Sermons

Illustration: Black Fire

34 Comments

green-fire-black-flamesIf you believe that the hottest fire burns pitch black…you might be a fundamentalist. Here we have one of the classic examples of psuedo-scientific babble providing the perfect ‘proof’ for a point that needs no proving. The illustration transpires thuswise…

The fundamentalist preacher while bellowing out his message on hell will inform us that hell is both a place of fire and a place of darkness. But how can there be both darkness and fire??? The preacher then breathlessly reveals that unnamed “scientists” have discovered that the hottest flames burn PITCH BLACK! Here is scientific proof that not only will hell be dark but it will contain the hottest fire imaginable! What an amazing thing.

Of course people like physical chemist Vince Calder have never actually heard of black flame. Invisible flame is theoretically possible but if flame is burning invisibly it means it’s actually on the lowest end of the heat spectrum not the highest.

Fundamentalists, however, know better than to trust those Berkley-educated academic types — they’re probably just lying to protect their own evolutionary agenda.

34 thoughts on “Illustration: Black Fire”

  1. Hilarious. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this myself. At some point I realized that fire is completely unnecessary in hell–it’s not like you can get a third degree burn on your soul.

  2. Haha! Great one! I’ve grown up believing this “pseudo-scientific babble” myself! I guess I just never really cared to think much more. And it’s funny. They always go on about how scientists have either discovered “black fire”, which is for one, impossible; or they go on about how we really don’t see/know about “black fire.” But it MUST be real! (Somehow disproving their proven point.) I guess it’s just where faith truly comes in to know that it REALLY does exist!
    Or you know. You can just go with Jordan on how it really has no point in knowing in the matter… :p

  4. Oh, yeah. I remember the preacher saying that if you light a match the top of the flame is bright but it gets darker as you go further down the flame until (hush) there is no light at all.

  5. Another great illustration destroyed by fact. Black fire has gone the way of the “hole drilled to hell” in Russia and the “frog in boiling water”.

  6. I remember hearing this when I was younger! I made the mistake of asking my Chemistry teacher about it who set me straight. When I brought it up to my pastor, he said something along the lines of, “God knows more about Chemistry than your teacher does.”

    1. Quite right. Mankind has known that hell is both a place of utter darkness (in every sense) and blazing heat for centuries, or indeed millennia. But of course, John Milton (for example) was not to know that some chemistry professor 300 years later would be able to ‘put him right’. Poor old Johnny Milton! I bet your chemistry prof couldn’t write Paradise Lost, either.

  8. I remember a preacher at BJ telling us that an airplane’s ability to fly was because of centrifugal force…. wow!

  10. Hm. You could always say “with God all things are possible”, and leave it at that. He’s God after all. If he wants black pitch dark fire to torment sinners in the afterlife, that he will have. Don’t forget the flame-resistant scorpions and creatures of the pit that live down there.

  11. There’s a simple answer that doesn’t involve “black fire.” It is dark inside of a fire. That is why firefighters carry lights into burning buildings.

  12. So because man has not discovered, and you have not personally experienced (five senses) black fire, it therefore must not exist right? Yes, I am a fundamentalist, and I do believe in God and literal fire and brimstone hell. I am not ignorant and have been involved in the medical/scientific based arena for several years. I’m not asking you to believe in God or hell, though it would be to your eternal soul’s benefit if you did. My issue with the above statements is not the concept of black fire in hell, but the so-called “intelligent” process behind your belief that black fire could not exist. A scientist is masked by their strong characteristic of initiation. Not only thinking of new ideas but developing other’s ideas. Unless you believe that all inventions have been invented and there is nothing left to invent, you would have to acknowledge the statement ‘there are unthought-of thoughts left to think’. If I were to ask the average chemist if he had perfect knowledge I assure you he would be wise enough to say no. It is impossible for one person to know everything. Maybe the smartest person in the world only knows 75% of what there is to know. Is it possible then that black fire exist in the 25% of knowledge he doesn’t know? Yes, of course it is possible. It is irrational to believe that something does not exist because it has yet to be experienced by our five senses. Whimsically saying there is no black fire therefore there is no God is not true science. Your “O’ so brilliant minds” should get to work in proving the existence of black fire. Therefore, when you have exhausted all possible means of proving there is black fire, you can say with confidence there is no such thing as black fire, there is no God. But until then, I will continue to be a fundamentalist that believes in God and a literal fire and brimstone hell.

    1. Whimsically saying there is no black fire therefore there is no God is not true science.

      And hallucinating points to respond to is likely a sign of a disturbed mind. No offense.

      Suffice it to say that nowhere in the article did I claim that it is impossible that black fire exists. What I am saying is that I’ve heard pastors claim that it is a SCIENTIFIC FACT that black fire exists (and that it is the hottest kind of fire) with absolutely NO DATA to support that claim.

      The truth claim is made by the fundamentalist and therefore the onus is on the fundamentalist to demonstrate support for his position.

      Surely your experience in the “medical/scientific based arena” (whatever that is??) has at least afforded you the ability to appreciate the distinction.

      1. We seem to be getting more drive-by fundies lately. Did the mother ship allow a special one-time dispensation for the minions to log onto SFL and post?

