The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Dean Bennett-Willfully Wicked to Be Completely Destroyed

Let us turn again to Britain. In 1929 F. S. M. BENNETT, Anglican Dean of Chester, brought forth a volume titled The Resurrection of the Dead, which he first thought to call “Conditional Immortality with Organic Resurrection.” That gives an inkling of the position he will present. Dean Bennett affirms that the doctrine of the Innate Immortality of the soul was “not so accepted at the beginning [of the Christian Era], and ought not so to be regarded today.” ²⁸ He quotes W. E. Gladstone, who asserts that it is “‘a doctrine wholly unknown to the Holy Scriptures.’” ²⁹ It stands, says Gladstone, “‘on no higher plane’” than that of contested “‘philosophical opinion.’” ³⁰ (Bennett photo on page 759.) CFF2 760.4

1. INNATISM No RIGHTFUL PART OF CHRISTIANITY

Tracing its historical intrusion into the Christian Church, Dr. Bennett again agrees with Gladstone, who says that it “never was affirmed by the Councils, never by the undivided Church, never by East or West when separated.” In fact, it was not affirmed until the time of Leo X (d. 1521). ³¹ And along with it came the concept of the “fixedness for eternal bliss or woe at the hour of death.” ³² Bennett epitomizes his own view in these strong words: CFF2 760.5

“No doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul has a rightful place within the precinct of our Christian Faith. It is a philosophical doctrine and cannot claim to be part of revealed truth.” ³³ CFF2 761.1

2. No CREATED BEING CAN BE MORE THAN “IMMORTABLE.”

Bennett’s view of the restrictiveness of the term “immortal” is succinctly stated in these sentences: CFF2 761.2

“My own belief is that S. Paul would not himself have used the word immortal of any created being. ‘God only hath immortality’ (1 Timothy 6, 16). No created being can ever be more than immortable. God holds all souls in life, whether that life be for a brief span or for eternity. That before the Fall man was immortable, was in the way which leads to perfection and eternal life-this, I think, S. Paul did clearly hold and teach. Immortality in the sense of indestructibility cannot, surely, by any theist, be attributed to any creature.” ³⁴ CFF2 761.3

That is very explicit. CFF2 761.4

3. FUNDAMENTAL FALLACY OF INNATE IMMORTALITY

Bennett penetrates to the very heart of the question of immortality. Primitive Christianity, he said, held that salvation was f roan “loss of eternal life,” not a “life of eternal loss.” The difference is basic. Here is his forthright statement of the case: CFF2 761.5

“Far from being a Christian doctrine, the doctrine of natural immortality is hardly compatible with traditional Christianity at all. Christianity is essentially a way of salvation. Its first adherents embraced and proclaimed it as a way of salvation, not from eternal punishment, but from eternal death; and by eternal death they meant, not a life of eternal loss, but the loss of eternal life.” ³⁵ CFF2 761.6

This is effective phrasing, and states the case in a single sentence. CFF2 761.7

4. “SLEEP” FOR DEATH

After noting that “in man mind and body are inextricably interlocked,” that man is an “integrated organism,” ³⁶ Bennett turns to the interim period of death, noting the Biblical term “asleep.” For example: CFF2 762.1

“‘They which are fallen asleep in Christ’; they ‘that are fallen asleep in Jesus’ (1 Corinthians 15, 18 and 1 Thessalonians 4, 14) is S. Paul’s regular phrase for death, reminding us of our Lord’s use of the same figure, ‘our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep.’” ³⁷ CFF2 762.2

5. “EVERLASTING FIRE” NOT ENDLESS DURATION BUT “DESTRUCTION.”

After observing that “disintegration” is simply “a longer way of spelling death,” Bennett comes to the figure of “everlasting fire.” On this he says: CFF2 762.3

“Everlasting fire is a great and terrible figure, a figure of destruction: That which is thrown into a fire is not therein horribly conserved, but speedily consumed.” ³⁸ CFF2 762.4

To this he adds a series of statements: “Evil must be eliminated by that which is figured by everlasting fire.” “Nothing can be left when the everlasting fire has done its purging work.” “It is not asserted [in the Athanasian Creed] that those who go into everlasting fire are to stay there for ever.” ³⁹ Bennett summarizes his thoughts as to the fate of the wicked in these terse words: CFF2 762.5

“The only sort of life, of which we have any knowledge, is organic life; and no organism can permanently survive in an environment with which it cannot correspond. No organism can correspond with that which is best figured by fire. It is a figure of destruction, and of destruction swift and complete.” ⁴⁰ CFF2 762.6

Thus each soul, endowed with the power of sovereign choice, has, according to Bishop Gore, “the awful capacity to make or destroy himself.” ⁴¹ These were Dean Bennett’s recorded positions on the nature and destiny of man. CFF2 762.7