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conscious suffering is effectually disposed of in the opening pages, and for this we are
indeed thankful.
One of the weakest passages, from an expository standpoint, is that dealing with
I Cor.15: The writer says:--
"It is generally conceded that in verses 23 and 24 resurrection is spoken of as taking
place in the three grand divisions or companies."
Generally conceded! True Bereans concede nothing. And (to quote again from page
9):--
"When erroneous speculation crystallizes into unquestioned dogma, when its
assumptions are foolishly and blindly accepted as incontrovertible fragments of absolute
truth, then it acquires an authority, and wields a tyrannous despotism, to which it can
advance no rightful claim. . . . this very practice of accepting certain assumptions as
being so obviously true as to require no proof. Many a scientific dogma has collapsed the
moment its assumptive basis was called into question."
This baneful practice, so rightly condemned on pages 9 and 10, is adopted on pages 31
and 32. "It is generally conceded" on page 31 leads to the astounding assertion on page
32 that the words of I Cor.xv.24, "the end," mean the resurrection of all who become
Christ's in the "ages of the ages." This unwarranted assertion, this "wild hazard at
possible truth" "crystallizes into unquestioned dogma" on page 63. On the other hand,
things which are expressly written for our learning seem to have escaped the attention of
the writers. For example, at the foot of page 64 we are told that "those who appear before
its (the Great White Throne) awful light shall not live, but die the second death."
A careful reading of Rev.20: will reveal a state of things entirely contrary to this. The
writers "assume" that all who stand before the Great White Throne are cast into the Lake
of Fire, and so have to further "assume" that those who are thus cast into the Lake of Fire
will be raised out of it again! Scripture is full of evidence on the subject of the
resurrection of the dead, but there is no single passage of Scripture written to warrant the
idea of a resurrection from the Lake of Fire. We do not see in the book a reason given as
to why Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. If we believed the writers'
theories we might hazard a guess that Death and Hades also, together with Satan, his
angels, the Beast, and the False Prophet, were to emerge from its dread hold. One may
be permitted the equal liberty of believing that Death and Hades, being done with, are
cast into the Lake of Fire to be destroyed prior to the new heavens and the new earth.
Another speculation which is quietly assumed as "truth" is found on page 63. "Not
only did it (death) come through Adam to his posterity, but its dark stream overflowed to
the creatures below as well as the creatures above" (our italics). Even supposing the
reading of Heb.ii.9 advocated were to prove the true one, the translation given does not
stand the test of the concordance (see chõris in Hebrews). What Scripture is there from
Genesis to Revelation which teaches that Adam's death passed beyond the dominion
committed to him?