Mar 27, 2015

The Torment of Hell in the Presence of God?


This week I have tried to outline the basics of traditionalism, but have also noted where I think there has been an adjustment in its self understanding and reading of Scripture. I do not think that 'mere separationism' (being separated from God) is the 'traditional' traditionalism. I think it is something new within the broader title of 'eternal conscious torment' (ECT). I think that given the omnipresence of God (that he is everywhere), and that if Revelation 14 is used to support ECT where the torment is happening in the presence of Jesus, the lamb, then it seems inescapable that Jesus is present in hell or that hell is present with Jesus. I did some searching to see if there were good rebuttals to this and what I found was, instead, support::

"Is God present in Hell? We have to say that he is. ...Hell is not spatial separation from God, it cannot be because God is omnipresent. No, Hell is separation from the comfortable presence of God. It is the unshielded experience of the presence of God in his holiness and just wrath, and the absence of his mercy and grace."

"Therefore to summarize: God is present in every part of his creation--hell included--yet God acts according to circumstances of each particular place. Most of the time God is present to bless when His presence is spoken of in Scripture, but this is not true in every case, for clearly He is present to sustain as well as punish if needs be."

"In summary, the presence of God is everywhere in some sense of his being even in Hell. "

"Ultimately, it appears that God is indeed "present" in hell, or hell is in His presence, depending on how one looks at it. God is and will forever be omnipresent. He will forever know what is happening in hell."

John Piper:

"[Rev 14] simply says the angels and the Lamb will be attending this punishment. They will be present."
So the meaning of away from the presence of the Lord does not mean that God is absent in every sense, but in those senses. God will be terribly present in another sense. All reality continues to say: In him we live and move and have our being. And it is still in hell that no one can hide from the Lord or escape the terrible countenance of his anger. So God’s power is present in hell as the one who sustains our being and the one who enforces justice and the one who maintains suffering. He is present in all the ways men do not want him to be present and none of the ways that believers enjoy his presence.

RC Sproul:

A breath of relief is usually heard when someone declares, “Hell is a symbol for separation from God.” To be separated from God for eternity is no great threat to the impenitent person. The ungodly want nothing more than to be separated from God. Their problem in hell will not be separation from God, it will be the presence of God that will torment them. In hell, God will be present in the fullness of His divine wrath. He will be there to exercise His just punishment of the damned. They will know Him as an all-consuming fire.

A sort of non-answer:
https://carm.org/can-heaven-and-hell-coexist
https://carm.org/hell

So despite the surface indicators and language of 'mere separationism', it appears that most adherents, when pressed, acknowledge the oversimplification of this popular level understanding. The concept of the presence of God is described and used in different ways and the meaning of separation from God in hell has to do with the benefits experienced by those in Christ being revoked. In every other sense, however, he is very present, even in wrath and judgement and torment.

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