Yesterday Chad Holtz left a comment on a post of mine from May 2011, "What Jesus Really Meant by the Story of Lazarus," in which I suggest that the parable is not, as it's traditionally accepted to be, intended as a lesson about the reality of a literal hell, but rather as a lesson about ourselves. In response Chad wrote:
As someone who lost his pulpit for not believing in hell, I would have loved this rendering. But I think Its [sic] wrong.I believe the point of the rich man now begging for even a drop of water off the dirty finger of a poor man illustrates how dreadful hell truly is. It is so awful that pretense is gone, and he would now gladly beg for just a drop of water to quench his thirst from the one he ignored in his life.
Lets not forget the plea as well. He wanted his family to change ... to know that this hell is real and to repent lest they all join him.
Hell is real. Woe to us who have lost all fear of God.
Unemployed but heralded as a martyr for the Christian left, Chad turned his attentions to his blog, Dancing on Saturdaywhere, earlier in the month in which he got fired, he had stirred the ire of his congregation by publishing a piece entitled, "What I Lost Losing Hell," in which he spoke of how no longer believing in the traditional view of hell had freed him to become a more deeply spiritual person. "Love does, indeed, win," he wrote. (Chad also wrote that in "losing hell" he had lost "a very powerful and useful motivator: Fear. ... I lost the ability to use fear as a tool to manipulate others to believe as I did.")
Buoyed high by the tidal wave of "Love Wins," a revamped Dancing proved very popular. But as the months passed and the waters calmed its popularity waned. What seemed to finally drown Dancing was Chad's efforts to utilize it to launch a new church ministry he attempted to start based upon the sexual addiction he often blogged about suffering.
According to his blog it was said addiction which led to Chad's wife of eight years, Amy, filing for divorce in July 2011. The couple have five young children, two of whom are siblings from Ethiopia who were ages three and five when the Holtz's adopted them in early 2008.
In October 2011 Chad declared on his blog that early the following month he would be leaving the world behind in order to spend seven months overcoming his sexual addiction at Kentucky's Pure Life Ministries, where they practice a brand of Christianity it's safe to call ultra-conservative.
From PLM's website:
Our 35 full-time biblical counselors and support staff are fully committed to bringing the hope, healing, and restoration found only in Christ to those who have been touched by the leprosy of sexual sin. ...(Italics are mine.)In fulfilling our call, Pure Life Ministries is founded upon the authority of the Word of God as the supreme and all-sufficient Truth for overcoming sin. We unashamedly preach a message of repentance unto salvation. Everything we do -- whether in our counseling programs, our speaking ministry, the distribution of our books and resources -- all these things are based on the Word of God, with the goal of leading others to victory over sexual sin through a deeper life in God.
Accompanying that comment was an invitation to visit Chad's new blog, Unchained. (On their website Pure Life Ministries presents slick, drama-drenched testimonial videos called Unchained: The Stories, which includes such titles as It never ever dawned on me that I was on my way to hell; I associated myself as a gay man; All I knew was that I had a secret life of homosexuality; I was angry, so angry; and He finally got up the nerve to tell me he struggled with homosexuality. Each video ends with its subject saying, "My name is [so-and-so], and I've been unchained.") I originally deleted the link within Chad's comment on my blog because, having looked at Unchained, I thought it and the comment itself fake. Subsequent poking about convinced me it's not.
Chad's new blog consists of but one entry. Dated June 1 (byline: "chadholtznew"), it is titled "I repent." Highlights of that post include:
"I repent of my past denial of hell or that a person could ever be eternally seperated [sic] from a holy God. I know now that I had no fear of God. Therefore, I had no knowledge of God (Prov. 1:7). I was a fool with an MDiv. I was wrong."
"Marrow's Chapel United Methodist Church was right to ask me to leave. It was God's mercy."
"Love doesn't win. God wins. And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy, living God (Heb. 10.31). I lost sight of this and God, in His mercy, granted me a chance to repent."
"Like Paul, I count pretty much everything I said and did in the past as dross (Phil. 3:8) compared to the intimacy I now have with Jesus."
"[Jesus] saved me. I know today that I am free, redeemed, delivered, unchained. I know what it means to live at the cross and to walk in daily repentance. I know what it is to fear God and the joy of holiness. The chains that bound me for decades are gone. The blood of Jesus has washed me clean! Hallelujah!"
"God has even seen fit to restore my dead marriage. He not only saved me, God saved Amy as well. Days of depression and anxiety are gone and her strength and joy is found in the Lord. In March she wrote me in only [sic] of her many letters to me:
I used to get so angry at women who said that one day I would look back on all of this and be grateful. But crazy as it may sound, I am so thankful for our many afflictions, Chad, because through them I have been brought closer to Christ."
Chad has eliminated all online traces possible of his former self -- most certainly including his old blog (which is also now apparently infected with malware it's waiting to download onto your computer should you dare to visit it). I would venture to guess, however, that we will soon enough be hearing from the new Chad. I would be surprised if he hasn't already signed to write at least one book with a Christian publisher in the evergreen "He was lost to the sin of sexual addiction, but now he's found -- and now he and his long-suffering wife are the happiest Christian married couple ever!" genre.
