I got to travel with my fiance to Birmingham, Alabama the other night. We went to see some of her old students graduate from high school. They had over sold the event and it was standing room only. So we left and I got an ICEE. ICEE's are so good.
The night really boiled down to six hours of driving for twenty minutes of picture taking. Although one of the girls did give Jennie a paper that she wrote about her. That was very touching. All that to say, I had some time to think on the way home while Jennie slept. Take the jump.
Jennie was precious on the way up, promising me that she would stay awake because she new she was taking a half day and could stay up. I, of course, new better and prepared myself to drive home. I got a chance to listen to the debate between Gene Cook Jr. (Host of the Narrow Mind podcast) and the very nice atheist Professor, Neal Basham. They debated whether God existed, in an hour, plenty of time. Seriously though, I did enjoy it and both sides gave interesting arguments.
Dr. Basham's credentials coming into the debate apparently hinged on a paper he wrote as it was brought up several times. In the paper he posited that God lies to us in a loving way, to save people. Basham more or less said, Hell is a lie to scare us into a relationship with God so that we can become good people.
I hadn't heard that before. It's nice to hear something new every now and then. What struck me was the idea that Hell is unjust and unloving. Which God me thinking about how Dr. Basham could have misunderstood what seems plain in scripture to me.
The idea of it being unjust is easy to cover. It's unjust if you don't view yourself in light of an objective source of absolution. God being that pinnacle leaves us always coming up short of taking the first step toward attaining that absolute good. So, Hell is just because no one deserves heaven. No one is like God. No one goes to Heaven. Hell is just and reasonable in the Christian world view.
When Dr. Basham brought up the idea that God is love and loving to his family, in an attempt to save them - it got me thinking. How is Hell loving? Is God love even unto those whom go to Hell? I don't jive with the idea of "God loves you all the way to Hell". I lean Calvinist. God's Sovereign, he doesn't watch hopefully as you flit about Him.
So, Hell is a part of God's sovereignty. How is that part of His loving decree? It made me think, and without going to scripture I rode home with that in my mind. I wasn't about to say that God stops being love for some reason. He is what He is, and that left me with trying to figure out how Hell could be loving.
It made me think about how God could be loving and have His part in people going to hell. I mean, if it's not God it's sin and if it's not heaven it's Hell so how could God's creation of Hell ever be considered a loving act? Now, I want to hear what other people have to say about this, but let me tell you where I ended up.
Christ calls us to hate our mothers and family, that scripture has been belabored and everyone basically says, "Well . . . it doesn't really mean hate so much as love God so much that your love for others would be like hate." It can seem a bit convoluted, and that verse alone deserves more than a sentence, but it sets up where I'm coming from. Hell is a loving response when you consider the other option, an eternity in front of God. "But, Chris, won't I have an eternity in front of God?"
The answer is, YES! Thankfully/Hopefully you'll be in front of Him as a son or daughter co-inheritors with Christ. Imagine what would happen if those that God considered His enemies could never escape from Him. I believe Hell would be nothing compared to the constant, aggressive, pro-active vengeance and wrath that would fall on that person for eternity. The enemy of God would beg for hell.
Now, this is just me bumbling around on a road trip and shouldn't be taken as my personal theology as I haven't compared it too deeply to scripture or spent more than a few hours thinking about it. Although, it is fair to say that the whole argument falls apart when you take into account the fact that Hell is the absence of God. So you couldn't have Hell in his presence. Just some thoughts and I'd love to hear what you think!
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