What The Hell Am I Saved From? What I Believe About Hell & Why (Complete Post)

This is the post about hell in its entirety. I would highly encourage you to read this straight through, it will take a couple minutes, and there are a few extra paragraphs that were not included in the other posts. At the end is also a personal note, one that kept me studying and kept me writing while being tired of reading and thinking and writing about hell - it was hellish to allow my mind to be consumed by thoughts of this terrible reality.

I pray this post will be helpful to all who read it. That in considering hell it will spur you on to love, both of God and of man. To not spurn the gospel of grace offered freely to us who justly deserve eternal hell - to both believe with all our heart, strength, and mind the reality of God's love for us in the gospel. That indeed Jesus has made peace between God and us rebels by the blood of his cross. 

Therefore read with an eye on the cross for your own sake and an eye on your friends and family and remember Jesus' words on his way to the cross and know he bore this in your place for your sins, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matt. 26:39

Last week I wrote a couple posts about an interesting topic that I apparently jumped fully into, that is the topic of annihilationism. This is the idea that hell will end for those condemned there after a time – that rather than suffering for eternity those damned will be annihilated, that they’ll cease to be.

It seems there are four parts to the annihilationist’s argument (of the more than one hundred comments on my facebook post you’d think there are at least four hundred arguments for it and just as many against it), these are:

1) The biblical references for the ‘destruction’ of the wicked,

2) The inconsistency of an eternal hell with the love of God,

3) The injustice or unfairness of the disparity between sins committed in this life and the punishment of eternal torment, and

4) That allowing evil to continue in hell would mess with the perfection of the universe God will create after the Judgment Day. (Order taken from Wayne Grudem)

Over the next series of posts I hope to respond to this doctrine, not only to respond to it but also to make clear both the biblical stance as well as my stance on this topic of the eternality of hell.

           

            However before we begin to look more deeply at this topic I want to make one thing absolutely crystal clear and this one thing should be at the front of our minds whenever we are discussing or thinking about the topic of hell, namely that we are thinking about the outcome for millions of real people. 

            Hell is real, whether one believes in annihilationism or eternal hell, it’s still real and will still be awful and real people will go there. Friends, family, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, children will inhabit this terrible place where God justly pours out his wrath on those who are not saved by the blood of Jesus. This MUST be at the forefront of our minds as we think about this topic. The wrath of God is real, and it will be – and is - unimaginable.

Let’s begin our talk of hell with the wrath of God. It is appropriate to think about this at the beginning because it is precisely what we are dealing with when we are talking about hell – for it is the wrath of God that comprises hell and therefore it is primarily the wrath of God that we are dealing with when we reflect on hell.

The wrath of God is one of the perfections of God, in other words it’s one of his attributes, one of his characteristics. We should study it because it gives us a fuller picture of who God is (if we didn’t it would be like getting to know your friends without letting them talk about themselves).

“The wrath of God is a perfection of the Divine Character on which we need to meditate frequently, “ for three reasons, “First, that our hearts may be impressed by God’s detestation of sin… Second, to beget a true fear in our souls for God (Heb 12:28-29)… Third, to draw our souls in frequent praise to Jesus Christ for having delivered us from, ‘the wrath to come,’ (I Thess 1:10)(A.W. Pink).”

It would seem that the wrath of God is a rather unfashionable thing to talk about; it’s not often that folks preach sermons about how amazing and terrible is the God we worship and use texts about the utter destruction and torment of the wicked in hell as their preaching passage. However we must talk about the terribleness of which hell is comprised. And quite frankly I think Jonathan Edwards expounding on I Thess. 2:16 are much better words than mine here (don’t be intimidated that it’s Edwards I modernized it),

