Posted on 02/09/2014 8:05:52 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
According to recent polls, some 81 percent of adult Americans believe in heaven, and fully 80 percent expect to go there when they die. By comparison, about 61 percent believe in hell, but less than 1 percent think it’s likely they will go there. In other words, a slight majority of Americans still believe hell exists, but genuine fear of hell is almost nonexistent.
Even the most conservative evangelicals don’t seem to take hell very seriously anymore. For decades, many evangelicals have downplayed inconvenient biblical truths, neglecting any theme that seems to require somber reflection. Doctrines such as human depravity, divine wrath, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the reality of eternal judgment have disappeared from the evangelical message.
The trend has not escaped everyone’s attention. Thirty years ago, for example, Martin Marty, religious historian, professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and critic of all things evangelical, delivered the Ingersoll Lecture on Immortality at Harvard Divinity School. The title of his message was “Hell Disappeared. No One Noticed.” Marty’s research had failed to turn up a single scholarly article dealing with the subject of hell in any significant theological journal over the previous century. Citing the dearth of attention being given to so large a topic, Marty suggested that if evangelicals really took seriously what Scripture says about eternal punishment, someone with a voice should notice.
Almost no one did. Eighteen years later, The Los Angeles Times featured a front-page article titled “Hold the Fire and Brimstone,” pointing out that many style-conscious evangelical church leaders were purposely omitting the theme of divine retribution:
In churches across America, hell is being frozen out as clergy find themselves increasingly hesitant to sermonize on … a story line that no longer resonates with churchgoers. [According to] Harvey Cox Jr., an eminent author, religious historian and professor at the Harvard Divinity School, “You can go to a whole lot of churches week after week, and you’d be startled even to hear a mention of hell.”
Hell’s fall from fashion indicates how key portions of Christian theology have been influenced by a secular society that stresses individualism over authority and the human psyche over moral absolutes. The rise of psychology, the philosophy of existentialism, and the consumer culture have all dumped buckets of water on hell.
The article profiled an evangelical pastor who said he believes in hell, but (according to the Times) “you’d never know it listening to him preach… . He never mentions the topic; his flock shows little interest in it.” Asked why the doctrine of hell has gone missing, this pastor replied, “It isn’t sexy enough anymore.”
The article also quoted a well-known seminary professor who more or less agreed. Hell, he said, is “just too negative… . Churches are under enormous pressure to be consumer-oriented. Churches today feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding.”
The article closed with a quote from Martin Marty, almost two decades after his famous lecture on the subject. He agreed that market-driven concerns are the main reason hell is being expunged from the evangelical message:
Once pop evangelism went into market analysis, hell was just dropped. When churches go door to door and conduct a market analysis … they hear, “I want better parking spaces. I want guitars at services. I want to have my car greased while I’m in church.”
Years of indifference finally paved the way for open hostility. In the first decade of the new millennium, certain prominent figures in the “emergent church” declared war on the biblical doctrine of hell. The groundswell seemed to crest a couple of years ago with the publication of Rob Bell’s bestselling book Love Wins. Bell argued that it’s absurd to think a loving God would ever damn anyone to eternal punishment. He portrayed God’s love as a force that clashes with and ultimately eliminates the demands of justice. In the storyline Bell envisions, God requires no payment or punishment for sin. The divine response to evil is always remedial, never punitive. Furthermore, the wages of sin are mild, temporary, and reserved only for grossly malevolent villains—mass murderers, child rapists, tyrants who engineer genocide, and (one supposes) Christians who tell unbelievers they should fear God. When it’s all over, everyone will be together in paradise.
In such a system, God’s righteousness is compromised, repentance is optional, atonement is unnecessary, and the truth of God’s Word is nullified. In other words, nothing of biblical Christianity is left. Once anyone sets out to tone down or tame the hard truths of Scripture, that’s where the process inevitably leads.
Only a few leading voices in the evangelical movement have lobbied boldly for a more orthodox approach to the doctrine of hell. They seem to be outnumbered by those who think the disappearance of hell is a positive development.
