River, I’m not sure I get your point but my first thought when I read that paragraph is that Christendom doctrine doesn’t really understand DEATH! The teaching is ‘we don’t really DIE, knowing nothing and are in the grave UNTIL the resurrection’. If you ask them ‘Did Jesus die?’, the response is ‘Of course, He did’! Then; ‘Well, then, if He was dead in the grave, how did He visit anyone in hell or otherwise’? Usual response: ‘He was in spirit’ or some other unscriptural answer (using the thief, the parable of Lazarus & the rich man, etc). Not only do they not critically or scripturally examine that belief, they don’t have a clue to the spiritual TRUTH regarding DEATH. Most of us have been there—I know I have. How many times do we hear the statement ‘So & so died and received his angel wings today.’? Being DEAD in the grave awaiting the resurrection is just not palatable to carnal thinking. Also, the belief doesn’t equate to a resurrection of ALL the dead to judgment but I’ve talked with so many who really have never questioned the contradiction and until led to do so, it is impossible for them to understand.
I don’t think Ray meant to imply in any way that God is a ‘mood-shifting’ God. I believe he used the statement as a metaphor. Of course, God is, was and will be understanding of the ‘whys’ of false doctrine! He uses it when it is HIS will to do so to bring His elect to spiritual understanding just as He uses the Law. The false doctrine of an eternal hell couldn’t be ‘pleasing’ to God, but it is a tool I believe (and I think Ray does also) our Father uses in His judgment of His elect in every generation. The death of the wicked is not ‘pleasing’ to Him (Eze 33:11) but that statement is not an ‘emotional’ one. It is given in those words so that WE can understand and ‘turn’ from our wickedness.