“How dreadful the wrath of God is, when it is executed to the uttermost. To make you in some measure sensible of that. I desire you to consider whose wrath it is. The wrath of a king is a roaring lion; but this is the wrath of Jehovah, the LORD God Omnipotent. Let us consider what we can rationally think of it? How dreadful must the wrath of such a Being be when it comes upon a person to the uttermost, without any pity, or moderation, or merciful circumstances! What must be the uttermost of his wrath who made heaven and earth by the word of his power; who spoke and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast! What must his wrath be, who commanded the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars! What must his wrath be who shakes the earth out of its place and causes the pillars of heaven to tremble! What must his wrath be who rebukes the sea and makes it dry? Who removes mountains out of their place and overturns them in his anger! What must his wrath be whose majesty is so awful that no man could live in the sight of it! What must the wrath of such a Being be when it comes to the uttermost, when he makes his majesty appear and shine bright in the misery of wicked men! And what is a worm of the dust before the fury and under the weight of this wrath, which the stoutest devils cannot bear but utterly sink and are crushed under it. Consider how dreadful the wrath of God is sometimes in this world only in a little view or taste of it. Sometimes when God only enlightens consciences to have some sense of his wrath it causes the stout-hearted to cry out; nature us ready to sink under it when indeed it is but a little glimpse of divine wrath that is seen…. But if a slight taste and comprehension of wrath be so dreadful and intolerable what must it be when it comes upon a person to the uttermost! When a few drops or a little sprinkling of his wrath is so dreadful and overbearing to the soul, how must it be when God opens the flood-gates and lets the mighty deluge of his wrath come pouring down upon men’s guilty heads and brings all his wrath to sink them! ‘When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Ps. 2:12)’”

(It’s a long quote I know) We must be aware that the wrath of God is terrible and a part of his divine perfections and as such we must not think to small of our God to imagine that his wrath will not be or is not utterly horrifying. While it may not be the cool thing to talk about it is indeed part and portion of the God we worship and therefore must be considered. But while considering it we cannot think that his wrath is mixed with the same limitations or imperfections that we have in our ‘wrath.’ Surely we are justly angry at times be we are also imperfect and ignoble in our anger – but God is not.

In studying God’s wrath we will see exactly what we are saved from through the propitiatory death of Jesus who stood, “Between us sinners and the thunderclouds of divine wrath… (J.I. Packer).”

Passages to look up on the wrath of God:

Ex. 22:18-24; 32:10-12

Deut. 29:23-28; 11:16-27

Ezra 8:22

Ps. 2:5-9

Nahum 1:2-3, 6-8, 14

Amos 5:18-20

Matt 16:24-26

Mark 9:47

Lk. 12:47-48; 21:22-24

Rom. 1:18; 2:5; 3:5-8, 24-25; 12:19; 13:4-5

Acts 17:30-31

Eph 2:3

I Thess. 1:10; 2:16; 5:9

II Thess 1:7-10

Heb. 10:28-31

I John 2:2

Rev. 6:16; 16:19

Now let’s get the brunt of what these posts are about. We’ve seen that the wrath of God no matter where one stands on the spectrum of hell, that God’s wrath is indeed terrible and should cause us to fear Him. We’ve also seen that God’s wrath isn’t mixed with imperfections like our, that it is a perfect wrath.

So how does this wrath play out in hell? It’s real, hell. We need to know that above all else hell is a real place and real people go there (remember, keep that at the forefront of your mind).

Edwards makes a good case in the last post that if a little of God’s wrath is intolerable what must it be to experience God’s wrath to the uttermost? But what is the term on God’s wrath, is there a limit, does it end?

No, God’s wrath against sin does not end. Biblically God’s wrath against sin does not end (This should be enough). Logically God’s wrath against sin does not end. Temporally God’s wrath against sin does not end. In terms of glory God’s wrath against sin does not end. In terms of perfection God’s wrath does not end.

I want to present this in two ways, first in terms of a rebuttal to the four main arguments for annihilationism (a necessarily negative light) and second in terms of why one must believe that hell is unending (a necessarily positive light).

