PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Holding their feet to the fire

Q. The church I attend says if a person doesn't accept Christ in this lifetime they will go to hell. I do not believe that of course. Where do they find that in the Bible? Far from being the good news of the gospel, this teaching scares people to death. My church teaches that even those from thousands of years past -- who knew nothing of Christ and had no opportunity to accept him -- will end up in hell. How can a just, merciful God punish people and hold them accountable for something they didn't know or understand? I have a feeling this teaching is not correct. Wouldn't Scripture clearly tell us if it were true?

A. This topic is one of the "hot" buttons within Christianity. Many believe that hell must be preached, that people's feet must be held over the ever-burning coals of hell to motivate them to obey God. But the truth is that while there is no doubt that hell and heaven exist, the definitions and descriptions of heaven and hell of today's religion tend to differ widely from those of the Bible.

Within Christendom the idea of hell was forever changed by Dante Alighieri's description of the medieval concept of hell in his epic poem Divine Comedy (see my articles "An Open Letter to Dante," "The Hotter the Better" and "Eternal Torture: Divine or Human Vengeance"). Many Christians, both professionals, pastors and teachers, as well as laity, take their clues from an outdated, outmoded, unscientific and decidedly un-Christ-like view of hell from the religious heritage of Dante that continues to this day.

Many religious folks believe that hell must be preached so that Christians will "keep in line." But when one carefully considers what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about, and what God's grace actually means, and how it plays out in our lives, keeping people under religious control is not the desire of Jesus Christ. That might be effective for religion -- but it is not real, authentic Christianity.

Hell is vigorously defended, and anyone who would differ is often labeled a libertine, permissive, a crank, a heretic, or all of the above. A careful examination of the Bible, of the nature of God and the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to mention God's grace is often not the foundation of such heated exchanges -- the real issue for religious legalism is the defense of its arsenal, the defense of its religious club that it can use to keep people in line.

Sadly, such manipulative teaching is not only unbiblical, it doesn't work -- people are waking up to the abuse and torture of Scripture that has been going on. So, yes, you are correct -- the fiery sinners in the hands of any angry God stuff is more religious than it is Christian.

Having said that, do I believe in heaven and hell? Of course. Heaven is eternity spent in the presence of God, and hell is eternity spent apart from God. That's it. That is not enough, obviously, for some within Christendom who feel they need fiery tirades and yelling matches to keep people from doing bad things. Keeping people from doing bad things is a noble and necessary goal, and we can all wish that more parents, teachers, pastors and others would do more to make this world a better place. But the end of keeping people in line does not justify the means of fear religion. There isn't enough dogmatic and specific information in the Bible to help us define the exactness of hell -- there is in Dante, but last time I checked, Dante is not one of the books of the Bible.

As to those billions of human beings who have lived and died without hearing of Christ -- or those billions who have heard of Christ without understanding who he really is -- and those billions who are enslaved and held captive by all sorts of religions and religious traditions -- again, the Bible is not specific. We may only conclude from what the Bible does tell us about God, that these people are in his just, merciful and loving hands.

Who goes to hell (or heaven) -- what the criteria is -- how many people are or will be in hell and heaven -- all of these are often religious devices. Many churches openly teach, while many others carefully but strongly suggest, that heaven will basically be confined to their denomination -- and all other riff-raff will not make it. Many teach that hell is reserved for those who don't see it their way -- who don't quite measure up. But God says that salvation is by grace, and that he alone determines how and when the riches of his grace are given.

Editor's note: no feet were harmed in the creation of this photo.

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