"The question is compelling. "Do you know where you would end up if you died in a car accident tonight?"
The evangelist has already painted the pictures. You could find yourself in an eternal garden of exquisite beauty laced together with winding paths of gold; or writhing in agony amidst the leaping sulfuric flames of hell.
If there was ever a choice that defined "no-brainier," this is it. Once you convince someone that hell and heaven exist, winning a convert is easy. After all, praying for forgiveness and "accepting Jesus" seem like a small price to pay for a Get-Out-of-Hell-Free-Card!
So effective is this appeal to people's worst fears and insecurities that hell has become the most popular invitation into God's kingdom. What we have not so critically examined is whether or not threatening people with hell engages them in the relationship God has always wanted with them.
For we live in a day when millions of people have made a commitment to Christ and yet so few lives are really transformed by his power. It has been said of this generation that our Christianity is a mile wide but only an inch deep. We see effects of it everywhere. People claim to know God, but show no evidence of transformation in their daily lives. We challenge them as hypocrites and attempt to badger them into more righteous lifestyles, but in the end most believers end up as much a part of the world's ways as their non believing neighbors.
While the threat of hell can stir instant commitments, it does not breed long-term disciples. If you are only in this kingdom because you fear the aternative, you missed the greatest part of what it means to know God.
WHY THE THREAT?
No one ever threatened me to do something that was wonderful. My parents didn't threaten me with punishment to get me to go to Disneyland.
So if I am told that I must love God or he will throw me into hell, I might well consider loving him- or at least pretend I do. But if the only reason I'm even responding to him is to serve my own self-interest and escape a fiery eternity in hell, am I really loving him or myself?
Can a true friendship blossom under so grace a threat? Let's say I approach a recent acquaintance of mine, hoping to deepen our friendship. I say to him, "I have really appreciated the time we've been able to spend together and inf act, I'd like to see our realationship deepen and maybe become best friends. Would you like to spend some more time together over the next few months and see if that kind of friendship develops?"
So far, so good! But what if I added one more thing:"I hope you do because if you don't, I'm going to hunt you down and torture you for the rest of your life." Hasn't the invitation just taken an ominous turn? Even if he wanted to explore the potential of a friendship with me, it has now been twisted by my threat. What does it say about me? How will he ever feel safe in a friendship cultivated on fear?
Whether you are conscious of it or not, the threat of hell can create an inner dissonance in our perception of the God who seeks our love.
How can we feel safe with a God who is seemingly anxious to dangle us over the flames of hell? If he can find nothing else to call us to him, then what kind of God must he be? And if we find no better reason to love him, how shallow must our faith be?
CONTRADICTORY PORTRAITS
Here is the problem, isn't it? Scripture seems to pain two contradictory portraits of the Living God - a terrible judge and a loving father. Which is it? Can he be both?
We read no only that God has prepared hell for the unbelieving, but also that he commanded Joshua to practice ethnic cleansing in Canaan, poured out fire from heaven to consume Sodom and Gomorah, and opened the earth to swallow those who opposed Moses. Unapproachable in his purity, even the most most righteous fell on their faces near his presence, paralyzed by their unworthiness. He demanded unquestioning obedience and punished those who did not comply with unspeakable anguish.
No wonder we're at least a little confused when he appears in the New Testament and tells us how much he loves us and invites us to be his children. We saw Jesus healing the sick, forgiving prostitutes and murderers, going into the houses of sinners. He invited children into his lap and portrayed his Father as so tender that the most wayward sinner could run to his side in absolute safety.
So what happened to God? Did he get saved somewhere between Malachi and Matthew? Had he reinvented himself into a nicer, gentler God? Of course not! He is unchanging, the same throughout all eternity.
So then is he both? Is he kind and gentle to those who please him and vengeful toward the wicked? That's what many of us have been taught to believe, which is why we end up playing he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not games. We sift through every event to try and figure out if we are in his favor or out of it. If we think we are in, we can relax and coast through life. If, however, we think our difficulties probe we are out of favor, we have to try harder to please him; a course of action Paul warns us against. True righteousness cannot come from human effort.
There's the problem. I can't please him until I'm certain of his love for me, but he will not love me if I cannot please him. This is an endless loop that offers no resolution. How can he be a mean and vengeful God one moment and a kind and tender one the next? Those portraits don't depict the same God in different circumstances, but rather contradictory portraits that leave us confused and uncertain of God's true nature.
Unless we can glean from Scripture a cohesive view of God's nature we'll never know who he really is or have the confidence to embrace the relationship he desires with us. God did not change between Malachi and Matthew. Our perception of him, however, changed drastically.
Before Jesus came we could only see God's actions and assume he was moved by motivations similar to our own. His actions against sin made him appear as if he didn't care for people. His attempts to teach his people to trust him were misunderstood as vengeful punishment.
Jesus changed all of that. By listening to hi words and watching how he lived we suddenly see God's motivations. He fully reflected the Father's glory so we might know him as he really is and no longer be victims of our own misinterpretations. Love dwells at the core of God's being and the Old Testament contains hundreds of pictures of a God who is rich in mercy, willing to forgive, and passionate about setting us free from the sin that diminishes and devours the life he wants us to experience in him.
He allows us the consequences of sin, not because he delights in our anguish, but so that we can see its devastating effects and run to the only one in the universe who can set us free from them. His wrath against sin was not his rejection of us in anger, but only a reflection of the depth of his love that cannot look away unconcerned as sin destroys us.
These are not mere philosophical issues. If we aren't certain of God's motives toward us, we will never have confidence to engage his presence in the reality of our lives. We'll keep him at a safe distance and miss what he desires most for us - a friendship with him more real and more powerful than any we've known before."
