Outer darkness: A thousand years? or for eternity?

[bearbear]

My answer:
http://nodustybunnies.blogspot.com/2...rnity-and.html

Here's another (better) answer from:
http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/lc.html

Witness Lee's Purgatory

What happens to these hypothetical non-overcoming believers?
According to Witness Lee the following verses apply to them:
Matt 8:12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mt 22:13 "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Mt 24:51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mt 25:30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Lu 13:28 "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Lee comments: "This is different than suffering the second death, which is to perish in the lake of fire for eternity. Although believers cannot be lost, they may suffer some dispensational punishment for their faults. This punishment will be worse than that received by those who broke the law of letters."
In other words they will suffer a worse punishment than under the Law of Moses when people were stoned to death or burned alive.

Matt 18:34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

A basic problem with the purgatory idea is that it contradicts the basic concept of the forgiveness of sins. I understand the distinction he tries to make between discipline and condemnation. But having been raised from the dead, there is no point to discipling these people. They have already been reckoned innocent by the blood of Christ, and although discipline would be helpful while they were in the flesh (as sin dwells in the flesh and they have to learn obedience), having been raised from the dead they are perfect. There's no point to discipling them. Does tormenting them make them any more perfect? Such torment would not be simply for discipline to help them learn, but as a penalty for sinning. Hasn't God saved us from such condemnation? Is this what Christ has earned for us - to be thrown into a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? Is it by our good works that we escape from such a place of torment? Is this rather not the kind of judgment that unbelievers will experience:

Matt 13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Which Lee also agrees applies only to the unsaved.
My interpretation of the difference between the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? I think Lee is correct that the first refers to just during the Millenial reign and the second to the final judgment. But I think that both refer to the judgement of unbelievers or mere nominal Christians and unbelieving Jews.
But consider the correlation between Matt 24:50,51 and Luke 12:46
"The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matt 24:50,51
"The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers." Luke 12:46

If you read the context of these parables you find that these are parallel passages. Luke is recording the same parable as Matthew. Therefore "a place with the hypocrites" in Matthew is the same as "a place with the unbelievers" in Luke. Lee says that it is the non-overcoming believers that the Matthew passage is referring to. But in reality these are merely unsaved nominal Christians, which is why they are hypocrites. They do not believe with saving faith.
Lee denies the purgatory idea in its Catholic sense when he comments on 1Cor 3:15 "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

Lee comments: "Through fire surely indicates punishment. However, this is altogether not the purgatory heretically taught by Catholicism in its superstitious twisting of this verse. Nevertheless, this word should be a solemn warning to us today concerning our Christian works."

However, as I interpret this verse, it seems to me that it is not the man who is burned, but his works. God has to burn up our sins so as to forget our past sinful lives in accordance with His promise. What remains of our past are the times when we obeyed God. And for these we will be rewarded.

Isa 43:25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions,
for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."

But Lee seems to think that God will remember the sins of the believers and visits punishment upon us in the next life. This is contrary to the basic message of the gospel. Though he denies the Catholic purgatory idea, he may not realize that he may actually believe it. Or perhaps we can rename it the Protestant Purgatory. For he accepts the following verse as applying to non-overcoming saved Christians:

Matt 18:34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

Notice it says "until he should pay back all he owed". Such a person is paying the penalty for his sins by being tortured. This is what many accuse Catholics of believing. The basic object of our faith is Christ's atoning work on the cross. Christ payed the penalty for our sins. In describing the benefits of righteousness by faith in Romans 4, Paul quotes David saying:

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 10:15-18

Throughout the history of Protestant theology, the Purgatory idea had been rejected, being relegated as heretical Catholic theology. But Lee and Nee have now attempted to reintroduce this concept into the Evangelical community and have had success to some extent. However, they have failed to show the consistency between the gospel message of grace according to traditional evangelical thought and the purgatorial idea. The contradiction between the concept of Purgatory and Biblical theology was the reason it was rejected in the first place. The leaven of this doctrine must be removed if their gospel is to be considered Biblical from the standpoint of historic Protestant thought.