p. 312 | THE DIFFERENCE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, May 13, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 20

THE DIFFERENCE.

WE are more and more impressed with the fact that those who have foisted into the Christian system, the many unscriptural doctrines which we there find, and those who labor to maintain them, are largely responsible for the skepticism of the present day. Some evidences of this we find in an article by M. Babcock, in The Rational Appeal of April 17, 1880. He says:—

“In my judgment, it is not fair to damn a man on account of his honest opinions.”

And the Bible, if we read it aright, does not say

that it is. It is for his works, not opinions, that man is held accountable. “My reward is with me,” says Christ, “to give every man according as his work shall be.” And again, Paul teaches that every one must appear before the Judgment seat of Christ, to “receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10. Opinions are of account only as they affect our actions, and to be condemned and abandoned when they lead to immoral and corrupt practices.

Again the writer says: “It is not fair to damn a man in another world for the acts he may have committed whilst living in this world. I believe in the statute laws of limitations, and that if a man commits a crime in this world, if he is to be punished at all, he should be punished in the world where the crime was committed.”

Our friend need have no controversy with the Bible over this point; for this is exactly what the Bible represents. Right here, where the wicked have committed their crimes, they shall receive their punishment; and right here, on this earth, which has been the theater of their struggles, the overcomers shall receive their reward. “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11:31. Not in this state of being, to be sure (so this text affords no aid or comfort to the Universalist), but in the future in a manner which seems to be very reasonable. In the divine government, man is placed upon probation. To the violation of law there is a penalty attached, just as there is, and should be, in all governments; while substantial benefits are to be secured by obedience. To decide all these matters, a day of Judgment is appointed; for it would be considered beneath the dignity, even of a human court to inflict punishment or bestow rewards without a fair trial, and a decision rendered on a careful examination of all the evidence. This is why even the wicked are to be raised to life again (a transaction which it seems so difficult for our friend to understand), that they may not perish because born to a mortal, perishable nature in this world, by circumstances over which they had no control, but have their own personal character taken into the account, and their destiny decided by their own acts.

To the righteous, there is then promised the endowment of immortality, and this whole earth as an eternal inheritance. But to be the fitting abode of immortal and sinless beings, the earth must itself be renewed by having the defacement of the curse and the presence of evil forever removed; and so radical a renovation can be accomplished only by fire. Hence we read in 2 Pet. 3, that the present works in the world shall be burned up, and the elements and the earth itself shall melt with fervent heat; and from the ashes of the old earth there shall be reconstructed, according to his promise, by the divine energy of creative power, a new heavens and new earth, wherein the righteous shall dwell.

All this is necessary, that the promise of God to the righteous may be carried out. It is the misfortune of the wicked that they stand right in the way of this work. They have no provision whereby they can ever leave the earth. They have secured no protection against the elements by which it shall be purified. Hence, when the earth is renewed as above described, they are involved in the awful cataclysm of fire, and perish therein. This is therefore called by Peter, in the chapter quoted, “The day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” It is the burning day of Mal. 4:1, wherein all that do wickedly will be like the stubble and be utterly consumed. It is the day of Rev. 20:9, wherein the wicked, engaging in their last act of rebellion against God, are engulfed in fire and devoured. The whole transaction from beginning to end is consistent, straightforward, and legitimate. The way to avoid the evil and secure the good is simply to place ourselves in the right relation to the divine government here, and thus insure to ourselves the protection and privileges promised the obedient and loyal hereafter.

Our writer finds the usual trouble with the doctrine of eternal misery; and well he may; but he need have no more controversy with the Bible on this than on the other points named; for the Bible teaches no such doctrine. Eternal life is offered to all. The conditions are reasonable and plainly made known. Those who will not accept the offer are disposed of in the very best, and seemingly the only consistent, way, which a just and yet merciful God could adopt. They are allowed to take their choice, and identify themselves with the great body of sin and evil which will surely be destroyed, and thus go back into a condition in which, if the paradox may be allowed, they will be “as though they had not been.”