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Paradox of Love in Justice A Familiar Question How could a loving God send people to hell? This raises a pair of constraining questions: 1. How loving is God? 2. What is hell like? How loving is God? A small sampling: • John 3:16–– “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” • Luke 15:20b––But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. • Romans 8:32––He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? What is hell like? • Daniel 12:2––Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. • Isaiah 66:24––“Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.” • 2 Thess 1:9––These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power What is hell like (to Jesus)? • Eternal fire (Matt 18:8) • Weeping, gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:42) • Eternal punishment (Matt 25:46) • Worm does not die, fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48; cf. Isaiah 66:24) • Jesus’ word for ‘hell’ (gehennah—11 times!) is extremely evocative: This originally denoted a valley lying to the south of Jerusalem… the valley of the son of Hinnom... Child sacrifices were offered in this valley...Josiah had it desecrated. (2 Kings 23:10) According to Jer. 7:32; 19:6f, it will be the place of God’s judgment. (H. Bietenhard, NIDNTT) Returning to the Question How could a loving God send people to hell? 1. How loving is God? Answer: Generous, fatherly; indeed, God is love (I Jn 4:8). 2. What is hell like? Answer: Terrible––Scripture's portrait is vivid and disturbing. Indeed! How could he? Putting Culture in Check Elsewhere, he writes: Bultmann writes: “These mythological In the hard work of“Itinterpretation, we must is impossible conceptions of to use strive in the following ways: electric light the heaven and and hell are 1) To account for wireless their cultural context no longer acceptable and to avail 2) To account for ourselves our cultural context for modern since ofmen modern for scientific thinking medical and surgical to speak of ‘above’ In an effort to water down Scripture, liberal discoveries and ‘below’ and in theat the scholars attempt tosame place the to believe universe has burden lostinalltheon meaning…” (Jesus Christ & Mythology, New Testament world (1). 20) of spirits and miracles.” (New Testament & Mythology, 5) Putting Culture in Check Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem. Gehenna, in Jesus’ day,Consider was the citythese: dump. People tossed their waste into25:41––“the this valley. There was a Matt fire there, burning constantly to consume the has trash. Wild eternal fire which animals fought over scraps of food along the been prepared foredges the of the heap. When they fought their teeth would make a devil and his angels” gnashing sound. Gehenna was the place of gnashing of teeth, where the fire never went out… Matt 25:46––These willin an So the next time someone asks you if you believe actual hell, you can always “Yes, believe that go say, away intoI do eternal my garbage goes somewhere.” punishment, but the And that’s it ... righteous into eternal Those are all the mentions of “hell” in the Bible. (Love life. Wins, 68) Putting Culture in Check Before pressing deeper into the actual theology, I want to propose that we follow (2): to account for our cultural context. The key(s) to unlocking the paradox: (a)Our culture has completely given up on the concept of sin. (b)Our culture has an clumsy concept of justice. Sin, a Check on Culture Psychiatrist, Karl Menninger writes: “The very word ‘sin,’ which seems to have disappeared, was a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. It described a central point in every civilized human being’s life plan and life style. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared– –the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin? …” (Menninger, 14) Sin, a Check on Culture To summarize: “Much behavior that would be classed a priori as • We understand and sinful had long since passed into the control of can operationalize law. What was considered and so treated was concepts like crime understandably sinful. And now, increasingly, (violation of national some crime was being view as symptomatic. legal code) and illness Sins had become crimes and now crimes were (measurable deviation becoming illnesses; in other words whereas the from statistical mean). police and judges had taken over from the • Sin––heart-level, clergy, the doctors and psychologists were now willful rebellion for taking over from the police and judges.” which we’re (Menninger, 45) responsible––is gone. Justice, a Check on Culture Relatedly, our notion of justice has shifted from, • Punitive justice legal failures must be answered with parallel consequences (Cf. balance) to, • Restorative justice criminals are fundamentally good (or perhaps morally neutral); they must be educated, reformed and returned to society. Most of us still hold punitive justice in our bosom, especially when it involves us or someone we love. Hell, Sin and Justice How do sin and punitive justice help with our paradox? For starters, the scriptural portrait of hell starts to come into focus • Sin If we’re not merely victims of our own psychology nor violators of a social contract, then we must give an account of our actions to God • Justice Rejection of God (original sin) results in God rejecting us (Cf. Romans 1:18-23) What about love? What about love? 1. Love is not at odds with justice but motivates it. (Cf. Fighting children) 2. Our anxiety only emerges when we realize that all of us have done wrong. 3. Rather than contradicting God’s love, His justice puts His love is sharp relief: I Peter 1:18,19 “…you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Remaining Puzzles Shouldn’t we account some for the culture of the text? Sure, our culture doesn’t like hell, but shouldn’t something to be said against ancient & primitive hyperviolence? 1. Scripture uses images and metaphors for a lot of things (e.g. body of Christ.) Fire, worms are most likely meant to provide visceral imagery. 2. God is not pro-violence (Cf. I Chron 28:3, Genesis 33 & 49:5-7; Ezekiel 18:32) 3. Justice is in the very marrow of scripture: o The Curses of Adam o The Law, esp. the sacrificial system o The Cross! Remaining Puzzles I’m pretty weirded out by glib “fire and brimstone” preaching. It’s both self-righteous and ineffective. • I couldn’t agree more! None of this is to argue that we need to scare people into heaven. • Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God : Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42) : : Evangelism in 21st C America : Paul’s Sermon at Mars Hill (Acts 17:22ff). Some Practicals How should we respond to this practically? • Gratitude Once sin and justice are given proper place, Christ’s sacrifice is that much more precious • Witness We should share our master’s heart for those who still haven’t come home • Apologetics o Expect to meet people asking the “familiar question” o False teachers can quickly pull the wool over unsuspecting Christians’ eyes (cf. Bell’s “word study”) Further Reading