In the first post I listed the main arguments of annihilationism as this:

1) The biblical references for the ‘destruction’ of the wicked,

2) The inconsistency of an eternal hell with the love of God,

3) The injustice or unfairness of the disparity between sins committed in this life and the punishment of eternal torment, and

4) That allowing evil to continue in hell would mess with the perfection of the universe God will create after the Judgment Day. (Order taken from Wayne Grudem)

In this post I hope to offer a rebuttal to these arguments. Mind you this debate has been going on for years and I do not expect to change their minds in this one post, in fact I fully expect more arguments will come to show. (Some good resource to read are: Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology page 1146 about Hell, J.I. Packer Knowing God chapter on The Wrath of God, James Boice The Foundations of the Christian Faith chapter on The Wrath of God, Jonathan Edwards sermons Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners, Of Eternal Punishment and many others.) Many of my arguments here are taken from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

First the biblical references for the ‘destruction’ of the wicked. References like Phil. 3:9; I Thess 5:3; II Thess 1:9; II Peter 3:7. “In response it must be said that the passages of destruction do not necessarily imply the cessation of existence.” (Hold on to your hats this part is a little detailed and I’m no Greek scholar.)

In Phil. 3:9 and II Peter 3:7, “‘destruction’ is apoleia which is the same as in Matt 26:8 to speak of ‘waste’ of the ointment. Now the ointment did not cease to be, to exist; it was very evident on Jesus’ head. But was ‘destroyed’ in the sense it no longer was able to be used on someone else or sold.” This destruction is the type seen in these verses, not imply annihilation but the simplicity of unable to be redeemed. Those who are in hell are unredeemable; they did not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and are bearing the just eternal punishment of their sins.

In I Thess 5:3 and II Thess 1:9, “’destruction’ is olethros, used also in I Cor 5:5 of delivering a man to Satan (putting him out of the church) for destruction of the flesh – but his flesh did not certainly cease to be when he was put out of the church…” So destruction is once again not seen as ceasing to exist it is seen as being done away with in a permanent since.

Verses about the eternality of hell:

Matt 25:30-41, 46 see also Isa 66:4

Mark 9:43, 48

Luke 16:22-24, 28

Rev 14:9-11; 19:3; 20:10-15

I would highly recommend you look these verses up, especially the ones in Revelation, which say things like “forever and ever.” All the verses are linked for your viewing ease.

In the last post we looked at the first argument for the biblical texts ‘supporting’ annihilationism. In this post we’ll look at the last three.

The second is that of the inconsistency that an eternal hell is to the love of God. That For God to be truly loving then he would not damn any person to an eternity in hell. However the same problem arises for the annihilationists. In other words this is really a non-argument. It would be unloving for God to damn anyone to hell forever, but it would be loving for God to damn anyone to hell for a set time in such a way so as to annihilate them. Do you see? On one hand it’s unloving to damn and on the other hand it’s loving to damn is essentially the argument. (There is also another type of annihilationism, called annihilationism proper or immediate annihilationism, that is that upon death those unsaved completely cease to be and do not enter hell at all. But this cannot properly be called punishment. Therefore it’s not right because there would be no ultimate justice in the universe.)

Third is the inconsistency between the punishment and the grievance, the sin committed. “The argument that eternal punishment is unfair wrongly assumes that we know the extent of the evil done when sinners rebel against God. (Grudem)”, “Sin against the Creator is heinous to a degree utterly beyond our sin warped imaginations to conceive of….Who would have the temerity to suggest to God what the punishment … should be. (Kingdon).”

Along this point it should be asked of the annihilationist if once a person has entered hell and has served its ‘time’ is it then justified to be annihilated? If the sin that was committed by this person is now dealt with in their ‘time’ in hell, then why not let that person go to heaven? What is the reason or point of annihilationism whatsoever if that person’s sins have been dealt with fully in hell? (Grudem)

Fourth, that allowing evil to persist would be a corruption in God’s perfect universe he creates after the Judgment Day. That hell exists in eternity does not detract from the perfections of God’s universe, in fact it enhances it. It forces us to realize that God has triumphed over sin perfectly and, as Edwards said, to the uttermost revealing the glory of his justice and the perfection of his wrath. That for all time his people will behold God’s triumph over all evil.

