The fool-killer., 1919-10-01
Dear Brother:

W ollef some explanations. You
say you can't see things as we
see them from a scriptural
standpoint, and don't want to.
as you can't without casting
aside verses which teach that
there is a place of eternal tor
ment.
Well, so long as you don't want
to see you can't see, of course.
But let's hunt up all of these
verses that you refer to and e
II any of them really teach eter-
nal torment, You cannot find
the two words eternal torment)
together anywhere in the Bible.
l have looked over the list of
verses in which appears the
word eternal" and although
eternal life" and things like
that appear often, only three
times is it used in a connection
that could in any way refer to
eternal torment. The first one
is Mark 1923: "But he that shall
blaspheme against the Holy
Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is in danger of eternal dam
nation" That is the way it
reads in the Authorized King
James Version but in the Amer
lean Standard Version, which is
now used and recommended by
all the best Bible scholars, the
rendering is this: But whose
ever shall blaspheme against the
Holy Spirit hath never forgive
ness, but is guilty of an eternal
sim" That changes the meaning
and gets rid of the word dam
nation" entirely. But even if
you insist on the Authorized
Version, | want to call your at
tention to the fact that "damna-
ton" is translated from the
Greek word "krisis," which
means Judgment" In He
brews 6:2 it is correctly trans
lated Judgment" Here Paul is
enumerating eternal judy
ment" as one of the foundation
doctrines Of the church of
Christ. These two "eternals'
refer to the same future judg-
ment and punishment of the
wicked, and although it is eter-
nal punishment it is not eternal
furnishing. It is only the RE-
SUITS that are eternal.
Now here is the third and last
eternal" that could possibly be
twisted into meaning eternal
torment: even as Sodom and
Gomorrah and the cities about
them s. 3 are set forth for an
example, suffering the ven
geance of eternal fire."-Jude 7.
AS the cities of Sodom and Co.
morrah we're destroyed by "eter-
nal fire." it looks like anybody
could see that the fire would
have to be burning yet if the
word "eternal' means what you
orthodox folks say it means. It
only means that those cities
were eternally destroyed by fire
and it is purely a stretch Of the
imagination to make it NEAR
anything like eternal torment
In fact, the destruction of those
wicked cities, instead of being al
argument on your side, is the
very strongest kind Of an argu
ment AGAINST your belief. II
End Peter 2:6 we get some ad
ditional light on it. Listen:
"And turning the cities of Sod
ON and Gomorrah into ashes con
demned them with an overthrow
making them an eilsample IN
to those that after should liv
ungodly."-2nd Peter 2:6.
Now there are two thought
in the above verses that I wan
YOU to notice carefully and re
member. First, the cities wei
turned into ASHES. Now whe
a thing is reduced to ashes it
just as completely burned up q
1t could possibly De, 1871 IL al
of course when everything thu
the fire feeds on is burned int
ashes the fire must go out, 6
there is nothing to keep it goln
any longer. The second though
l want you to get is that the d.
struction of those cities by fire
turning them into ashes-is he
up as an AMP of how II
wicked will be destroyed. :
you can't get around the ia
that the wicked will be turne
into ashes, or else the examp
that God has given us. IS not
true example. What would yC
think of a drummer that won
show one kind of goods as a sar
pie and then fill the order Wi
something entirely differen'