Happy New Year....and what about Hell?

2008! Here we are!

This holiday season was, for me, like a cup of hot chocolate on a cozy wintry evening or a cold glass of iced tea on a sultry summer afternoon-refreshing. It included fun, family, relax time, and-of course-reading! My primary reading diet consisted of Brian McLaren’s “The Last Word and the Word after That”. This enjoyable piece of fiction, which is the last in a trilogy series entitled “A New Kind of Christianity”, was dealing primarily with the issue of Hell (not as a piece of profanity, but as a place, concept, and/or doctrine). He compared various perspectives on hell ( everything from Eternal Torment to Universalism) gathering some value from each and pointing out serious issues with each and how they color our picture of God and what He really wants for His Kingdom-healing, re-creative, restorative justice for all!

The teaching is set in a story format which portrays others wresting with this subject. I could so often relate to some of the struggles. I too have felt attracted by Universalism, but been disturbed with what it seems to do with some Scriptural ideas. Along the way, Brian gave the perspective that maybe Jesus wasn’t the promoter of the concept of hell that it so often appears. Maybe He was simply using a popular concept of His day and flipping it on its head to motivate and teach a greater message about His Kingdom-a kingdom of love and grace.

In the end, maybe Hell is not God’s last word-His last great act? Maybe the Devil doesn’t have the last say? Maybe love and grace really do conquer? May God is greater than Hell? Maybe Hell (in some part) is what we experience to greater/lesser degrees when living in contrast to and apart from God’s kingdom of grace?

So where does this leave me doctrinally speaking? What do I believe in terms of popularly spelled out beliefs systems on this subject?

I DON’T KNOW!

I was inspired by how Brian seemed to indicate in this volume that “I don’t know” is a valuable and liberating tool. While there’s good in having an answer for what we believe, I think there’s also great merit in being able to say in relation to matters about God, I don’t know, even if others and denominations think that they do know.

The world is full of Hell! Maybe the calling upon Jesus’ followers is to be His hands and feet in seeking to liberate people from Hellish experiences now, not just in the afterlife!