    2. I was just about to post that!

      But, it would have been shorter because I am allotted only so many internet minutes each day and I spend most of them writing on my MIWAH (Maiden-In-Waiting At Home) message board. It is such an encouragement.

      Also, I would like to encourage you as a sister in fundamentalism to pray about working outside the home. Unless the Lord has willed that you do it, it may lead you down a path of destruction. Especially if it’s in an area of work where you are exposed to worldly music or manner of speech.

      1. CMG – It is such a blessing to us that you choose to spend your limited allotment of time on-line here on SFL encouraging the brothers and sisters. 😀

    4. Oh, and making meth in one’s bathtub does not equate to being “involved in the medical/scientific based arena.”

  13. God your thoughts are not my thoughts neither are your ways my ways. God’s wisdom is infinite no human being can fatom. One proof that there is a God – You. How come your hands are like that, the arrangement of your ears, eyes, nose, lips, eyelids, hair, your brain, your intestine, gall bladder, kidney’s function. Big bang theory? how about how trees grow, whales, fishes, pigs, cows did they appeared out of a single big bang chance? regardless of hell’s fire color, anyway, Are you going there? If you don’t have Christ then 200% you are hell bound. God’s infinite power can burn even your soul.

    1. That is not even remotely “proof”. That’s why it’s called ‘faith’ and not ‘fact’. I’m not saying there is or isn’t a creator, but I am saying that right now neither you nor anyone else can prove either side. You can, however, choose to believe in one.

  15. I had heard in the early part of the 2000’s that scientist had discovered in outer space a black flame. Now was that incorrect information? I need to know! Thanks to all and GOD Bless

  16. ”one should know that the extreme white flame is invisible to eyes as the cells of retina are unable to perceive it ”hence in the absence of any other light, this hottest flame would be invisible and in a pit of darkness would be equally black

  17. Oh, I know where this one originated: “darkness visible” in John Milton’s PARADISE LOST. Except that Milton wasn’t intending to write a scientific treatise. It’s an oxymoron, and a great one at that.

  18. This originated because hell is dark. And the reason that the flames are pitch black is because sulfur instead of oxygen (our flames here) fuels the flames of hell and that is also the reason the fire is unquenchable hot.

    Jesus is life Please accept the free gift of salvation

    1. It’s important to settle this pressing issue. Thanks for your contribution.

      Can you (or any other theologian) answer another related question that has been bugging me for awhile?

      My question is: Do worms have souls? Or are they in some other way immortal? I’m wondering because we’re told that in hell the worm dieth not. Maybe the worms (tapeworms, perhaps?) get their immortality from being parasites on the immortal souls of human beings.

      I don’t know. The anxiety over this question is keeping me awake at night.

      1. Nico, you’re just not reading your Bible! If you did, you’d see plain as day that the worms are in fact those heathenish souls who didn’t accept Christ. They do not die, hence they spend eternity in torment.

        Hope you sleep better now that I, in my infinite knowledge & wisdom, cleared that up for you. 🙄

        1. Oh. So they’re not real worms? They’re just figurative worms? My whole world just went all topsy-turvy. Figurative and not literal?!!

          Because if one looks at the whole biblical thing literally, it seems as if God created worms to serve a purpose–such as help me catch redbreasts–after which they just pass on into oblivion; yet he created humans knowing the vast, vast, vast majority of them would not (for whatever reason) accept Christ, and would then suffer the wrath of his eternal torment in literal hellfire. By his Unalterable Decree Uttered Before the Worlds Began.

          No worms in hell. People in hell.

          I think I’d rather be a worm.

          Thanks for your help! 😉

    2. Bullshit. Sulfer does not burn black. In fact, without oxygen, it doesn’t burn at all. Burning is “rapid oxygenation” – a pretty simple chemical reaction. In case you slept during freshman chemistry, there is this thing called “google”. It is your friend.

  20. The NFPA (National Fire and Protection Agency) recognizes “black fire” as below:
    “Flashover is the sudden, simultaneous ignition of everything in a room. This is how it happens:
    ◦Hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread out across to the walls.
    ◦Heat radiates downward and intensifies until all combustible items reach their ignition temperatures and burst into flames.
    ◦Temperatures soar to as much as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a few seconds. Even a firefighter in full protective gear is unlikely survive a flashover.
    ◦Firefighters are trained to recognize the signs that flashover is about to occur: dense black smoke with tightly packed curls (“black fire”); dense, black smoke that pushes out of a doorway or window opening; smoke that has accumulated as low as a doorknob, with the fire seen below.” Source: http://www.nfpa.org/news-and-research/news-and-media/press-room/reporters-guide-to-fire-and-nfpa/all-about-fire#stages
    Note: The Bible speaks of hell and ultimately the lake of fire (hell will be cast into) as having both fire and smoke. One verse of many about smoke is: Rev 19:3 “…And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.” I offer this an one explanation. I do believe there is a hell / lake of fire and that it consists of a literal fire and literal smoke. I pray all people will trust in our Lord’s finished work as provided by God in His Son (John 3:16) and not go there.

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