Hell

I'm doing a few messages this summer on hell. Our sermon series is titled, "Love Does Win" and is a response to the questions raised by Rob Bell in his book, Love Wins. In no way are we seeking to bash Rob Bell, but he has raised important questions about foundational aspects of the Christian faith, so we are talking about them. Hell is one of the areas he addresses. I'm sure just reading the title of this post caused you to pause and wonder if you want to even think about this possibility. There are probably a lot of other blog posts to read, sports scores to check or maybe even some time to spend on Facebook. Anything would be more uplifting than this.

Yet, we have to talk about hell. Our view of hell impacts our Christian faith and practice. "It is difficult to reject the reality of hell and hold a high view of Scripture," says Dr. Michael Wittmer in his book Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell's Love Wins.

I also listened to a very challenging message by Tim Keller. You can find it HERE. It's titled, "Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry judge?" A couple of the quotes from the message that stood out, "What does it cost your God to love you?" and "If God is not angry at injustice, that God wouldn't be worthy of worship." 

And finally this quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for.” (Spurgeon, Spurgeon at His Best, p. 68-78)

Don't you think that one of the main reasons that countless men and women over the course of history have given their lives for the cause of Christ is that not only did they believe in who He is and what He offers, but it is because they also believed in the reality of hell. Why the urgency if there is no hell? Why sacrifice all if we're all saved in the end? We can't make decisions about hell and God is if we are the final authority. We cannot create God in our image and determine who he is because of who we want him to be. We can't say there is no hell because we want a loving god. We must allow God to be the final authority and source of His own revelation. He has to show us who He is and we have to listen to what He says. He has revealed the reality of hell. We cannot deny and we cannot minimize it. We cannot long for anyone to end up in this place. We must embrace our call to share the truth of Jesus Christ and the consequences for those who reject Him.

Beginning Again I've been on a break from blogging because my operational leadership has been running my life. The tyranny of the urgent has been an idol and the space for reflection, prayer, and doing those things that increase my capacity have been lacking. I confess this before you and want to recommit to this endeavor - not for your sake but for mine. It is part of my learning. It is part of adaptive leadership. It is a means to process, listen, and grow. I am thankful for your patience, but I hope you will not give up on this site. You can get a sense of what's been unfolding by reading past posts, but I hope you'll see in the future, how God has been significantly helping me grow - in both understanding but also through action - through living out the practice of following Jesus. I invite you on that journey, and if this space is helpful, all the better. I commit to a weekly offering so if you check back each week, you will find new content, thoughts, and maybe even confession. I hope you are reminded in a multitude of ways today how deeply you are loved and how important it is that we open ourselves up to God and each other to be deeply known.