I thought I would start with a nice, light topic for my first blog entry on my site: Hell! It seems lately that hell is a big deal, so I thought I should start with something everyone and their mother has already blogged about. The perception is that we all have Rob Bell and his recent book, “Love Wins” to thank for all this hell talk. The truth is that Rob Bell merely added his voice to a larger discussion that has been happening in the church at large. Way back in 1992 (ancient history for some people), even the Pope and the Catholic Church was weighing in on this discussion. I believe that we are dealing with two main issues in talking about hell.
First, hell just isn’t postmodern. Someone really needs to have a sit down with Satan and let him know this. I would suggest Starbucks as a place for them to meet, but that could sound cruel and judgmental, and that just isn’t postmodern. While Satan was stuck in his Milton’s “Paradise Lost” days, culture went and changed on him, and neither he nor his favorite hot spot are “in” anymore. No, we are way too tolerant, loving, and non-judgmental to go around believing in hell and eternal punishment. That’s almost as politically incorrect as believing in demons or using wooden pews. Those intolerant, violent ways of our parents have now been laid aside, and we have “progressed” in our view of God and His love to know He would never send anyone to hell.
Second, hell doesn’t look good on a Gospel tract, nor is it fun to beat people over the head with hell until they repent and become Christians. God knows it isn’t for a lack of trying that we as the church are ready to give up this evangelistic strategy. From the days of “Sinners in Hands of an Angry God”, we have done our best to scare people into heaven. Rob Bell tells us some of their stories in his book, and I have personally heard many myself. The New Age church and many of the “emerging” churches are full of people who got tired of feeling guilty every Sunday. How many cool coffee bar songs can you write about hell? really?
So, where does this leave me as a Bible nerd? With a huge problem. The Bible talks about hell and judgment. In both parts (Testaments that is). More than once. Like, quite a few times. It would be really hard to be a serious Bible reader, and not understand that God makes it clear that He is a God of justice and that there is an eternal consequence for what we do and believe here on Earth. Read a few of these Bible passages: Matthew 10:28, Matthew 11:23, Matthew 13:40-43, 47-50, John 3:16-21, John 5:24-30, Daniel 12:2-3, Ezekiel 32:17-32, 2 Thessalonians 2:5-10, Revelation 20:11-15. We also have to understand that the larger concept is eternal judgment and reward, not just one place called Hell (which is just the way we translate a few Greek words). While I will grant that we needed to evaluate evangelistic strategies for our time, changing the Bible and Gospel message shouldn’t be on the table for discussion. Bummer for me. I just bought these really cool post modern glasses. I am not bald yet, but I have that edgy, almost bald, short hair style. I use words like “new reformation” and “missional”. Unfortunately, my “old fashioned” and “outdated” views on hell make some people think of me as that guy ranting in the streets with a sandwich board on. Oh well, that is the problem with reading the Bible.
The Bible Nerd 