Yesterday, I preached on hell. It wasn’t a hell, fire, and brimstone sermon. I rarely get to that energy level and try to not throw stones. I was responding a Rob Bell’s new book seeming to question the current idea of hell. Also, I had a lady in our church come to me with a question. She said that a fellow employee was going around telling folks that if you don’t read your Bible you will go to hell. Now I would be impressed if someone knew who was in (God’s kingdom) and who is out but I am not impressed by these rule seekers. If I read correctly Jesus wasn’t very impressed either. He liked to shake up their world by flipping these kinds of comments back on them. You see I think Jesus doesn’t want anyone to go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). We are way too quick to condemn. As one seminary professor I know has stated, “If you put your lips on a stove you won’t go to hell but you will burn your lips off!” I think we often skip the common sense test when talking about this great subject. It would seem better to be talking about how to embrace and enjoy God’s love rather than our “brilliant” thoughts on some great eternal plan. Anyway that is the way I see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment