Harmonies of Mixed Theology.
By R. F. Cottrell
What I mean by mixed theology is that mixture of heathen mythology with the doctrines of the Bible, which is so prevalent in the Christian world at the present time. These two elements have about as much affinity as oil and water; and as these will not mix without lye to destroy their chemical repulsion, so a good deal of lying is necessary to make the doctrines of heathenism and the Bible harmonize. The two quotations following are from two adjoining pages of a book on “The expected Millennium.” Describing the second resurrection, he says: “There, from the sea of Sodom, many thousands rise from underneath the stagnant lake, who offered violence to the wayfaring angels, in the days of Lot, but now are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” On the next page he says, “The place, therefore, of the departed spirits, who have died in their sins, is in the subterranean fires of this globe. There, in those flames, in the literal sense, did the soul of the rich man spoken of by Luke, 16:24, lift up his eyes, being in torment.” The apostle tells us that the Sodomites are “set forth as an example,” suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. To be set forth as an example to those who should “after live ungodly,” these must witness their suffering, or have a record of it. The ungodly of these days do not see the men of Sodom in the internal fires of earth, far beneath the sea; but they can read the record of what they did suffer long ago. “The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” Gen. 19:24. That this is what is referred to by Jude, and that this is the manner in which they are set forth as an example, is made certain by the testimony of Peter. He says, “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample to those that after should live ungodly.” This is an example to all future ages that the ungodly shall be consumed by fire and be turned to ashes. 2 Pet. 3:7; Mal. 4:3. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus says nothing about the soul of either. It speaks of both as persons. But the philosophy of the writer teaches that immaterial souls are tormented in material fire. Of course the rich man's desire was for literal water to cool his tongue, since he was tormented by literal fire. Such are the beauties of mixed theology.