Posted by PS on December 03, 2003 at 13:32:20:
In Reply to: Scriptural Reference posted by Bob - the Alien on December 03, 2003 at 08:36:27:
: : I meant to say that I DON'T think we are playing a cosmic game of see-saw. My bad.
:
: Revelation 20:2-3
: "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
: And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
: In other words, After all the nasty stuff goes down, the bible explictly tells us that we will have 1000 years without evil in the world.
: Although I do wonder about the end of that verse... after God's work is done, and this world has served its purpose, why must evil be loosed again? Perhaps Satan, too, will be brought back into the fold after his purpose is complete. I'd like to think so. It shows that God truly loves everyone if he even will bring back his adversary at the very end.
: With Love,
: Bob - the Alien
Well, in one currently popular millenialist view--
After the great tribulation comes 1000 years of peaceful reign, after which the devil is loosed and tempts the nations of the earth to make war against Jerusalem, resulting in Armageddon. After this the heavenly New Jerusalem is revealed.
Now for me the jury is out on all such interpretations of Revelation. I KNOW we are destined to be delivered from corruption and to be with God forever, but the meaning of the symbolism and the exact chronological sequence of events in John's Revelation has been debated for millenia (pun intended). I will love my Lord and be with Him however it all plays out.
As to the devil being brought into the fold, this is a subject that could start a holy war, I'm afraid. I'll give you three basic views on this:
1. Conservative Protestantism, on the one hand, will never abandon the favorite doctrine that the torture and punishment of the wicked will be eternal, praise God. (I bite my tongue here--hard.)
2. There are those who are quite orthodox who have postulated that most of the condemned will themselves refuse any reconciliation, though it is always available. In other words, the gates of hell are locked from the inside. C. S. Lewis' short story "The Great Divorce" is a metaphorical portrayal of this viewpoint involving a bus ride from hell to heaven. I recommended it.
3. The last view I present is rejected by the first group altogether as heresy, while the second group more courteously rejects it. There are those liberals who question if a God of love could really be so eternally vindictive. But what is really interesting is this: There are some mystics who have had such a profound experience of the pure love and goodness of God that they do not believe any being could resist such overwhelming goodness forever, not even Satan himself.
This last view is closest to your hopeful question. I have thought much about this, and would also love to believe it.
I am disillusioned with the first group because their own judgmentalism seems to be projected onto their view of God. "God loves you unconditionally, no matter what you have done, and he always will, but if you don't say the prayer of salvation he'll fry you in hell forever." You get my point...
I believe C. S. Lewis is probably correct about hell being more a fortress than a prison. There is MUCH more to be said about the nature of human pride and rebellion in this context. We will talk sometime... :-)
PS