Some have proposed alternative ways to speak of sin and judgment in gentler, toned-down, and more refined and socially acceptable terminology than Scripture uses. Sin is deemed wrong not because it is an offense against the righteousness of God, but because of the hurt it causes others. Hell is described not as a place of eternal punishment but simply as a realm apart from God. In the reimagined eschatology of stylish evangelicals, no one is ever “sent” to hell; sinners actually choose to spend eternity apart from God—and the “hell” they suffer is merely an abundance of what they loved and desired the most. Hell is necessary only because God is reluctant to overrule anyone’s free will. Therefore, with a more or less benign acquiescence, He ultimately defers to the sinner’s choice. God’s righteous indignation has no meaningful place in such a scenario.
It is a serious mistake to imagine that we improve Scripture or enhance its effectiveness by blunting its sharp edges. Scripture is a sword, not a cotton swab, and it needs to be fully unsheathed before it can be put to its intended use. “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). The gospel is supposed to be an affront to fleshly pride, offensive to human sensibilities, foolishness in the eyes of worldly wisdom, and contrary to all carnal judgments.
No Christian teaching exemplifies those characteristics more powerfully than the doctrine of hell. It is an appalling truth. We rightly recoil at the thought of it. The doctrine of hell thus stands as a warning and a reminder of what a loathsome reality sin is. No reasonable or godly person delights in the reality of eternal damnation. God Himself says, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 33:11).
Yet the severity of God’s wrath and the woes of hell are prominent in Scripture. The New Testament speaks more vividly and more frequently about hell than the Old Testament does. In fact, Jesus Himself had more to say about the subject than any other prophet or biblical writer. Far from smoothing over the difficulties that seem to embarrass so many evangelicals today, Jesus said:
Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4–5)
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 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. (Matt. 18:8–9)
We do no one any favors by downplaying the truth of God’s wrath or neglecting to mention the severity of His judgment. We certainly don’t eliminate the threat of hell by refusing to speak or think of it. If we truly believe what the Bible teaches about the eternal fate of unbelievers, it is in no sense “loving” to remain silent and refuse to sound the appropriate alarm.
What, after all, is the good news we proclaim in the gospel? It is not an announcement that no one really needs to fear God or fret about the possibility of hell. As a matter of fact, there would be no glad tidings at all if God merely intended to capitulate to the stubborn will of man and forgo the demands of His perfect righteousness.
The good news is even better than most believers understand: God made a way for His righteousness and His love to be fully reconciled. In His incarnation, Christ fulfilled all righteousness (satisfying, not nullifying, the demands of His law). In His death on the cross, He paid the price of His people’s sin in full (assuring the triumph of perfect justice). And in His resurrection from the dead, He put a powerful exclamation mark on His own perfect, finished work of atonement (thus sealing the promise of justification forever for those who trust Him as Lord and Savior).
That is the message we must declare to a worldly culture utterly lacking any real fear of God. We cannot do it faithfully or effectively if from the very outset we have omitted the harsh truth Scripture declares about “the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15).
Why don’t YOU post Scripture then to show where we’re wrong instead of posting Roodite stuff?
No, we are not in it unless you are without any water and gasping for a bit of air 24/7,365 and in the midst of cries of desperation in an unbearable stench now and knowing in your heart this will never ever end - truly a place of hopelessness that lasts for eternity. You are merely being a drama queen now.
What is this 'strict' about? You sound like a believer of man made teachings. Open, read and believe The Word for yourself or continue being without knowledge. After all, it's your individual destiny that is in jeopardy - no one else will be held accountable for it. It's your personal choice to make.
Actually considering it's eternity vs 50,70,90 yrs here it should be the #1 priority now. It's not rocket science to recognize that either. How anyone could have even a thought for tomorrow without eternity being settled today is beyond me. Today is the day of salvation.
Thanks for judging me. You will answer for that.
Jesus did not die for a myth - so I expose ALL EVIL when I see it and if you are in the way - get ready for more of 'your judging' which in reality is exposing.
