some at His right, some at His left

Most modern Christians - and especially the so-called liberals who have abandoned most of the church's traditional doctrines - do not believe in the Judgement. They demythologise it and turn it into a psychological process so that they can easily dismiss it. These modern debunkers are not alone. There were many in the 18th century, even among the friends of Samuel Johnson. Johnson did not share the fashionable Enlightenment sophistication and the tendency to regard religious doctrines as if they were metaphors. He was once in a discussion and he turned morose.

A lady asked him what was the matter and he said, I think I may be damned.

She said, What do you mean, Sir, to be damned?

He replied: sent to hell and punished everlastingly.

The lady protested: You seem Sir to forget the merits of our Redeemer.

Johnson was in tears, and he said vehemently: I do not forget the merits of our Redeemer. But our Redeemer has said that he will set some at his right hand and some at his left.

- Peter Mullen, in A Partial Vision