The Cult of Divine Sovereignty (Satire)

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Here at Sola Radio, we hope you enjoyed that hit inspired by Esau from Puddle of Mudd. The next song in our countdown has an infectious riff that has stood the test of time. The band claims the song was written in just one rehearsal session. Here we are with Living Colour rocking out with new lyrics to their popular song Cult of Personality?

This one goes out to all the TheoBros out there…

And during the few moments that we have left
We want to talk right down to earth
In a language that nobody else here can easily understand

Thou you have eyes
You can not see
The cult of divine sovereignty

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A Machete Order Reading of the Bible (OT): The Story of Israel

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Many people make it an annual goal to read the Bible all the way through. Most who attempt this do so literally, starting at page one and reading the books in the order they appear in the table of contents. There is nothing wrong with that approach but is it the best way to read it?

Reading the Bible, regardless of the order, is better than not reading it. Still, there is nothing wrong with exploring different approaches to how we read Scripture, especially if those approaches might help us better understand what we are reading.

Many years ago, I put together a New Testament “machete” reading order, inspired by the suggestion on the best way to watch the Star Wars movies. You can find this NT reading plan at this link. Putting that reading plan together was fairly straightforward. The NT is a small corpus that covers a short period of history.

Attempting something similar with the Old Testament has always been a bit more daunting. It has been over a decade and I am just getting to it now. What makes it a more difficult project? There are a few things. For starters, the story of Israel occurs over a span of at least two millennia stretching across the Bronze and Iron Ages. Since the order of books are not arranged chronologically it can be difficult for a reader to follow Israel’s story as it moves from Abraham to Malachi. Long genealogies and extended sections of legal material can also make it hard for the reader to follow the story as they interrupt the narrative flow.

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To Be or Not to Be Part 3: Can God kill the Soul?

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In part one we explored the concepts of existence and identity. That was followed, in part 2, by a look at the major influences that lead to the idea that the soul is immortal. This entry will explore alternative understandings of the soul for consideration.

In the last post we saw that, despite different underlying philosophical foundations, Augustine and Aquinas affirm that the person is a composite of body and soul. They also both affirm that the soul, an incorporeal intellect and the principle of life, is naturally immortal (or incorruptible). In a moment we will see that both theologians will be careful to ground the existence of the soul in God and His will rather then in itself. In doing so, we might, with a degree of irony, call both Augustine and Aquinas advocates of a conditional immortality.

The punishment of the damned will never come to an end
Before one scoffs at that and considers it a foolish claim, let me make it abundantly clear that both of these theologians affirm that the wicked will suffer eternal conscious torment (ECT).

pain can exist only
in a living subject 1
– Augustine

Augustine notes that in his day there is debate about the fate of the wicked. He spends the greater part of Book XXI of The City of God making the case that “the soul [of the wicked] will neither be able to enjoy God and live, nor to die and escape the pains of the body.” 2

… to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end.3

Last Judgment by Lieven van den Clite

In the supplement to the Summa Aquinas argues “the damned can prefer ‘not to be’ according to their deliberate reason” which would be to have “relief from a painful life”.4 However “it is inadmissible that the punishment of the damned will ever come to an end.” 5

The disposition of hell will be such as to be adapted to the utmost unhappiness of the damned. Wherefore accordingly both light and darkness are there, in so far as they are most conducive to the unhappiness of the damned. 6

Having established that Augustine and Aquinas were deeply committed to ECT, why might we consider them advocates of conditional immortality?

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