Hell And The God Of Love

We're continuing a discussion of the existence of the human soul after death. 

Back in October, 2008 Dr. Ken R Vincent delivered a lecture delivered to the Psi Beta Psychology Honor Society at Houston Community College on The Dark Side of Spiritually Transformative Experiences. The lecture was later published in 2009 in the liberal magazine Universalist Herald as an article titled "Religious Experience Research Reveals Universalist Principles."  In his college lecture Dr. Vincent quoted two people who had negative near-death experiences of hell. 

• “I was in hell…I cried up to God, and it was by the power of God and the mercy of God that I was permitted to come back.” (Rommer, 2000, p. 42)
• “God, I’m not ready, please help me…I remember when I screamed (this), an arm shot out of the sky and grabbed my hand at the last second.  I was falling off the end of the funnel, the lights flashing; and the heat was really something.” (Greyson & Bush, 1992, p. 100)

I won't comment on the validity of these reports. However, I do want to emphasize that even such a far-left leaning journal as the Universalist Herald finds it important to acknowledge the existence of hell. However—and this is critical—they do not believe nor teach that hell is permanent. In his article Dr. Vincent suggests that

“Hell may last as long a sinful humanity lasts, but that does not mean that any individual will remain in it all that time. The time of purging can only continue until purification is reached. And a God driven to employ endless hell would be a God turned fiend himself, defeated in his original purpose…. but God will never desert the soul.”

Is the Biblical teaching of hell indeed a teaching about a fiendish God who loves only selectively? Here are Jesus' comments about hell as reported by Matthew's Gospel:

• But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. ... If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. - Mat 5:22, 29-30 ESV
• And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Mat 10:28 ESV
• And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Mat 16:18 ESV
• And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. - Mat 18:9 ESV
• Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ... You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? - Mat 23:15, 33 ESV

Is this indeed the same Lord who said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Matt 11:28 ESV? And again, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16 ESV?

How does one reconcile a loving God in Christ with the concept of souls going to hell after the body has died, only to be resurrected and confined body and soul to hell forever?

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' ... "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ... Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Mat 25:30, 41, 45-46 ESV

The Greek for eternal does indeed say that the darkness, fire and punishment will never cease. The huge question that troubles many is how to reconcile this Word of God with His revealing of Himself in Christ as the God of love who bears our burdens and carries our sorrows (Isa. 53:3-4). The brief answer lies in the fact that we have been endowed with the power to choose. While every sin is by its very nature damnable, in the final analysis it is the sin of refusing to accept God's mercy in Christ that condemns.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ... Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. - John 3:17-18, 36 ESV

As someone has said, you can only get into hell over the crucified body of Christ. But there is much, much more that needs to be said about this. That discussion will have to wait for later postings.

God's Love For All You God-Fearers

We're back in John 9. Today we'll listen to the unnamed blind man whom Jesus healed by sending him to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, of course, didn't believe it had happened, even though it happened right before their eyes. To them it was all some kind of trick. They even challenged the man's parents. Those poor folks didn't want to get in trouble, so they said, "Ask him; he's of age. He will speak for himself." So for the second time they called the former blind man before them and demanded that he give glory to God. Jesus could surely have not healed him, for this work had been done on the Sabbath when it was strictly forbidden by Moses that anyone should work. Therefore Jesus was indeed a sinner. We can see the healed man shrugging his shoulders as he answered their questions.

"Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

All this did not fit in with their presuppositions. God would surely not answer a man like Jesus and heal someone on the Sabbath. Yet the man was healed. What to do? Get rid of him. They answered the man now able to see, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And so they cast him out. Done. Problem gone.

The poor man was cast out, but not forgotten by Jesus. The Lord found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

Jesus said, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."

The healed said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him.

I'd like to pick up on that phrase: "he worshipped him." Note above the man said, "... if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." There were a significant number of God-fearing Gentiles (non-Jews) who were impressed with the Jewish understanding of one God, but who could not or would not submit to the legal regulations about food, Sabbath and circumcision. They were known as God-fearers. We frequently read about them in the Book of Acts. They made up a significant number of early converts to Christianity.

• So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. - Act 13:16 ESV
• "Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. - Act 13:26 ESV
• One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. - Act 16:14 ESV
• So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. - Act 17:17 ESV
• And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. - Act 18:7 ESV

There's a great story in Acts 10 about one of these God-fearers, a certain Cornelius of Caesarea who was guided by an angel to call for Peter. Peter, in turn, was given a vision and a command to eat ceremonially unclean food. As he pondered the vision, Cornelius' men came to his house and the Spirit said to him that he should accompany them without hesitation (Acts 10:17-20). Peter went with them and proclaimed the Gospel to them. From that point on he and the other Apostles were thoroughly convinced that God's love in Christ was for all men. "Truly I understand," he said, "that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

What great and glorious news to anyone who is confused and struggling to understand God and the mysteries of walking with Him. If you are one such God-fearer, it does not matter if you do not understand everything there is to know about spiritual matters. You may even feel thrown out by some congregation of so-called Christians for not observing all the niceties and rules of their fellowship. You may feel hopeless and confused about how your sins could ever be forgiven. You may be quite in the dark about what is right and what is wrong. You may be searching and longing for understanding and light, but not knowing where to turn. Listen again to Peter's words,

"Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." - Act 10:34-35 ESV

Know that God's love is not limited or restricted. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find that He is already at your side ready to accept and forgive and love and lead you.