And now, if I might, on a more personal note:
Chad! Great to hear from you! Sounds like you're feeling very good about your time at Pure Life. That's wonderful. I guess you and I don't share beliefs about hell anymore! But so what? When it comes to what's behind Door Number Death, even the most religiously inspired must admit that ultimately they, too, are necessarily speculating. The important thing is that you're now feeling better and back with your family. How beautiful is that? The best of luck to you in whatever preaching or writing opportunities are surely awaiting you now.
Hey, so, one thing I wanted to ask you about, Chad.
Before leaving for Pure Life Ministries you were an unwavering defender of the idea that God blesses same-sex relationships the same as he does straight ones. Your blog post "Homosexuality: God's Gift to the Church" is typical of your forthright and unabashed work on this matter. So is this, which you wrote not long before leaving for Pure Life:
Scripture has nothing to say about "same sex relationships" as we know them today. Not a word. All 6 times it comes up in the Bible they are unanimously about cultic worship, abuse or rape. None of them have a loving, mutual relationship in sight. ... What, exactly, is "sinful" about a loving, committed, same-sex relationship? Can anyone tell me what it is about this that makes it sinful, apart from just saying, "God said so"? In other words, we can no doubt come up with all sorts of reasons why murder, adultery, incest, lying, stealing, lust, etc are "sinful" which don't rely solely on "God said so." So what is it about a same sex loving relationship that is "sinful"?
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https://desiremercy.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/powerofthegospel/#comment-53 which has so far met with silence.
All I am asking is honesty, but I fear that virtue has been exorcised in this process.
If so, I'd have to call the enterprize junk religion.
Is the account, at Luke 16:19-31, literal or merely an illustration of something else?
Notice The Jerusalem Bible, in a footnote, acknowledges that it is a “parable in story form without reference to any historical personage.”
If taken literally, it would mean that those enjoying divine favor could all fit at the bosom of one man, Abraham; that the water on one’s fingertip would not be evaporated by the fire of Hades; that a mere drop of water would bring relief to one suffering there. Does that sound reasonable?
If it were literal, it would conflict with other parts of the Bible.
If the Bible were thus contradictory, would a lover of truth use it as a basis for his faith?
But the Bible does not contradict itself.
So what does the parable mean? The “rich man” represented the Pharisees. (See verse 14.) The beggar Lazarus represented the common Jewish people who were despised by the Pharisees but who repented and became followers of Jesus. (See Luke 18:11; John 7:49; Matthew 21:31, 32.)
Their deaths were also symbolic, representing a change in circumstances. Thus, the formerly despised ones came into a position of divine favor, and the formerly seemingly favored ones were rejected by God, while being tormented by the judgment messages delivered by the ones whom they had despised.—Acts 5:33; 7:54.
The Bible refers to 2 such named that. One was literal who was the friend of Jesus the brother of Mary and Martha. This one was raised from the dead. The other was of course symbolic.
Note that the language throughout the account at Luke 16:22-26
is plainly parabolic and cannot be construed literally in view of all the preceding texts. Notice, however, that “the rich man” of the parable is spoken of as being “buried” in Hades, giving further evidence that Hades means the common grave of mankind.
Consider also..after Jesus died and was raised up, the apostle Peter assured his audience that Jesus “was not left in hell.” (Acts 2:27, 31, 32; Psalm 16:10; King James Version) The word translated “hell” in this verse is the Greek word Hai′des. Jesus did not go to some fiery place. Hades, or “hell,” was the grave. But Jesus is not the only one whom God releases from Hades.
In connection with the resurrection, the Bible says: “Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.” (Revelation 20:13, 14, KJ) Emptying “hell” will mean restoring to life all those whom God judges worthy of a resurrection. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) What a marvelous hope for the future—seeing our dead loved ones brought back from the grave! Jehovah, the God of infinite love, will do this.
http://desiremercy.wordpress.com/
The doctrine of eternal conscious suffering in hell is powerful in the minds of believers. And hard to fully dismiss for those who have "grown out" of Evangelical Christianity.
After my "deconversion", I'm now amazed at how many people arrive at a literal view of hell from interpretting the Bible. In a book filled with metaphor, parable, figurative language, etc... To view hell as an actual, real, literal fiery pit or some sort of human oven is so strange.
I guess this probably has to do, in large part, with the fact that so few Christians study the Bible apart from the "guidings" of their particular church.
I feel for Chad - he made a mighty effort to step away from his evangelical background, but fear and loathing won the day, and longing for acceptance and worth, he returned to what he knew. Time will tell.
Consider this....
at Jer. 7:31: “They [apostate Judeans] have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.”
**If it never came into God’s heart, surely he does not have and use such a thing on a larger scale.
I've used this illistration before , but it bears repeating...
....................... What would you think of a parent who held his child’s hand over a fire to punish the child for wrongdoing? “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Would he do what no right-minded human parent would do? Certain not!
You have just created your own hell!