Sacred Cynicism

Once again a raging controversy has enveloped the church. To many it has become the latest in a series of issues that threaten the very core of the church. To some others, it is merely the latest in a long line of disputes that are claimed to threaten our very existence. Ironically, very few of these ever actually threaten our existence, they simply serve as an occasion to don our full battle gear so we can march around in supposed fury. With some trepidation, I gently wade into the roiling waters.

A well-known Christian leader has written a book that is due for release this month, and supposedly this book struggles with the question of whether or not there is a literal hell. I say supposedly because the book has not been released, and I have not read it. Yet even the rumor of this debate has caused the current uproar. Chat rooms are aflame with the controversy. Comment sections are being filled, and Twitter bombs are being thrown over this issue. I don’t even know what a Twitter bomb is, but it sounds serious. In the past few days I have read comments like this one, “If you don’t believe in hell, then you do not believe in the God of the Bible.” In another story on this issue, another person said, “I want the world to hear the whole gospel, not some fake gospel with no hell.” Those are some very strong comments.

Let me be honest here. I am not going to choose a side on whether or not there is a literal hell. I will leave that up to those who are impassioned about that topic. I rarely will enter into an impassioned discussion about any topic the New Testament only mentions once. (2 Peter 2:4) Let me confine my comments to a narrower focus. However you think about this topic, it does not in any way reflect the content of the gospel. To assert otherwise is to plainly ignore the content of the New Testament, and flatly does not make any sense. Here are a series of Scriptures that plainly reveal the content of the gospel.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)

For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (Romans 4:3)

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. (1 Cor. 15:3-8)

For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. (1 Cor. 15:13-16)

Look how different this last passage is from some of the commentary flying around this week. Paul plainly states that without the resurrection, our faith is useless. Some leaders this week have taken literally the opposite position. Without a literal hell than your faith is useless. Really? Is this the content of our faith? I am quite tired of those who wish to place punishment at the centerpiece of our faith, instead of a desire to bring new life to the world. This is especially true in a week where thousands of bodies are washing up on Asian shores. The entire New Testament looks at the world of those who are outside the kingdom, and fights to bring them inside. The Samaritans, the Gentiles, the outsiders, and the lepers are all those who are now to be a part of the kingdom, if they respond to the grace of Jesus Christ. Yet throughout the New Testament there are those who are castigated for wanting to punish the outsiders. The older brother in the prodigal son story, the pharisees who condemned the sinful woman in Luke 7, the Judaizers in Galatians 2, and the outright condemnation of the Pharisees in Matt. 23:13.

In our zeal to make hell the focus of our message, we start to sound less like the Christ who welcomed the lepers and the children, and more like the older brother who was so angry the fatted calf had been killed for the return of his brother, refused to attend the banquet. To be honest, some of the voices I have heard this week have sounded more than a bit blood-thirsty. Perhaps it would be better if we anchored more to the promise of eternal life, than we do to the threat of punishment. What I have heard this week are voices who say they follow a loving God, but whose passions seem less than loving. The gospel is grace. The gospel is resurrection. The gospel is a divine offer to share in this new life Christ provides, not a threat or sentence of punishment. Is there anyone with me?