our Life in Heaven? Even the Trauma?

November 10, 2019 by wagraham 5 Comments

Imagine entering into heaven. Joy fills your soul. But you see some object that triggers a traumatic memory from your life. What happens to that joy now? Or say you had lived a life without trauma, yet your loved one did not share your faith. Can you rightly enjoy heaven when your spouse, child, or loved one perdures in eternal perdition? 

Could we really call it heaven if we experience memories of trauma or grief over loved ones who do not reside with us? Since God does not delight in the death even of the wicked (Ezek 18:23; 33:11) and desires all to be saved (2 Pet 3:9), would we not be right to lament the suffering of our loved ones—even in heaven? 

At the heart of these questions lies the concept of memory and what happens to our memory in heaven.  [Read more…] about Will We Remember Our Life in Heaven? Even the Trauma?

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Hell

Is Hell Forever?

November 5, 2019 by wagraham 6 Comments

Universalism is making a come back. In an age of tolerance and social-morality, the idea that God might condemn many to eternal perdition seems immoral and outrageous. Yet Scripture claims that our eternal destiny has its endpoint either in everlasting heaven or everlasting hell (e.g., Rev 20:10).

We need to be realistic about our claims here. If sins that we commit in life merit our eternal perdition and not just temporal purgation, we must ask why this is. When we answer that question, then the eternality of hell becomes easier to understand. [Read more…] about Is Hell Forever?

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Hell

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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