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Was there death before the Fall?

...ease her pain too, not create pain (another misconception about the Fall - a life without pain seems to be more dangerous than with it!). In light of this, it seems to me like death and pain did exist from the start as a part of the original creation, but that maybe we could withstand pain better or that God was going to allow immortality to all in some way too, since it would appear our lifespan's were much greater originally (see Gen 5:3 for example). Spiritual death would also make more sense in the context of this, as our newfound wisdom and knowledge which made humans "become like" God (Gen 3:22) and that then produces pride, which is shown throughout S...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...ruciating pain.”2 Spiegel adds that “human guilt is at most maximally great, not infinitely great”3, meaning that human guilt is still finite: “Finite guilt, however great, presumably does not warrant endless punishment in the form of ECT.” (Spiegel, op. cit. 41) He adds that, under the ‘Status Principle’, even the first sin you commit as a child is enough to incur ‘infinite guilt’, but this does not allow for the vast spectrum of people’s actions, from less to more virtuous, as it makes everyone infinitely guilty. “The notion of equal and infinite human guilt is difficult to square with the biblical teaching that there are degrees of...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

...as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 2 Peter 3:7But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the godless. As you can see from these few examples, there is a pretty uniform semantic range here, which in any other context would mean what it says without any implication of ‘unending pain and torment’ which is often read into the text; and shows that the fate of the wicked is consistent in the New Testament as it is in the Old. See Psalm 92:7 for one (of many) examples which speaks of evil people being condemned to “destruction fore...

Lent: Day 15 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 36-47

...uffering, pain or sacrifice from the perspective of God, then it is Christ speaking as the pre-existing Word. He gives various examples from the Psalms and Isaiah to show this, such as: Isaiah 50:6I gave my back to those who struck me,and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;I did not hide my facefrom insult and spitting. And, Psalms 22:17-18I can count all my bones.They stare and gloat over me;they divide my clothes among themselves,and for my clothing they cast lots. The Spirit When it is the the Spirit speaking, it appears to be prophecies which are more in the 3rd person about the Lord and what he will do. Using an example from Isaiah...

Lent Day 21: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 1-10

...freed of pain. But pondering on this, he asked of the Lord, “Where were you? Why not do this in the beginning, why wait?” to which the Lord responded in saying that he was always with him, but waited to see how he fought the enemy and whether he endured or was made worse. After this, he was filled with strength, more than he thought he had before, and went on his way. By this point, Anthony was around thirty-five years old. I started out this reading intrigued and excited to see what it held in store, and I am not disappointed. I look forward to reading more tomorrow to see how Anthony progresses in his new ascetic life, and to go on the journey with him v...

The Problem of Suffering and How We Approach it

...The topic of human suffering is a subject many Christians struggle with, and is an issue many theologians have written about over the centuries — so it's definitely not something I can fully address in a single blog post! But there are some general principles we can find in Scripture that many Christians can/do accept, which should act as a starting point to addressing this subject, such as: We live in a fallen world due to sin (Gen 3), and so things aren’t perfect and neither are people, therefore suffering can happen from illness, nature, and human action (or inaction). Not all suffering is necessarily “bad”, from a Christian perspective. For exam...