The evangelist has already painted the pictures. You could find yourself in an eternal garden of exquisite beauty laced together with winding paths of gold; or writhing in agony amidst the leaping sulfuric flames of hell.
If there was ever a choice that defined "no-brainier," this is it. Once you convince someone that hell and heaven exist, winning a convert is easy. After all, praying for forgiveness and "accepting Jesus" seem like a small price to pay for a Get-Out-of-Hell-Free-Card!
So effective is this appeal to people's worst fears and insecurities that hell has become the most popular invitation into God's kingdom. What we have not so critically examined is whether or not threatening people with hell engages them in the relationship God has always wanted with them.
For we live in a day when millions of people have made a commitment to Christ and yet so few lives are really transformed by his power. It has been said of this generation that our Christianity is a mile wide but only an inch deep. We see effects of it everywhere. People claim to know God, but show no evidence of transformation in their daily lives. We challenge them as hypocrites and attempt to badger them into more righteous lifestyles, but in the end most believers end up as much a part of the world's ways as their non believing neighbors.
While the threat of hell can stir instant commitments, it does not breed long-term disciples. If you are only in this kingdom because you fear the aternative, you missed the greatest part of what it means to know God.
WHY THE THREAT?
No one ever threatened me to do something that was wonderful. My parents didn't threaten me with punishment to get me to go to Disneyland.
So if I am told that I must love God or he will throw me into hell, I might well consider loving him- or at least pretend I do. But if the only reason I'm even responding to him is to serve my own self-interest and escape a fiery eternity in hell, am I really loving him or myself?
Can a true friendship blossom under so grace a threat? Let's say I approach a recent acquaintance of mine, hoping to deepen our friendship. I say to him, "I have really appreciated the time we've been able to spend together and inf act, I'd like to see our realationship deepen and maybe become best friends. Would you like to spend some more time together over the next few months and see if that kind of friendship develops?"
So far, so good! But what if I added one more thing:"I hope you do because if you don't, I'm going to hunt you down and torture you for the rest of your life." Hasn't the invitation just taken an ominous turn? Even if he wanted to explore the potential of a friendship with me, it has now been twisted by my threat. What does it say about me? How will he ever feel safe in a friendship cultivated on fear?
Whether you are conscious of it or not, the threat of hell can create an inner dissonance in our perception of the God who seeks our love.
How can we feel safe with a God who is seemingly anxious to dangle us over the flames of hell? If he can find nothing else to call us to him, then what kind of God must he be? And if we find no better reason to love him, how shallow must our faith be?
CONTRADICTORY PORTRAITS
Here is the problem, isn't it? Scripture seems to pain two contradictory portraits of the Living God - a terrible judge and a loving father. Which is it? Can he be both?
We read no only that God has prepared hell for the unbelieving, but also that he commanded Joshua to practice ethnic cleansing in Canaan, poured out fire from heaven to consume Sodom and Gomorah, and opened the earth to swallow those who opposed Moses. Unapproachable in his purity, even the most most righteous fell on their faces near his presence, paralyzed by their unworthiness. He demanded unquestioning obedience and punished those who did not comply with unspeakable anguish.
No wonder we're at least a little confused when he appears in the New Testament and tells us how much he loves us and invites us to be his children. We saw Jesus healing the sick, forgiving prostitutes and murderers, going into the houses of sinners. He invited children into his lap and portrayed his Father as so tender that the most wayward sinner could run to his side in absolute safety.
So what happened to God? Did he get saved somewhere between Malachi and Matthew? Had he reinvented himself into a nicer, gentler God? Of course not! He is unchanging, the same throughout all eternity.
So then is he both? Is he kind and gentle to those who please him and vengeful toward the wicked? That's what many of us have been taught to believe, which is why we end up playing he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not games. We sift through every event to try and figure out if we are in his favor or out of it. If we think we are in, we can relax and coast through life. If, however, we think our difficulties probe we are out of favor, we have to try harder to please him; a course of action Paul warns us against. True righteousness cannot come from human effort.
There's the problem. I can't please him until I'm certain of his love for me, but he will not love me if I cannot please him. This is an endless loop that offers no resolution. How can he be a mean and vengeful God one moment and a kind and tender one the next? Those portraits don't depict the same God in different circumstances, but rather contradictory portraits that leave us confused and uncertain of God's true nature.
Unless we can glean from Scripture a cohesive view of God's nature we'll never know who he really is or have the confidence to embrace the relationship he desires with us. God did not change between Malachi and Matthew. Our perception of him, however, changed drastically.
Before Jesus came we could only see God's actions and assume he was moved by motivations similar to our own. His actions against sin made him appear as if he didn't care for people. His attempts to teach his people to trust him were misunderstood as vengeful punishment.
Jesus changed all of that. By listening to hi words and watching how he lived we suddenly see God's motivations. He fully reflected the Father's glory so we might know him as he really is and no longer be victims of our own misinterpretations. Love dwells at the core of God's being and the Old Testament contains hundreds of pictures of a God who is rich in mercy, willing to forgive, and passionate about setting us free from the sin that diminishes and devours the life he wants us to experience in him.
He allows us the consequences of sin, not because he delights in our anguish, but so that we can see its devastating effects and run to the only one in the universe who can set us free from them. His wrath against sin was not his rejection of us in anger, but only a reflection of the depth of his love that cannot look away unconcerned as sin destroys us.
These are not mere philosophical issues. If we aren't certain of God's motives toward us, we will never have confidence to engage his presence in the reality of our lives. We'll keep him at a safe distance and miss what he desires most for us - a friendship with him more real and more powerful than any we've known before."
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
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