Because my testimony is helping so many people, I am posting it
here so it will stay on your front page for awhile if that's ok
with you. The many entries in my guest book that is accessible
towards the bottom of the front page on my site, and the many
positive emails in my email file folders, show that the content of
my testimony is helping many people.
http://greater-emmanuel.org/Hope4You/
(nothing for sale on this site)
Also see the testimonies at
http://www.tentmaker.org/visitorcomments.htm
MY TESTIMONY
The idea that God lets any creature suffer endlessly has caused me
more suffering than all other problems of my life combined. By the
time I had reached the mission field I had hoped to have found a
satisfactory answer that would justify God allowing this to happen.
I didn't find such an answer. Surrounded by thousands of people,
dozens of whom were dying every day and beginning an eternity of
suffering in hell was too much for me.
In 1966, at age 28, it caused me to have a nervous breakdown. For
several weeks I was confined to my bed in a state of terror night
and day. The terror was caused by the fear of what a God I could
not love or respect would do to me after I died. It took me twelve
years to fully recover from the breakdown. I quickly became
agnostic, for the Christian gospel and the Bible were no longer any
comfort to me at all. Many evangelical friends tried to help me.
They meant well, but in the end they all had only words of
condemnation towards me. This added more suffering to my already
intense suffering.
Gradually I began to learn that there have been, in centuries past,
and still are today, a few people in the world that see a different
kind of God in the Bible. They see a God who will not let any
creature suffer forever. They see a God in the Bible who will
change every second of everyone's suffering into something better
that it happened, including the sufferings of Satan. I learned that
a correctly (literally) translated Bible teaches universal
transformation, not endless suffering in hell, or even
annihilation. I read dozens of books, and listened to hundreds of
tapes by men who believe this way and I gradually became converted
to believing this way myself.
Since 1981, through my newspaper ads and my telephone ministry, I
have sent out many hundreds of packets of literature explaining why
I believe as I do. I have also sent this evidence to hundreds of
pastors and Bible school teachers. None of them have told me that
they are able to refute it. I have also read eight books that were
supposed to refute the evidence in favor of universalism, but none
of them do. Because of this evidence, my panic attacks became less
frequent until twelve years after my breakdown they ceased
altogether. Now nothing gives me greater pleasure than to make this
evidence available to others who have suffered because of the same
problem I had even though they have embraced Christ and His gospel
for themselves, and I use a substantial amount of my money and time
to this end.
Because of the enormous amount of suffering the idea of "endless
hell" causes in this world, I am asking you to consider the
possibility that you should stop endorsing the idea that the Bible
teaches it. Or, at least, let others know that there are (and have
been in centuries past) people who do not think the Bible teaches
it.
Many of the responses from pastors and teachers range from a mild:
"The majority don't agree with you so you must be wrong", to the
vicious "For every week you leave your ad in the papers, God will
increase the temperature of the fires of hell for you
personally".
Most are somewhere in between these remarks. But none have told me
they are able to refute the evidence. And, until they can, they
will not be able to stop me from sharing the good news that a
correctly (literally) translated Bible teaches universal
transformation, not endless suffering in hell, or even
annihilation.
A website that answers all the arguments that seem to support the
idea that the Bible teaches endless suffering in hell is TENTMAKER.
Although forum rules prevent me from posting forum links, you can
easily Google it up. The scholars corner under research deals
with every aspect of the subject. The more than 600 page search
engine at the top of this same TENTMAKER front page is also very
comprehensive regarding this subject. Just type in a key word or
phrase from any argument or scripture passage, and ten articles
will appear that refute the eternal hell and annihilation
doctrines.
I am also going to guide you all to the testimony of a man whose
experience was almost identical to mine. Even the thought processes
that took him into, through, and out of his breakdown are the same
as mine. Only he is much more eloquent in telling his story than I
am in telling mine. His name is Charles Slagle.
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/Absolute-Assurance-in-Jesus-Christ.html
Or, you can also Google up ABSOLUTE ASSURANCE
You can access my forum through Google by typing in Rodger
Tutt.
It may well be that a few members of this form or surfers will be
able to benefit from the testimonies of Charles and myself.
May God's blessing rest with your spirit!
From Rodger Tutt in Toronto, Canada
That God may be All in all 1Cor.15:28