Notable Christians

The Question of Hell

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Hell signIf you’re a Christian who regularly peruses the Web, it’s impossible to have missed the recent brouhaha over a book that talks about hell. The author of the book says he wrote it to address the questions of people regarding hell and the afterlife. Most every review of the book mentions that the book raises more questions than it answers and that its few answers aren’t all that great.

And the battle rages…

A lot of Christians don’t want to talk about their questions about the Bible and their faith. To have the standard theology handed to us and to be left with questions afterward makes Christians uncomfortable. It makes people doubt their faith or question their church or denomination. So people clam up and bury their questions.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 35 years. In that time, I’ve read countless books on various topics within the Christian faith. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that discussed the issue of hell in a way that didn’t leave me with more questions than answers. I don’t believe I’m alone.

That said, I do hew to the standard of belief that hell is a real place. People will go to hell, which is the worst place imaginable and reflects separation from God. Hell is meant for beings who rebel against God. Jesus Christ is the answer to the question of hell. He is the path that leads away from hell. His death and resurrection made it possible that people who are found in Him will not go to hell.

That may sound simplistic. If it does, I apologize in advance. But I think that when we look at the whole of Christian theology since the passing of the apostles, that brief paragraph adequately covers the majority of what scholars have gleaned from the Bible about hell. On many of the nuances, especially concerning what was left out of that paragraph, you will find considerable questions or disagreements.

One of the struggles I have with understanding hell is that that the two major streams of thought on salvation from hell have some articulation issues that only lead to further questions.

Most Christians believe that God created mankind for His own pleasure. Most believe that mankind sinned by rebelling against God. Questions of justice and love now lead us to ask what happens to the rebels.

Some Christians believe that God sends His Spirit to some people He has selected and that these people will become believers in Jesus and thus avoid hell. They have been chosen by God.

But there is the question of what to do with those God didn’t select. They didn’t ask to be born. They didn’t ask to be in the group that didn’t get chosen. They ended up there by default with no opportunity of getting out of that group. If you’ve ever been passed over by the “team captain” when sides are chosen in a sport, you know what it’s like to be left out because of your deficiencies. Only being left off the team destined for heaven is far, far worse.

Some Christians believe that God sends His Spirit to all people and that people choose to believe in Jesus and thus avoid hell. They choose God.

But there is the question of what kind of choice this is. If I am given the choice of an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii for eternity or being doused with gasoline and set on fire (even for just a couple minutes), can it be said that I am making a real choice? And is it possible that a person can choose heaven just because it sounds like a great place but at the same time be indifferent to God?

Both positions leave open many, many questions. What about the person who lived in the jungles of South America in AD 500? What about the good person who acknowledges there is one God but doesn’t know about Jesus? Is the only opportunity to come to Jesus available in this life ? Jesus says a lot about people who call Him Lord but who do not do what He asks of them. What about those people?

Those who spend a great deal of time studying the Bible and are wise in interpreting it always caution us to be careful when we try to build entire theologies from a couple verses. Some of the questions in the previous paragraph are briefly addressed in the Bible, but those questions of the “good pagan” and “the spirits in prison” that Paul and Peter discuss respectively have been debated for generations.

I’ve been a Christian for a long time. I still have questions about these issues.

Some people would point to these questions and try to say something negative about the Bible and the Christian faith. That’s a foolish thing to do.

My question is this: What are you and I doing with the indisputable facts about Jesus, the rebellion of sin, and heaven and hell?

Anyone who has been a soldier in a war will tell you that the commands that come down from HQ will tell you all you need to know for the fight. Not every detail will be covered, and at times you’ll need another guide when events play out in battle in ways unanticipated or unique to the fight. Between the commands and the guide, the war is winnable.

Our faith works the same way.

The Bible tells us that hell is a real place. We know that sin exists. We know that Jesus is the answer to questions of both sin and hell.

Now what are we doing about those truths?

How Would Jesus Blog?

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I’ve been on the Internet since the time when it was the ARPANET defense network linking universities and the military.

I was emailing people in 1981.

I was at Carnegie Mellon University when the smiley was invented there.

I owned a 300 baud modem.

I watched USENET spring into being, with its rec dots and alt whatevers.

I played in a band with one of the guys who developed the Netscape browser.

I had my own domain name in 1997.

I beta-tested Google.

I was blogging in 2001.

In other words, my cyberspace geek cred is pretty high.

I say all that to say this: Online discourse is only getting worse.

One could say that this is because the intellectual elites have ceded the Web to the great unwashed. Cyberspace is now a commodity. And as with most commodities, anything now goes.

One could argue that the Second Law of Thermodynamics applies even to human conversations, and if the Internet is any reflection, no rebuttal would be forthcoming.

Let’s play a game.

Let’s pretend to be aliens from another dimension who happen to gain access to the Internet. And let’s say that we start reading about this thing called Christianity and the people who adhere to it.

What would our general impression be of Christian people?

If the Internet is the well of information from which we draw, then would it be unfair to characterize Christianity as a religion of anger and dissension?

I’m no alien, but I’ve been around long enough online to answer that question with a reluctant yes.

And it’s not just on the Internet. The general level of anger and dissension among Christians has reached a level that resembles nothing I can recall in my younger Christian days. Jesus weptIt’s like we’ve had our skin torn off and we think anyone and everyone is ready to throw salt on us.

I don’t understand the glee with which some Christians tear into others. I don’t understand respected pastors, who should know better, making smug tweets about this person or that. I don’t get it when people use online forums to gather wood for figuratively burning other Christians alive. I don’t get it that no one seems to ask if it’s wise to post that wicked barb before they hit the Enter key.

I don’t get the massive pride among some who feel they are always the best person to administer the corrective beat down. I don’t know where people get their imprimatur to verbally assault incomplete, imperfect brothers and sisters in the faith. And I don’t know why all this must occur online for the world to see.

The bent reed is broken. The smoldering ember snuffed.

Is anyone else grieved? God knows that I am. And if I am, I wonder what the average person who hasn’t been a Christian for almost 35 years thinks. That figurative “alien.”

I’m grieved that when I see Christianity represented on the Web by the ordinary adherents of that faith, so much of the discourse is angry. Angry at politicians. Angry at cultural leaders. Angry at Christian leaders. Angry at other Christians of extreme ordinariness. Angry at every perceived foe. Anger everywhere one turns, and especially on the Web.

Honestly, why would anyone want to be a part of that?

I’ve reached the point where I think we are doing the Lord a great disservice by all this anger. American Christians are now defined by what ticks us off. Or who ticks us off. And there’s not a lot of Jesus at the core of that.

The words of Jesus:

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 5:2-16

A Life That Draws People to Jesus

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Jack Hayford is probably my favorite living preacher/teacher. I never fail to learn something from him.

Here he shares about being a person of winsomeness who attracts others and serves as a liaison to Jesus. In these angry, judgmental times we live in, this could not be a more sure word, and one that more of us need to hear and heed.

JackHayford from Jubilee Church on Vimeo.

(HT: Adrian Warnock)