On a side note before I end this particular post Grudem brought up an interesting thing, one which I’ll post here as a warning – a shot across the bow, if you will – of where, the dangers of fighting against the eternality of hell could lead. “Because the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment is so foreign to the thought patterns of our culture, and, on a deeper level, to our instinctive and God-given sense of love and desire for redemption for ever human being created in God’s image, this doctrine is emotionally one of the most difficult doctrines for Christians to affirm today. It also tends to be one of the first doctrines given up by those who are moving away from commitment to the Bible as absolutely truthful in all that it affirms…”

We must believe that eternal punishment is true and just even though it does hurt us to believe that there is a place that offers eternal punishment. Even though the prospects of people going there is devastating. This doctrine gives literal fire to our message of redemption.

Here I want to propose the arguments for the eternality of hell in a positive light.

First it is biblical:

Matt 25:30-41, 46 see also Isa 66:4

Mark 9:43, 48

Luke 16:22-24, 28

Rev 14:9-11; 19:3; 20:10-15…

Second it’s reasonable:

If God is an eternal being and we have sinned against that eternal being than it stands to reason that the just punishment for such a grievance is an eternal punishment. We however are guilty of more than one sin, indeed we are sinners are through and through. There is indeed justice for God in the eternal damnation of sinners.

If God commands that we as his creation do not murder, that we do not snuff out life in this reality, then how can God, who created the law, not be subject to his own law and utterly destroy – annihilate, murder in completeness of the word – people? It would seem that in so acting God must be unjust and disobey his own decreed command and therefore not be perfect. In other words it would mean that God is in fact not God and therefore not worthy of glory, honor, praise, and eternal dominion.

If God’s wrath against sin terminates in the annihilation of a person then what happened with Jesus? If Jesus bore the same wrath of God for sin for Christians, as a non-Christian will bear to their annihilation then why was Jesus not annihilated?

Third it’s traditional orthodoxy:

I’ll be the first to tell that just because something is traditional that doesn’t mean it should be believed, you all know I’m a huge fan of the reformation. But when it comes to orthodoxy these are areas, which must be believed in order to have the gospel in its full potency. It is a good practice to ask, “If this is doctrine is different or changed in any way does it change the gospel? And if so how?” If the gospel is changed than the new doctrine or changed doctrine should not be believed. Here, if hell is ending we loose much of the potency of the powerful redemptive work of Jesus. Rather than saving us from for all times from the wrath of God on sin, he only saves from the wrath of God until the end of hell then after that… well that’s part of the question, what does happen to those in heaven after hell is over? Is Jesus’ death still effective? What happens to justification? What happens to redemption? What happens to salvation after hell has ended? Are we still the redeemed and if so what are we the redeemed from? Like the title of this post says, what the hell am I saved from?

On this note is good to look at those who have believed this same doctrine, has history vindicated their names against those who have been proponents for other doctrines, names like St. Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Peter and Paul. It is good to be in good company when believing certain difficult doctrines. Here, if one were to believe that hell has an end they would be in the company of Seventh Day Adventist or Jehovah’s Witnesses, which are both commonly, referred to as cults.

In the last post I want to point out what believing in the eternality of hell does for one’s Christian faith.

It seems odd to have a section that only highlights the benefits of why one should believe in the eternality of hell. It’s crazy to think there are pluses to this immense minus. But there are many.

First I would put this doctrine in my category of  “Devastatingly Beautiful.” This is where I put the doctrines that are so dangerous and devastating but also afford and allow for such worship as cannot be brought by any song I’ve heard or sung.

The eternality of hell is devastating because real people go to a real hell – forever. There are no second chances after death. In fact this life we live has second chances every second. After death there is one place for those who have spurned God’s call and shunned his righteousness and aimed to live their own life without God. God mercifully gives them what they desire – an eternity without his closeness. We cannot come to this dry-eyed or bushy-tailed. This ought to take the wind out of our sails and crush us on the rocks of devastation. People will die and they will suffer forever…

Think about that, people you know will die and they will suffer endlessly. Think about their screams; try to imagine their pain. Now think there’s away way out of that torment – that terrible suffering – a way has been made to release you and them from your and their just damnation and his name is Jesus! He bore that incomprehensible wrath in your place for your sins! Do you love your friends? Of course, now tell them to be saved, redeemed by Jesus! At the heart of the arguments on the limitations of hell is a dangerous plot to lose the urgency of missions. Our dying world must be saved from the just torment of eternity. And only God can save them from his own wrath through Jesus’ atoning death.

