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November 03, 2003
Infinity, Hell & Hope
A really great thread over at Crooked Timber.
Is it really possible to beat the devil while in Hell? That depends upon whether or not God has given complete dominion over Hell to Satan. If God has given license to Satan to create a bizarro world, does he do so in compliance with or defiance of the laws of physics? I'm inclined to believe the former, but I also don't believe that would help us out at all.
I assert this with the assumption that free will as a gift of god allows us to fully contemplate the universe as his creation. That doesn't mean that we will understand it, but it is open to contemplation. This has direct relevance to matters of infinity. If we are perceptive as souls what does that mean vis a vis the observable universe. We can only assume that the human perspective as reified in the laws of physics are a reflection of the gift of free will, but what of physics applies to our eternal souls? The very idea that we could suffer infinitely in Hell begs questions of what life and pain actually are. How does an eternal soul percieve pain or time? Physics, mathematics and philosophy don't necessarily apply to eternal souls the way they do to finite human beings.
If, we are therefore in Hell and are offered a deal by Satan, the only thing we can be sure of is God's word and God's promise, because the very existence of Hell and the eternal soul is much better explained by God's word than by physics, mathematics and philosophy. God may very well use these tools, then again so did Euclid. The laws of the Euclidian space-time may have been suitable for those days on earth, but how well will Einstein's laws apply to Hell? Until someone could prove that our best theories of physics, mathematics and philosophy are God's own versions, it makes no sense to deal with the Devil using human terms of logic.
If we accept that we are in Hell because of God's will, then our best bet is that God will have mercy on our souls even while in Hell. Help yourself given your best estimation of physics and pray for intervention. Lean not on your own understanding.
Posted by mbowen at November 3, 2003 02:09 PM
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