The Doctrine Of Reserve !!!

The Doctrine Of Reserve !!!

Excerpted from -:

The Early Christian View of the Savior

By Gary Amirault

http://www.tentmaker.org/books/EarlyChristianView.html

' Another problem that one has to overcome when trying to find out what the early Christians believed stems from what came to be called the "Doctrine of Reserve." It was often easier to use fear than love and patience to restrain the heathen, so very often fear was preached to the masses and the "Doctrine of the Restitution of All Things" was "reserved" for the more mature in Christ. Most of us do not realize that when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire hundreds of thousands, or even perhaps millions, entered the church without a true conversion. Now the church was full of people who were heathen at heart but soon became leaders in the church due to the normal political processes of the Roman governmental system. The Church now had leaders and laity who were not truly converted, but rose to power through nepotism, deceit, popularity, and all the other ways the world raises its leaders.

' Since many now in the Church were really not converted, they had to be restrained by fear. It is at this point in church history that the writings and teachings began to take a turn away from the teachings of the previous 300 years. The church leaders felt that the "Doctrine of Reserve" was an effective way of keeping order among new members, many of which were still heathen in their hearts. In hindsight, it was the door to a flood of pagan doctrines that entered into the church which led her right into the Dark Ages.

' It was because of this doctrine that some of the writers in this period seem to contradict themselves. They said different things to different groups of people, and if you did not know that you would think they were contradicting themselves. In fact, they were contradicting themselves, but this "Doctrine of Reserve" was the cause of it.

' More difficult to overcome than the "Doctrine of Reserve" was the fact that many of the church leaders in this period of time felt that it was good to lie if it was to benefit religion. An example of this is Saint Hilary, who said, commenting on Psalm 15:2, "For a lie is very often necessary and sometimes falsehood is useful." The "Golden Mouthed" John Chrysostom also advocated lying for truth's sake. Cussiun, a friend of Chrysostom, is author of a collection of spiritual ideas; one of the chapter headings is entitled "Even the Apostles teach us that falsehood is very often permissible, and the truth hurtful!" (Coll. xvii 20) Saint Basil expressly commends fraud employed for a good end (Hom. in prin. prov.) There were many church leaders who advocated lying. More examples may be found in chapter four of the book Christ Triumphant by Thomas Allin, reprinted by Concordant Publishing Concern.

' By the fifth century so much paganism had already taken over the church that by then some of the earlier church fathers who advocated and practiced love were declared heretics and their writings were confiscated and burned. Since it was honorable to lie for the truth, many teachers who were great men of God were written into church history as heretics. The church began the practice of calling good, evil, and evil, good.

' There are many obstacles to overcome to get at the true teachings of the early church. Due to the fact that I am only writing an article and not a book, I will mention just one more--the tendency of man to create God in man's image. When one studies church history over the last two thousand years, today's Christian God looks very much like man--someone who cannot keep his promises, who cannot complete what he started, who lies for the truth's sake, who is a hypocrite. The modern Christian God says that His love will never fail and yet according to modern church theology most of mankind is going to suffer eternal torment by our God, whose mercy is supposed to endure forever. He says not to let the sun go down on your wrath, but His wrath, says the church, endures forever.

' He tells you to love your enemies, but the present church system says that God is going to eternally torment his enemies, many of whom do not even know He exists. He says to forgive seven times seventy, but according to most of modern church teaching, billions of human beings will never experience God's forgiveness. Is this what the early Christians believed? And if they did not, can we find out what they did believe? Fortunately for those who really want truth, one can dig it up, but it takes an open mind and a pure heart. It takes a willingness to smash one's idols of the heart and a desire to break the rules chains of the traditions of men. If this is you, then read on.

' In a most beautiful way the lie will reveal itself for what it is. An example of this comes from a true story of a Russian friend of mine who was schooled in absolute atheism. One day the thought occurred to him that if there was no God, why would the government spend millions of rubles and thousands of hours of time trying to prove that God does not exist? The very fact that so much effort and money went into this effort to deny God proved to him that there in fact must be a God. This led the young Russian on a search for God, and he soon was found by Jesus and was miraculously brought to the United States to declare His Glory through his testimony and music.

' By now, I am sure, you can tell that some of the teachings of the early Christians were very different from the doctrines claimed to be the truth by the modern church. One of the ways of breaking through propaganda is to listen carefully to those who are responsible for writing church history to make it conform to the present day church belief systems. If one lets them talk long enough, they will usually hang themselves with their own words and the truth will be revealed to those who want the truth. This article is for those who desire the truth no matter what it will cost them. It is for those who know that the truth will cost them everything they think they are and everything they think they have--and yet still have something rise up within themselves that says, "So be it, amen." If this is you, then please read on.

