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On Making the Same Choice Eternally: A Reply to Davis

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Abstract

In this brief reply to Stephen Davis, I argue that Davis’s separationist position, wherein those who remain eternally apart from God do so by choice, is internally contradictory in that it leads to universalism.

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Notes

  1. Stephen T. Davis, “Universalism, Hell, and the Fate of the Ignorant,” Modern Theology, 6 (1990), pp. 173-186.

  2. Ibid., p. 173.

  3. Ibid., p. 179.

  4. In fact, by increasing the number of days, the probability can be made as close to zero as we wish.

  5. Of course, the probability of making any particular sequence of choices decreases as the number of choices grows, even if the choices differ; however, in this paper we are solely concerned with choosing the same state of affairs, i.e., remaining in hell. Also note that even if the choices are not independent (are dependent), this reasoning still holds. Finally, an average daily probability can be arrived at by use of the geometric mean, even in dependent cases.

  6. I discuss a condition that allows the product to remain greater than 0 in footnote 7.

  7. If P’s probability of choosing to remain in hell on a single choice approaches 1 quickly, then P can end up with a probability of remaining in hell that is greater than 0. This conclusion follows from a counterintuitive mathematical result, namely, that an infinite product of factors, each factor strictly between 0 and 1, can converge to a number greater than 0. See Knopp, K. (1990). Theory and Application of Infinite Series. New York: Dover: 220. And so if P’s probability of choosing to remain in hell very rapidly approaches 1, then P does have a chance of remaining in hell eternally. These are remarkably strong conditions, and I have serious doubts that they would be ever be met by any person P, though the situation is not logically impossible. But the situation is not likely enough to alter the fact that I would bet that any P would leave hell, and I would place this bet at any odds.

  8. Davis, S.T. “The Mad/Bad/Good Trilemma: A Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder,” Faith and Philosophy, 21 (2004), pp. 480-492.

  9. Davis (2004: p. 481).

  10. Davis (1990: p. 184).

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Correspondence to Jeremy Gwiazda.

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Gwiazda, J. On Making the Same Choice Eternally: A Reply to Davis. SOPHIA 50, 693–696 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-011-0244-6

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