Accept Hell? Hell No!

Eclectic Orthodoxy - Accept Hell? Hell No!

“We must accept hell and we must accept that many go there,” declares Fr Dwight Longenecker. 

When I first read Fr Longenecker’s two blog articles I was focusing on his pessimism and its relationship to the Latin teaching on efficacious grace. But a few moments ago I re-read the above words, and my heart cried out, NO! We must never accept hell! We must never accept the eternal destruction and punishment of our fellow human beings. NO!

Perhaps Roman Catholics ultimately need to accept this. Given magisterial teaching that the eternal destiny of the soul is established at the moment of death, it’s difficult to entertain the possibility of universal salvation. Wickedness and unbelief seem to reign in the world, as observed by Fr Longenecker. Surely damnation is is the just reward for most of us. 

But as an Orthodox Christian, I do not accept an eternal hell, will not accept an eternal hell. Every fibre in my being cries out against perdition. The God of Pascha will not allow hell to stand everlastingly. God will be all in all...

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