  

Quotes From Historians

'To my knowledge, all of the historians and theologians that I am about to quote taught the "Doctrine of Eternal Torment." Not one of them mentioned in their writings that they believed in the "Doctrine of the Restitution of All Things," or ultimate reconciliation. Unfortunately, most of you, because you were not taught to really study, will probably not know these historians and theologians I am about to quote. That is very unfortunate, because it is these men and others like them that run the seminaries and Bible colleges and write the textbooks and Sunday school manuals. I said earlier that if you let someone speak long enough they will usually give themselves away. Listen to some of the comments of the early Christians and then ask yourself, "Why are we not taught this today?" Also keep in mind that I will be quoting historians and theologians. They generally do not write for the understanding of the average person. They write for each other and use hard-to-understand English. Just read slowly and understand there will be a great reward for the effort.

' The great church historian Geisler writes: "The belief in the inalienable capability of improvement in all rational beings, and the limited duration of future punishment was so general, even in the West, and among the opponents of Origen, that it seems entirely independent of his system" (Eccles. Hist., 1-212).

' This statement is very significant because many modernists attribute to Origen's influence the fact that the vast majority of early Christians did not believe in eternal torment! Keep in mind these historians I am quoting do not embrace the "larger hope." What Geisler said in a nutshell was that the church believed in ultimate reconciliation, even many of those who opposed Origen.

' The German theologian and historian Johann Christoph Doerderlin (1829-1888) writes: "In proportion as any man was eminent in learning in Christian antiquity, the more did he cherish and defend the hope of the termination of future torments." Later on, as when we read some of the early Christian writings, we will find this statement to be true; the more learned a Christian was in the Scriptures in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, the more likely he or she was to see the "Doctrine of the Restitution of All Things." Those such as Augustine, who said he hated the Greek language, who read only the Latin Vulgate translation, began to be prone toward the "Doctrine of Eternal Torment."

' One of several reasons for this was because the Greek word "aion," which meant "age," was translated into the Latin Vulgate as "aeternum" and "seculum." This was a serious mistake which also corrupted our English translations. This error was instrumental in changing the doctrine of the early Christians who believed that punishment was confined to "age." The Latin church, filled with unconverted pagans, separated themselves from the original languages and secluded themselves into the corrupted Latin Vulgate and began to teach what the pagan religions had taught for centuries--eternal torment. I have much information about this. If you want to learn, I'll be happy to send it to you.

' Professor and historian Henry Nutcomb Oxenham informs us that the, "Doctrine of endless punishment was not believed at all by some of the holiest and wisest of the Fathers, and was not taught as an integral part of the Christian faith by any even of those who believed it as an opinion."

' One of the ways of verifying this is to look at the earliest Christian creeds. None of them mention "eternal torment" as the final punishment of the wicked or unbelievers.

' Historian Pfaff says: "The ultimate restoration of the lost was an opinion held by very many Jewish teachers, and some of the Fathers" (frag. anec.).

' The famous Dietelmaier has this to say: "Universalism in the fourth century drove its roots down deeply, alike in the East and West, and had very many defenders."

' It should be mentioned that the "universalism" taught by the early Christians has nothing to do with modern universalism. To the early Christians, salvation was given to all of mankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is Christian universalism; something very different from New Age beliefs.

' Reuss writes, "The doctrine of a general restoration of all rational creatures has been recommended by very many of the greatest thinkers of the ancient church, and of modern times" (Hist. De la Theol. Apost.).

' The world renowned Neander has this to say: "From two theological schools there went forth an opposition to the doctrine of everlasting punishment."

' The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1908) by Schaff-Herzog says in volume 12, on page 96, "In the first five or six centuries of Christianity there were six theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist, one (Ephesus) accepted conditional immortality; one (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked. Other theological schools are mentioned as founded by Universalists, but their actual doctrine on this subject is not known."

' The number of schools in the early church that taught ultimate reconciliation is an embarrassment to many modern church historians. Therefore, they often do whatever they can to hide these facts. I mention again that these ChristianUniversalists who were clearly the majority of the early Church, believed that all mankind through Christ would be restored. They believed and taught and many laid down their lives for the belief that Jesus Christ was truly the Savior of the whole world. Remember, these historians just quoted were not "Universalists." Also note that the school that taught "Eternal Torment" was in Rome, where the original Bible languages were abandoned and replaced with Latin. Those of you who are familiar with Daniel's image made up of four kingdoms are also probably aware that the legs of iron might speak of the Roman Empire.