“’How is it going at your church?’ ‘Well,' said the other church member.... 'we are going through an interesting time at our church. You see, a few months ago our church fired our pastor.’ ‘How come,’ the 1st member asked?’ ‘Well’ said the 2nd member, ‘it is like this...this pastor kept preaching that we are going to go to hell, and so we fired him.’ ‘Wow’ said the 1st member, ‘that seems to be very drastic. So how does your church deal with this difficult situation?’ ‘Well, you see, we got a new pastor,’ said the 2nd church member.’ ‘And how does he preach?’ the 1st member asked. ‘Well, it is interesting that you asked. He also preaches that we are going to go to hell.’ ‘So, what is the difference between this pastor and the one you had before? Are you going to fire him too?’ the 1st member asked. ‘No,’ the 2nd member responded. You see, when the first pastor preached it seemed like he liked preaching about hell, but when our new pastor preaches about hell it breaks his heart.’ ‘Wow,’ the 1st member responded and thoughtfully walked away."And so it is in many congregations today. As you know, we prefer to talk about the pleasant side of Christianity and we like preachers that do. But what do we say about the alternative, if people choose not to follow Jesus? If we don’t follow Jesus, as persons and communities, what results can we expect? How do we talk not only about Christian comfort, but also about discomfort? How do we grasp the significance of what the Church has said down the years about the awful possibility of final loss?
First, it must be said as clearly as possible that as soon as we find ourselves wanting to believe in Hell we find ourselves in great danger. The desire to see others punished – including the desire to do the punishing ourselves – has no place in a Christian scheme of things. Of course there is a right and proper desire for justice, but the desire to punish, must be distinguished from this. If I want to see someone else in torment, it may say more about the condition of my heart than anything else.
Second, most of the passages in the NT, which have been thought by the church to refer to people going into eternal punishment after they die, don’t in fact refer to any such thing. When Jesus uses language about the awful punishment in store for those who rejected his message, it must be read as warnings of the awful future that awaited the nation of Israel if she rejected the way of peace which Jesus was proposing. When Jesus spoke about “Gehenna,” the Greek word for hell, he was talking about the Jerusalem rubbish-dump – a great, foul, smouldering heap of trash away from the city. His warning was that those who persisted in going the way of nationalist rebellion rather than the way of peace would turn Jerusalem into a huge and foul extension of its own rubbish dump. And of course, as we know, this warning came true when Caesar Nero in 70 AD destroyed Jerusalem.
Third, if we worship other gods, and not the one in whose image we were created, we run the risk of becoming less and less human. These other gods are not life giving. Every day on television we see images of those who have ceased being truly human, because they have given themselves over to the demonic gods of this world. They are more like beasts, when they make the decision to blow themselves up or kill innocent people. They in fact have become inhuman. Those who persistently refuse to follow Jesus, the true image of God, will by their own choice become less and less like him, that is, less and less truly human. We sometimes say... these people have turned into monsters. So, here is my point... If human beings insist that God leaves them alone then God’s final response is “as you will.” Because some choose to dehumanize themselves, and because God gave his human creatures the risky gift of freedom and choice, I also see God honoring that choice. Hell is the final resting place of the person who has chosen to reject God. Hell is a condition of horrid Godlessness, outside the city, where a person is severed from the very source and giver of life and love. The reality of how God will handle this in the end remains a mystery. And let’s not forget about accountability. Every person will have to give an account of him or herself and stand before the judge, which is Jesus Christ himself. Here, I am glad to say that Jesus will be a fair judge. After all, he knows what it’s like to be human.
In closing, we can’t ignore the heart of God. It is a heart of compassion not wanting anyone to go astray. 2 Peter 3:9 says: “It is not God’s will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” The call for us is to follow the one who brings to us a kingdom of gentleness and justice. It is the voice crying in the wilderness...”Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest.”
Questions to ponder:
- Do you view hell as a place for people to get what they deserve or a sad finale to one's life?
- How would this view of hell affect how you live day to day and interact with others?
- How would viewing hell as "A condition of horrid Godlessness, outside the city, where a person is severed from the very source and giver of life and love" affect your sharing of the Gospel with unbelievers?
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Couldn't join us Wednesday night? Watch the Exploration Revelation Class - Week 4
Recorded Live on July 6th, 2016
Exploring Revelations with Pastor Johan Tredoux - Week 4
Posted by COMMUNITY Covenant Church on Wednesday, July 6, 2016
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