Hell seems to be all the rage these days. The renewed interest results, in part, because of Rob Bell's new book Love Wins. But even more, the furor stems from the reaction of many Evangelical Christians to a promotional video that Bell prepared in advance of the book in which he seems to advocate a position many call "universalism," the belief that God will ultimately redeem all people, leaving none to suffer the fires of hell.
Ironically, this same week preachers from all around the world who follow the Common Lectionary (including Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, UCC and others) will be preparing sermons on the world's most famous Bible verse, John 3:16. In case you don't have it memorized, this verse -- which might be summarized "Love wins!" -- reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
Interestingly, the word for "world" (kosmos in Greek) everywhere else in the Gospel of John describes that entity that is at complete enmity with God. Typical is this prayer by Jesus just before his crucifixion: "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world" (John 17:14-16).
This gives John 3:16 a bit more punch: "For God so loved the God-hating world that he sent his only Son ... ," we might accurately translate. Apparently, at least according to Jesus, God really, really, really loves the world.
This doesn't, of course, by itself address the question of universalism, as the verse continues, "all who believe will not perish but have eternal life." But the force of God's love as articulated by Jesus does raise the question of why hell is so incredibly important to so many Christians? As a theological concept, "hell" is almost entirely missing from the Old Testament and surfaces as a minor concern in the New, showing up most frequently in Jesus' parables (which, let's not forget, regularly defy a literal reading). In contrast, topics like proper treatment of the poor, good use of money, and the imperative to care for neighbor and creation all capture a strikingly disproportionate amount of the attention of the biblical authors.
So why can't a prominent Christian author even question how to reconcile Jesus' description of God's incredible, even incomprehensible love with the notion of condemning souls to eternal torment without being condemned as a heretic? I suspect there are several reasons. Certainly the threat of hell provides a motivational system par excellence. During the Middle Ages, for instance -- when doctrines of hell were most fully developed -- the desire to avoid eternal punishment motivated Christians to all kinds of supposedly pious acts, everything from donating money to build the Sistine Chapel to enlisting in countless Crusades.
But I think the importance we attach to hell today has more to do with the allure of certainty than fear of punishment. A clear sense of the rewards and punishments for having or lacking faith in Christ offers a compelling logic regarding our eternal destiny that reduces ambiguity from the life of faith. After all, and as many Evangelical Christians have argued, if you can go to heaven without believing in Christ, what's the point of faith in the first place? This certainty, in turn, lends believers a sense of authority, even power, as they have a clear standard by which to judge "who's in" and "who's out." Talk about seductive!
But as Bell notes in his video, our notions of hell don't only witness to our beliefs about the afterlife, they also speak volumes about how we imagine God. Is God primarily loving or angry, forgiving or vengeful?
Conservative Evangelicals like John Piper (one of Bell's critics) seem to want it both ways: God is loving, but also just. Therefore, while God desires that all people be saved through faith in Christ out of love, God nevertheless must punish sinners by condemning them to hell or God's justice would be moot. The trouble is, when that's spelled out in plain English -- "God loves you very much, but if you don't believe the right way you're going to suffer eternal torment" -- there's an inescapable contradiction. Karl Barth, arguably the greatest theologian of the twentieth-century, after listening to just such a message by a noted American evangelist, is said to have commented that such logic sounded like the gospel, all right, but at gunpoint.
To be fair, I can understand why classic universalism leaves many Christians -- including myself -- underwhelmed. The idea that whatever religious path you choose is as good as any other seems detached, generic, and rather anemic, hardly representative of the passionate faith of those who follow Jesus. But to assume that God cannot in God's infinite power, love, and wisdom save all persons if God desires? ... Or to assert that there must be a hell if heaven is to be meaningful? ... Such sentiments seem at the very least to underestimate the God of biblical faith.
If Rob Bell advocates that the God revealed in Jesus will not stop until all God's creation is redeemed and recreated -- and I suppose we'll know soon! -- he will not stand alone. Theologians as diverse as Clement and Origin in the third century, Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Paul Tillich in the twentieth, and countless in between also chose not to limit just how far Christ's redemptive love can reach. So doesn't the possibility that God's love will eventually win at least deserve a hearing and civil discussion in our own day? This is, after all, the God who loves the God-hating world so very much we're talking about.
One rebel in the family can disrupt and even corrupt the good conduct and morals of all of the others. For, as Jesus said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
What of the earth, isn't it a house too; its inhabitants don't merely sin, they influence, harm, and maim, kill and murder others too.
