A Canterbury Hell

Would you dare to be alone with this guy?

A guy who wouldn't dare to be alone with himself?

"My concept of hell. I suppose, is being stuck with myself for ever and with no way out", says the Archbishop last week.

Not the traditional concept of Hell is it (we have refuted this alone concept in the July 18 post) ?

Nor does this Anglican head believe in the traditional "lake of fire". Why? Because he doesn't believe that he has to believe that Hell is a place. That he doesn't have to present a fundamental profession of 'the faith once delivered to the saints' (Jude 3). So there.

To heck with the Apostles' Creed. To professing that "He descended into Hell". Let's just say, "He had a helluva time on the cross". Let's call it the Canterbury Creed.

I wonder if he got that concept from Pope John Paul II, "Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy".

Maybe he got it from America's favorite cracker, "When it comes to a literal fire, I don't preach it because I'm not sure about it".

They would reinterpret the rich man as saying, "warn my brothers so that they will not come to this state of torment".

Sure, the Greek word topos- may in fact, be interpreted figuratively. But then you are obligated to interpret kolpos figuratively as well. Does this work here?

What does a state of Abraham's womb look like? How can angels carry a man to Abraham's state? How can Lazarus be in Abraham's state?

I have no problem professing that Abraham and Lazarus apparently share the same statement of faith. That they obviously share the same estate. But to profess that they will share the same state (let alone status)--is well... increedulous.

I profess that Abraham and Lazarus will share the same place. A place of many mansions.
A place prepared for resurrected bodies. And a place prepared for glorified minds.

What were those other guys professing? Paul rebuked their heresy, 'if there is no resurrection of the body to a place... then the state of your faith is worthless' (1 Cor. 15).

May we hope those guys were just being conceptually inarticulate.
Just this side of creedal apostasy.