Chortle, Chortle, Mortal-Portal – by Edward Fudge
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Nov 17, 2015 8834
Attorney and theologian Edward Fudge (James Nielsen / Houston Chronicle)
The past two or three weeks have felt uncommonly filled with reminders that humans eventualIy die, and that, as one of those humans, I will share that common fate.
Such reflections call for prudence and not panic, and they certainly take no one by surprise. That the present life is limited rather than boundless actually enhances its meaning. We can live but one day and one moment at a time, be present at only one place at a time and, in any meaningful sense, do only one activity at a time. These restrictions encourage us to make choices, assign priorities, and anticipate the future.
Although we cannot do everything, and certainly not simultaneously, we can do all that our creaturely limitations, abilities, opportunities, authority, and good judgment permit. What is more, we not only can do all that, but we should, drawing all the pleasure and sense of fulfilment possible in the process.
For every moment’s enjoyment of life, every taste of joy, every sharing of love, every flash of beauty–all are gifts of divine grace to a frail people living in a broken world. Indeed, for us mortals, it all goes back to God.
No matter what the circumstance, in our mortality we can always say: “when I am weak, then I am strong,” for God has promised, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
In the words of the old hymn, we “frail children of dust” confidently approach the heavenly Father as “our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend,” entrusting to him our lives – our moments and years however many or few – confident of his faithfulness and power and love. And in that confidence we can look mortality squarely in the eye and laugh at death.
Chortle, chortle, mortal-portal.
– Edward Fudge
David Aaron Beaty
Jun 15, 2025
Hello everyone at Good News Unlimited. I believe I have made a major discovery on the topic of hell which will significantly further the work of Edward Fudge, giving much additional support to the doctrine of conditional immortality. I have written a book to help get this discovery out to the people who need it. The discovery is basically that the "smoke of their torment going up forever and ever" in Revelation 14:11 is a reference to the virtual never-ending smoke of the continual morning and evening regular sacrifice in the Old Testament sacrificial system. There in the Old Testament, the smoke, at least in part, symbolizes complete and utter destruction to the point of ashes, not endless torment. I am offering an option to obtain the book as a free pdf download, because I believe that nobody should be prevented from learning about God because they cannot afford to buy a book. The pdf book can be downloaded from my website at https://go.davidaaronbeaty.com/hellbook . Please consider allowing this comment to post in order to help get the truth out about this topic. Just as an example, the doctrine of endless conscious torment in hell is a reason that 24% of non-christians in Australia say makes them completely unwilling to consider adopting Christianity. This is according to a 2017 polling study done by olive tree media and mccrindle. Just as Fudge has said in an interview, "the traditional view is a horrible scandal against the character of God himself". I believe that if we properly understand the biblical teaching on hell we can more freely laugh at death just as Fudge has suggested here. Our unsaved loved ones who die in unbelief will not be burning in hell for eternity. We won't even remember them: [Isaiah 26:14, 19 NASB20] 14 The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have eliminated all remembrance of them. ... 19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. God bless