THIS BLOG IS: my personal journey of how I am rethinking some of my spiritual beliefs.
THIS BLOG IS NOT: intended to point fingers at people who I think are wrong.
I do not believe the final judgement will be based on how many correct answers we get on a theology exam. I believe many people throughout history have had genuine relationships with God, despite holding questionable beliefs and practices. I make no claim to having it all figured out or being your judge. If we end up disagreeing over these topics I pray we can find a way to demonstrate grace.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Hell Fire Gospel Church Sign
(No this is not a real sign... and no this is not what I believe.)
Our Father will not torture any of his children. Your sign is bogus and portrays an unbiblical understanding of God's justice. Hell is for the devil and his angels. Those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ are children of the devil and remain under God's wrath unless they repent and trust in him. I love your heart Jon, and I understand some of your reasoning but strawmen can't adequately defend against the truth you reject.
Sorry if my sign upsets you. However I think many people, including myself, have been scared into loving our God. And I'm not sure the tradition view of Hell that is used to scare us is even based on Scripture.
Can you point me to some scripture that clearly teaches what you believe?
I've tried to look at them all here: http://jonjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-scripture-say-hell-is-eternal.html
You don't offend me. I don't believe anyone can be scared into loving God. That is my point when I say that your sign is a strawman. Rather than being afraid of hell we should fear the one who can put us there. Do you think having a fear of God is at odds with loving Him? I should think not. Contrarily, realizing the consequences of our sin should bring us to a fuller understanding of God's holiness since it is against him that we sin. A finite amount of death and torment would be an insufficient punishment for me to pay for my own sins. This is why I believe that my torment would have been withou end had Christ not already suffered in my place.
For the most part I'm not a fan of capital punishment, but in some situations I can see how that is just and fair. However I can't think of a situation where I think the government should torture someone indefinitely.
I used to be OK believing that God plans to send the wicked to a place of eternal conscious torment. But after searching the Scriptures myself I just don't see strong evidence of it.
From what I understand the Jews of Jesus day didn't think this way either. Their view of Gehenna was closer to the Catholic view of purgatory. I don't really know when Christians started thinking this way.
I don't know for sure what will happen. Since Scripture isn't supper clear on the afterlife I think it's best if we focus on being in a relationship with our loving Father now. Living in our Fathers love now, and into eternity, is still the obvious best choice compared to destruction or death.
Anyways... I know I'm in the minority with these views. I hope you don't view them as an essential... I definitely view unity higher.
4 comments:
Our Father will not torture any of his children. Your sign is bogus and portrays an unbiblical understanding of God's justice. Hell is for the devil and his angels. Those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ are children of the devil and remain under God's wrath unless they repent and trust in him. I love your heart Jon, and I understand some of your reasoning but strawmen can't adequately defend against the truth you reject.
Sorry if my sign upsets you. However I think many people, including myself, have been scared into loving our God. And I'm not sure the tradition view of Hell that is used to scare us is even based on Scripture.
Can you point me to some scripture that clearly teaches what you believe?
I've tried to look at them all here:
http://jonjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-scripture-say-hell-is-eternal.html
Thanks for your honest comments.
God bless.
You don't offend me. I don't believe anyone can be scared into loving God. That is my point when I say that your sign is a strawman. Rather than being afraid of hell we should fear the one who can put us there. Do you think having a fear of God is at odds with loving Him? I should think not. Contrarily, realizing the consequences of our sin should bring us to a fuller understanding of God's holiness since it is against him that we sin. A finite amount of death and torment would be an insufficient punishment for me to pay for my own sins. This is why I believe that my torment would have been withou end had Christ not already suffered in my place.
For the most part I'm not a fan of capital punishment, but in some situations I can see how that is just and fair. However I can't think of a situation where I think the government should torture someone indefinitely.
I used to be OK believing that God plans to send the wicked to a place of eternal conscious torment. But after searching the Scriptures myself I just don't see strong evidence of it.
From what I understand the Jews of Jesus day didn't think this way either. Their view of Gehenna was closer to the Catholic view of purgatory. I don't really know when Christians started thinking this way.
I don't know for sure what will happen. Since Scripture isn't supper clear on the afterlife I think it's best if we focus on being in a relationship with our loving Father now. Living in our Fathers love now, and into eternity, is still the obvious best choice compared to destruction or death.
Anyways... I know I'm in the minority with these views. I hope you don't view them as an essential... I definitely view unity higher.
God bless!
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