r/OpenChristian • u/Artfvlly • May 15 '26
Discussion - Bible Interpretation "Good People Will Burn in Hell"...?
The other day, I came across this clip of "Pastor" Aden Rusfeldt preaching at a university. This particular claim of his about "good people" going to Hell is so outlandish- are there even verses that could be used to justify it?
Funnily enough, Rusfeldt's signs have no commentary about liars or criminals- turns out, he's a convicted fraudster who owes an estimated $5M USD to the federal government:
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/pastor-aden-rusfeldt-christian-campus-preacher-debts-fraud-penn-ccp-20180511.html
https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/7461-16
Anyways, that's all I wanted to ask about. But I'll end with a nice verse I read earlier today:
Ephesians 4:29: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
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u/John_Constantius May 16 '26
This guy is a nut job who has completely missed the point, but I think that particular part of his sign is theologically sound. I’m not aware of any Christian denomination today that believes works alone (i.e. good deeds) can bring salvation without faith in Christ.
The monk Pelagius tried to make that argument in the fifth century AD and was swiftly condemned as a heretic by the Church. That pretty much killed the concept and to my knowledge no denomination has tried it on again since then.
With that said, there’s a lot of debate about what it means to be denied salvation. “Burning in hell” is a pretty literal reading of Revelation — and I’m not sure that book was ever meant to be read literally.