Friday DIVE

Recap from last session …  Summary In Part 3 of Hell’s Illusion, Don continued challenging the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment by focusing on translation, context, and the character of God as Father. He argued that many believers inherited their understanding of hell through long-standing theological systems, especially Calvinistic and Arminian frameworks, where eternal […]

OPENING COMMENTS In our last session … we looked at misrepresentation, mistranslation and misinterpretation … and how that trifecta contributed to the spread and promotion of the concept of eternal, conscious torment in a place called hell. The misrepresentation has to do with the image of God that the idea of hell presents. That misrepresentation

Why do so many believe in Hell?  What do we really understand about Hell?   What is Hell really like?  Where is Hell?   When was it created?   Did God tell Adam about Hell?  If not, why didn’t God tell Adam about Hell?   Why don’t we see anything in the writings of Apostle Paul about Hell?   Did

INTRODUCTION      We’ve been looking at the importance of Theology … given that it informs beliefs, which shape values and attitudes, which shape decisions and actions. We spent some time looking at the two theologies which have had the greatest impact on Christendom and Christian belief since the Dark Ages: Calvinism and Arminianism.  However,

INTRODUCTION  In our last session, we noted that  Christian Universalism and Universalism are NOT the same thing.  While both have the end in view, the means to the end are VERY different.  Christian Universalists believe that all will eventually be saved, BUT only after putting their trust in Christ, whereas (general) Universalists believe that all

  INTRODUCTION In our last session, we looked at three (3) videos … Two (2) by Joseph Tkach (immediate past President of GCI) … and the third by Brad Jersak (of PTM).   1.  The first video … was of Mr. Tkach speaking on GCI’s OFFICIAL teaching on the subject of Universalism …   2.  The second

INTRODUCTION    In the past, I’ve spoken about my spiritual journey … and the fact that, as I’ve journeyed,  I’ve had to change some of my views about certain topics, including salvation, hell and even the Gospel. In our last session, I shared a document that I said contributed, in a big way, to me

INTRODUCTION    Did Jesus Christ succeed?   Two questions spring to mind: … at what?   … What was His mission?   Luke 19:10  Jesus is reported as saying that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Two questions: Who was “the lost” that Jesus was referring to? And, more importantly, did He succeed?

INTRODUCTION  In our last session, we looked the main differences between Calvinism and Arminianism by comparing the views of each with regards to the TULIP (an acronym for Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance of Saints).  We can summarize them as follows:    With regards to TOTAL DEPRAVITY, Calvinists believe natural, unconverted