The Reasonableness of It.
THERE are three general views of man's destiny. One is that a part of the human family will be forever saved, existing in conscious joy and happiness forever, while the other part will be lost, consigned to everlasting, conscious misery. A second view is that all, some way, somehow, somewhere, will be saved. They may go thru trial, they may meet difficulty, they may suffer hereafter, but eventually they are saved to eternal happiness. The third view is that there are those who will be saved to eternal bliss, while others will suffer eternal death, loss of individuality and consciousness forever. The first of these views is based on the theory of the inherent immortality of the human soul. The theory is that the soul can not die, yet God can save to happiness those only who are found hid in Christ Jesus in the time of the judgment. But there are many who will not accept of God's salvation; therefore these must exist in eternal misery forever, and all those passages of scripture which speak of the finality of the punishment of the wicked are so understood. Those who hold to the second view find passages of scripture which declare that a time will come when sin and sinners, pain and suffering, shall be no more; but as they also hold that the soul is immortal and can not die, all must therefore be saved. This is universal salvation. Both of these theories run their feeble bases against the impregnable walls of Holy Scripture. They have been eternally at war, with successes and defeats on both sides, and with lasting difference with the word of God on the part of both. The third of these views embraces these propositions: 2. That life is made to be dependent upon righteousness, and that death follows sin. "In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Prov. 12: 28. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1: 13. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6: 23. See also Eze. 18: 4, 20. 3. That an incorruptible character demands an incorruptible, or immortal, body; hence, immortality is not bestowed upon humanity apart from character, or until the coming of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15: 51-54. 4. That when man was created, he had eternal life, or the normal life of God, with its outflow and interflow between the great Fountain and himself. Ps. 36: 9. 5. That in God's plan there could be no immortal sinners or ever-persisting sin to be forever a blot upon His universe. Rev. 22: 3. 6. That when man sinned he cut himself and all his posterity off from the great Fountain, perverted his nature, and became a dying being, a dying which issued in death. Gen. 2: 17; 3: 22-24; Rom. 5: 12. That can not be called dying, which, if not interrupted, does not issue in death. Thus man became "separate from Christ," "without God," "alienated from the life of God." Eph. 2: 12; 4: 18. 7. That not by any inherent power which man possesses, but solely by the mercy and goodness of God in the gift of Christ, by faith on our part, do we or can we receive life eternal. 2 Tim. 1: 10; Rom. 3: 16; 1 John 5: 11-13. 8. That if man is faithful to his Maker, God will hold "his soul in life," and at His coming bestow upon him the boon of immortality. Ps. 66: 9; 1 Cor. 15: 51-54. How reasonable is all this! How unreasonable it is that an infinitely wise Being must create a world in which sin and sinning and misery and wo should persist forever. What an awful and horrible thing it is to think of an unending existence of intelligent souls in conscious misery; with no hope of relief or alleviation! Yet we are told that the infinitely loving God must do this, because, forsooth, the soul is immortal, and can not die! No wonder that men revolt from this and declare for the universal salvation of devils and men. But this is unreasonable; for there is salvation only in coming into harmony with God, thru Christ, and many do not wish under any consideration to come into such harmony. Heaven itself would become hell to them if forced to remain there. "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven," it has been aptly expressed; and God gives both men and angels their choice. How infinitely reasonable it is that man should be created a candidate for immortality, dependent upon his own choice. God places before him infinite possibilities, an eternal home in His kingdom, a life paralleling the life of God in its endlessness, filled with boundless joy and glad opportunity. But man must choose. If men reject it, they will never know that life; in the language of the Scriptures, they "will be as tho they had not been." They have chosen death and extinction of being; God has given them their choice. No charge of injustice or cruelty can be brought against such a God, and such a God is the Jehovah of the Bible.