Eph 5:11 "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
“More merciful than what/who? Where did you get the idea God wants to punish us?”
I don’t think God wants to punish us. That comes from the Bible:
“45 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. ’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matthew 25:45-46 ESV)”
“God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose it.
Only those who refuse accountability play the dumb act of willfully not believing there is a hell.”
My question is not about the existence of a hell; it is about it’s nature: eternal burning in physical fire. I don’t think we burn is physical fire forever for a bad life.
I also think faith does not include the cessation of critical thought.
“Then how do you explain Jesus’ interaction with the thief on the cross?”
I think it demonstrates my case. Jesus forgave a thief. The thief’s public demonstration of faith was enough to offset his debt, literal and spiritual. Now were this man a serial murderer or child rapist, would Jesus have said the same thing?
“Hell as an eternal punishment is solidly supported in scripture.”
Physical burning in fire for eternity?
Yes. Sin is sin. There are no levels, or degrees, of sin.
In fact, I will go one step farther--there is only one sin. All our "sins" are but symptoms of that one sin.
You assume the ultimate disposition of my Soul in defiance of a direct order from Jesus. You will answer for that.
So if I steal $50 or $500,000, the prison sentence is the same?
Who said our laws are identical to God’s?
HIS ENEMIES, YES!! And who are His enemies? Those who don't BELIEVE Jesus HIS Son. HIS SON is THE WORD made flesh. You seem oppose to THE WORD as His Word clearly describes hell and who HE made it. People choose it by allowing themselves to be deceived - God NEVER sends anyone there. It was made only for satan and his demons. You don't know that because you choose not to know it. You rather 'critical think' your way through life.
My question is not about the existence of a hell; it is about it’s nature: eternal burning in physical fire. I don’t think we burn is physical fire forever for a bad life.
A bad life? A bad life is produced only by those who DO NOT BELIEVE JESUS and, therefore, are void of The Truth that salvation is a GIFT and has NOTHING to do with works. And that's for starters. You don't believe that Truth a mountain more will follow - man/evil has it's bagful just go to them instead of GOD ALONE, HIS WORD ALONE.
"For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: NOT of works, lest any man should boast."
I also think faith does not include the cessation of critical thought.
You are speaking of natural faith of man which includes what you see, hear, touch, etc. Which 'man made teaching' believers have. You use 'your faith' to question God. The faith of God BELIEVES HIM because they KNOW HIM. Save your critical thoughts for man and their teachings.... NEVER GOD/HIS WORD.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do NOT lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight."
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord."
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
What part of God's Word of exposing evil has you so upset? Didn't know IT was there? Hell and what is about it there also. EVERY CHRISTIAN KNOWS that.....more exposure for you. Unless one is born again- he will NOT see heaven. That is there, also. 'so called christian churches (i.e., mormanism, catholicism, JW,) w/their deceptive man made teachings' always leaves one destitute and on the road to destruction. And that road/way is not a myth either, it's real and it leads to a gate - it is IN THE WORD, also.
Matt 7:13,14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is WIDE and the way is BROAD that leads to DESTRUCTION, and there are MANY who enter through it. For the gate is SMALL and the way is NARROW that leads to LIFE, and there are FEW who find it."
A direct order from God is to BELIEVE His Son, Jesus The Word. You do not. That's reality. And Jesus would say 'get behind Me satan to anyone who did not believe Him because He knows they serve 'their father the liar' when they do not believe God/His Word'.
Of course he would have...
The guy you are stealing from is a multi-trillionaire...Doesn't matter how much you stole from him...The fact that you stole anything is the problem...
Steal $50? You don’t even have to actually steal it - just thinking about it will do the trick. “Thou shall not covet....”
But some claim that the law was done away. That 'old' covenant thing, and all is needed is heavenly grace.
>> “Physical burning in fire for eternity?” <<
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What is so difficult about that? It is written in the scriptures; do you feel qualified to edit the scriptures?
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It is idiotic to argue my salvation with some incompetent and unauthorized to decide it. So I’ll let you have the last word.
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