What the Hell?

It's St. Valentine's Day, which means that I am in my office thinking about eternal punishment. Not that I think being married is equivalent to damnation, not at all. It's just that sarcasm and melancholy are like love languages to me.

I have been thinking a lot about hell over the past few weeks. I have been wondering why I believe in a place called "hell," a place where all those who don't love Jesus go to be tortured by the God who "so loved the world." It seems a strange doctrine to me. Sorry, but it does.

I also wander why the concept of hell has been elevated to such prominence in the modern day evangelical message. We have made hell one of the most significant pillars of the Gospel message. We run around telling people that the key to eternal bliss is to have a "personal relationship with Jesus." The consequences for not beleiving in that relationship, or not accepting it, or not understanding it, or having never heard about it is to be burned alive for all of eternity in a lake of fire. What does that make Jesus? It makes him sound like he isn't so much a savior as he is an abusive bully.

"Love me, or else."

Now there's some good news that'll get 'em running down the isle at our next revival service. Amen, brother. Amen.

Riddle me this, Batman...

I tend to to reject the idea of "the Bible is my Answer Book." True, I believe the Bible offers many answers, but not ALL answers. It never even claims to be the Answer Book. This is what it claims:

"You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 3:17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (The NET Bible)

In a nutshell, the Bible claims to be two things: 1) God-powered or inspired by God; 2) useful for teaching, training, etc. The ultimate purpose for the Bible's God-empowerment and usefulness is to help the person dedicated to God live a good life. I think the Bible can be these things (inspired and useful) and accomplish this purpose (equipping people to live good lives) and not offer answers to every question.

If you think about it, it is somewhat narcissistic to demand that the Bible offer up answers to all my questions. I think it is naive for Christians to claim that it can do so. If anything the Bible answers SOME questions, helps us cope with ambivalence and mystery, and gives us the raw material necessary to live good lives in an ever-changing world.

Goodness Gracious

Here is a post that I contributed to a discussion over at achristianandanatheist.com. I thought I would share it here as well...

I have been thinking about the "God is good" thing and have formulated some thoughts, nothing earth-shattering, just observations.

First, it seems to me that goodness is not transcendent, meaning, it is not something that exists outside our reality and is self-sufficient or self-defined. Human context defines goodness. Moral goodness is culturally defined, as is aesthetic goodness (beauty), etc. To a large extent our cultures have told us what is good or bad (it's good to help the elderly, bad to kick your dog), beautiful or ugly (it is beautiful to be slender, ugly to be obese), and so on. Now there are certainly people who deviate from these culturally derived ideals, but most people do not. For most of us we have come to accept a culturally derived system of goodness.

Second, since cultures vary widely, the concept of goodness will also vary. What is good for me may be bad for you (I like Pink Floyd, you do not). Broadening the cultural context a bit, what may be good in my home state of Pennsylvania (sour kraut, scrapple, and polish sausage) may be distasteful to someone from the south. To a larger extent what may be good in the USA (savings accounts and retirement plans) may be seen as immoral in other countries (people from Central Africa Republic would view such behavior as greedy).

Third, since our culture is very different from the culture of the biblical world, we would expect our concepts of goodness to vary to a certain degree, and they do (dietary laws, how women should dress, etc.)

Fourth, there is a kind of "continuity of goodness" that actually does transcend cultural differences. This continuity is probably impossible to see at the micro level (what kind of music I prefer, or how I dress) but easier to see at the macro level (generally speaking, it is good to care for your family, children, the poor, etc.)

Fifth, and this is pure speculation, what if this broader concept of goodness is a mark of the divine? If we encountered a being who was generous, helpful, loving, sacrificial, beautiful, etc. is it possible that such a being would appeal to this continuity of goodness and be viewed as good by many people across many cultures?

What if redemption wasn't as much about fixing our sin as enlightening our perception of goodness?