Actually the Bible leave out completely the major crimes, it merely speaks of quite ordinary folks who are lovers of themselves covet what others have, are boastful and proud, blasphemer, unthankful, and unable to form loving relationship with anyone, are moneylovers, break their promises,are traitorous, headstrong, and lovers of pleasure and the party spirit.
Just look at Late great America herself.
From here in Europe we see you fighting against yourselves with all your oars in the water and rowing the Ship of state in a seething friction and fractuous downhill slide, (pardon the mixed metaphor)
And most of you Christians simply do not believe the Bible anymore.
That's got to be why Isaiah wrote this:
"let favor be shown to the wicked, yet they will not learn rightesousness, in the land of uprightness(heaven) he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord."
Hell is his only home.
Here you see the reson why you each were given a Free Will, God wants you to choose Him, to Love Him, but even when you do not He will honor your choice. Hell is you who seek to deny God, you will be given a place without God, hell Hell is quite real.
The bible uses many refernces to this " The weeds grow with the wheta, at harvest the whaet is gathered, the weeds burned." Trees that do not bear 'good fruit' are cut down and burned" .
Though not 'biblical;' you can read the decription of the 3 peasant children of Fatima:, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia who were shown hell by the Blessed Mother, who then asked if they would be willing to suffer to save souls from hell. Lucia who lived until recently said they might have died just from that experience if Our Lady had not first promised they woul all go to heaven. Hell is a terrible place, and quite real.
NOTE: you have to get away from preconceived or pagan/Greek philosophies projected onto the Bible.
What happens to us when we die?
Why do we die?
Would it be comforting to know the truth about death?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_06.htm
How do we know that the resurrection will really happen?
How does Jehovah feel about resurrecting the dead?
Who will be resurrected?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_07.htm
What Are Sheol and Hades?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/appendix_08.htm
Jehovah's Witnesses was NOT founded By Christ 2000 years, it was Invented by Charles Taze Russel a man born in 1852 who kept telling the rubes that he knew exactrly when the world was gonna end, first he said 1914, then when it didn't, he said 1915, then 1918, then 1925, and lately we've had the JW's predicting The End in 1975, then 1985, you get the picture, No Wisdom of the Divine here, just the usual man made guessing game as always.
Nothing to believe in here, just another invention of mere men. P.T. Barum was better at at anyway.
Perhaps you have.
The first faithful witness of Jehovah was the righteous man Able (who was hated by his brother - only because his works were righteous).
The long line of faithful witnesses of Jehovah are referenced in Hebrews chapter 11.
And of course Jesus it the THE Faithful Witness and the greatest witness of them all...
(Isaiah 43:10) “YOU are my witnesses,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “even my servant whom I have chosen, in order that YOU may know and have faith in me, and that YOU may understand that I am the same One.
(Revelation 1:4-5) May YOU have undeserved kindness and peace from “The One who is and who was and who is coming,” and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, “the Faithful Witness,” “The firstborn from the dead,” and “The Ruler of the kings of the earth.”
It is all quite logical and reasonable. Not based on man-made traditions or doctrines but simply on the Bible..
The first faithful witness of Jehovah was the righteous man Able (who was hated by his brother - only because his works were righteous).
The long line of faithful witnesses of Jehovah are referenced in Hebrews chapter 11.
And of course Jesus it the THE Faithful Witness and the greatest witness of them all...
(Revelation 1:4-5) May YOU have undeserved kindness and peace from “The One who is and who was and who is coming,” and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, “the Faithful Witness,” “The firstborn from the dead,” and “The Ruler of the kings of the earth.”
Hell is not that, hell is agony, it is being permenantly cut offf from, and denied God for all eternity. Hell is real, and beyond our imagination in its horror, and its unending timeline. Hell is what we should all be wise enough to avoid. Pretending it doesn't exist is foolish. Ignoring danger does not make it go away.
Anyone else seeing the disconnect here....?
Nope, still not buying into it.
No wonder I'm your fan!
faved!
Philippians 3:10 " . . . That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His Death." (cf.Gal2:20)
Romans 8:17 " . . . .and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." (cf 1Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor 6:9; 1 Pet.4:1, 13 )
Suffering is used by God, as we saw the pure innocent Jesus suffer so in the days of His suffering. We who would follow Jesus in His Resurrection and Glory must be willing to join Him in His suffering, so whenever you suffer even a little say a prayer that tells Him you remember what He did for you, and you combine your little suffering to better join in His sufferings. Padre Pio suffered the stigmata, the five visible wounds of Christ for over 50 years, that is a great gift from God, the suffering is possible because God made Padre Pio able to bear it. The children of Fatima were also asked to suffer for souls, and they chose to do that. Read "The 3 Shepherds of Fatima" an excellent Non-fiction book.