HELL
Max Lucado and I differ on a lot of things, but I have to confess - I like to read him from time to time sort of as a warm glass of milk before bedtime. I thought this an interesting piece regarding the comments about preaching hell in our Dan Kimball discussion:
YOUR CHOICE WILL BE HONORED
by Max Lucado
We don’t like to talk about hell, do we? In intellectual circles the topic of hell is regarded as primitive and foolish. It’s not logical. “A loving God wouldn’t send people to hell.” So we dismiss it.
But to dismiss it is to dismiss a core teaching of Jesus. The
doctrine of hell is not one developed by Paul, Peter, or John. It is
taught by Jesus himself.
We are free either to love God or not. He invites us to love him. He urges us to love him. He came that we might love him. But, in the end, the choice is yours and mine. To take that choice from each of us, for him to force us to love him, would be less than love.
God explains the benefits, outlines the promises, and articulates
very clearly the consequences. And then, in the end, he leaves the choice to us.
Hell was not prepared for people. Hell “was prepared for the devil
and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41) For a person to go to hell, then, is for a person to go against God’s intended destiny. Hell is man’s
choice, not God’s choice.
Consider, then, this explanation of hell: Hell is the chosen place of
the person who loves self more than God, who loves sin more than his Savior, who loves this world more than God’s world. Judgment is that moment when God looks at the rebellious and says, “Your choice will be honored.”
To say there is no hell is to say God condones the rebellious,
unrepentant heart. To say there is no hell is to portray God with
eyes blind to the hunger and evil in the world. To say there is no
hell is to say that God doesn’t care that people are beaten and
massacred, that he doesn’t care that women are raped or families
wrecked. To say there is no hell is to say God has no justice, no
sense of right and wrong, and eventually to say God has no love. For true love hates what is evil.
Hell is the ultimate expression of a just Creator.
_________________________________
From And the Angels Were Silent
Copyright 1992, Max Lucado
http://www.maxlucado.com/shop/detail2.php?pid=B108H
posted by dan at 9:54 AM
4 Comments:
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Good post Dan. I'm not Max's biggest fan, either. But, this is well said.
Dan,
I have just picked up George Barna's newest book (I think) "Revolution" in chapter two I think he hits the nail square and hard. I think this is the main reason that hell is not preached.
"In America today, the easiest thing to get away with is going with the flow. The ride is smoother and resistance is minimized. But like the wide path that Scripture warns most people will take, it is a comfortable route that eventually and inevitably results in disaster. To the Revolutionary, there is no such thing as "Going along to get along." You either stand for Jesus or you stand for all that He died to repudiate."
I have read some of BArna's books in the past and none have been as well written as this one is so far. (I'm only in chapter 3)
Rob,
Thanks for the input on Barna. I have always thought he came up with some great book titles, but have always had a hard time reading him.
So, maybe a question from this, related to Brian's question earlier is... in what ways are we 'going with the flow' just to get a smooth ride?
Although, I know some people who take comments like Barna's to mean you must be creating some kind of controversy if you're going to do anything worthwhile. I'm not a surfer, but I would think there is some analagy about knowing when to go into a wave and when to ride with it. Though it's even easier to just sit on the beach and watch.
I much prefer the idea of trying to draw people "into" the kingdom rather than scaring them in - I have serious problems with that. But don't you think a lot of the argument for even discussing hell centers around your idea of what hell is? I mean, if we're talking about a "hell on earth" sorta thing, I think it is something that needs talked about more. But if we're just talking about the fire insurance sorta thing... I don't buy that. I should ask Kimball what ever made him make the statement that hell should be preached more.
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