The cover story in this week's Time features the question, "What if there's no hell?" Seems that minister Rob Bell, a rising star in parts of the Christian world, is proposing that there really may not be such a place--that is, a place where God, presumably, punishes those who do not believeth in Him. And to his credit, Pastor Bell has enough intellectual integrity to say what frankly anyone should believe: "When we get to what happens when we die, we don't have any video footage. So let's at least be honest that we are speculating, because we are."
That said, Bell's speculation is that a loving God would not and could not condone a place like Hell. And to that, I say, hell yes. The proposed existence of hell is untenable--if one believes that God is a loving being. Indeed, if God is perfectly comfortable with hell, then I'd go so far as to say that He's more nasty and vicious than Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot combined--and by a long shot. Why? Let me count the ways.
First, there's the massive scale involved. Even Hitler, at his "best," could only exterminate 6 million people. If God sends all non-believers to hell, that number would be easily in the BILLIONS. Entire nations--Japan, for example, or China, or more than half of Europe, certainly--would be decimated.
Second, there's the fact that the punishment involves suffering, not death or the termination of existence. At least Stalin only killed people and in the process, we hope, put them out of their misery. But the God which some worship gets his kicks out of making people continue to suffer, literally in lord-knows-what ways. You just don't "die again."
Third and finally--and probably most important--the jail term in hell appears to be ETERNITY. Do you have any idea of how long eternity is? It's now 2011--think BEYOND the year 200,556,994,228,001,669, because that's only the START of eternity. Anyone who would punish anybody for eternity is so patently un-loving that I hardly know how to discuss this matter with a "fire and brimstone" person.
Bottom line: no God is an "awesome" God who would willingly make billions of people suffer for eternity. I simply cannot and will not entertain that thoroughly ridiculous notion. And anyone who does (sorry, I can't resist this closing) can go to hell!
5 comments:
Interesting. Just stumbled on your blog... couldn't help but think of Mormons as I read this, who believe in varying degrees of exaltation and that God will send very, very few to 'hell'
Thanks for the note. I'll check in to that Mormon belief--those LDS people tend to believe some pretty weird things, but that's true of most religions.
ulsterman
The key question for me is not whether one is a believing Christian or
whatever but how does one become "righteous" as Rabbi Wolpe mentions.
He rightly, in my estimation, describes grace but doesn't mention how
heinous our sin is directly. Being righteous in the eyes of a holy God
is the issue. The horrors of hell are addressed by the horrors of the
cross which were so clearly anticipated by the prophets in Psalm 22
and Isaiah 53 to name but two. The question perhaps is not about who
is in hell, for all humankind deserves that, but how can anyone be go
to heaven and be righteous enough to stand before the Holy God. This
would be impossible if the righteous God had not provided for the
mitigation of one's sins through the cross of Y'shua Hamashiach (aka
Jesus Christ).
User ID:http://washingtonpost.com/%2BKWie6vWgWUOFLVSQC82q8goWI6YUHMFVlNQOUtKBgd/tT03sC7QkQ%3D%3D/
and David, you need to look at a blog by Milo Thornberry in oREGON, A Very good MEthodist retired pastor, in BEnd, his blog is at "milo + janus" google this combo and see his bery good chat about how ALL people can go to heaven, not just xIANS AND WHY HE BELIEVES THIS EVEN AS A CHRISTIAN.
What Are the Untruths in Your Religion? Part 1
by MILO thornberry
http://milosjanusoutlook.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-are-untruths-in-your-religion-part.html
You might not think the timing of this question is good. Even though Muslims have no major holy days until August, persons of Jewish faith will begin Passover observance at sundown on Monday, April 18, and many Christians will observe their highest holy day on April 24. Maybe we should wait for “a more convenient season” to ask such hard questions. Or maybe, when the devout are focused on their rich traditions, when the less devout who don’t attend services any other time swell the congregations in this season, and when even the secular press seems to give a pass to religious traditions, just maybe it is the right time to ask some hard questions about religious faiths.
Interfaith dialogue wasn’t convenient after 9/11 but some thought it essential. In Seattle, a Jewish rabbi reached out to a Sufi Muslim, and together they reached out to a Christian minister. After the November 5, 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Laurie Goodstein told the story of “Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship.”
They call themselves the “interfaith amigos.” And while they do sometimes seem more like a stand-up comedy team than a trio of clergymen, they know they have a serious burden in making a case for interfaith understanding in a country reeling after a Muslim Army officer at Fort Hood, Tex., was charged with opening fire on his fellow soldiers, killing 13.
“It arouses once again fear, distrust and doubt,” Sheik Rahman said, “and I know that when that happens, even the best of people cannot think clearly.”
They say they became close by honestly facing their conflicts, not by avoiding them.
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