Now think about the beauty of salvation! See the storm clouds of God’s divinely just wrath poured out completely on Jesus – you see the only way that Jesus could bear the eternal wrath of God is because he himself is a part of the eternal Being. The only possible way for God’s entire eternal wrath to be cleared from your name is if Jesus being fully God and full man stood and took that wrath for you – it’s the doctrine of propitiation.

We cannot lull our friends or family into a false sense of security by allow them to think hell is ending or that it is not going to be terrible. To allow them to think such things would be like leading them there yourself. Spurgeon said in Lectures to My Students something that has stuck with me for years essentially it is this: Do not be a blind pastor leading you people blindly to hell; an unredeemed pastor is like a blind man making claims about beautiful paintings or a deaf man telling the world of Mozart, he cannot tell the world of what he does not know. Therefore make sure you know and believe the gospel lest you lead your congregation to hell and be greeted there by their screams of torment, “You lead us here!” This will be the screams of those we love if we do not tell them urgency and dangerousness of hell and the beauty of the salvation of Jesus.

Ask yourselves what makes missions seem more urgent hell that is ending or hell that is eternal? Ask yourself what makes God’s hatred against sin more perfect hell that is ending or hell that is eternal? Ask yourself what makes God’s salvation more inescapably beautiful hell that is ending or hell that is eternal? Ask yourself what makes God’s glory so vast as to truly show us that what we know of God is limited and finite hell that is ending or hell that is eternal? Finally ask yourself what shows God’s way to be far higher than our ways, hell that is ending or hell that is eternal?

As an end to this post, this post of hell, I want to add a personal note (I really hope you watched the video). The glory of God is displayed clearly in the death of Jesus - God in the flesh - that he stood in our place and bore an eternity of punishment in his eternal Being. We are free because he has freed us. Hell, this eternal suffering and torment that we should get for the rest of forever has passed from us on to Jesus. Therefore the personal note that I want to add here is simply this: BELIEVE! 

Believe that God has and does love you personally! Believe that God does love you unconditionally! Believe that God loves you irresistibly! Believe that God loves us perseveringly! Believe that it is Jesus who has done all the work you could never do and saved you from all that you deserve to bear – He literally bore it in himself for you because of the deep, deep love of God!

If you do believe the gospel then believe it more and still and deeper! After reading about hell it ought to stir your mind and pluck your heartstrings to know that this damnable eternity is some people’s forever… Be broken! Be devastated, but also turn to the cross of Jesus Christ and realize the full gorgeous beauty of the gospel! That you are free from this proper damnation because of Jesus and only Jesus!

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

That Memory

This’ll be a little sappy.

Do you have memory, which you re-live often? The one that’s like a slide show in your brain, which comes around when you’re happy and when you’re sad. That one where you don’t even know if anyone else remembers (there's probably a ton of them, but there that one in particular, you know?).

Mine is coming back from church camp when I was an eighth grader. We had gone to the beach (for church camp, it was awesome!) it was a 18-ish hour bus ride home. This girl and I (church camp crush) had been flirty for a solid 12 hours.

Anywho she lent me her blanket so I could sleep. When I woke up she had fallen asleep in the back of the bus and looked cold, and here’s the memory: I wanted to give her blanket back, so the choice was this: either, somehow crawl to the back and be classy about it… or throw it at her.

So with all the matured wisdom of my eighth grade mind and all the romantic class I possessed within my body – I threw the blanket into her chair, and smiled at her. Because I was too nervous to give a pretty girl her blanket back nicely, even though I wanted to tell her I liked her so desperately.

My point in telling this semi-embarrassing story (she & I are still friends & she might remember this too) is to give a very real (& personal) illustration of learning. I mean, I could tell you to seize moments and do the whole carpe diem thing, but learning seems better.

Learners are what we are and will be. So learn. Learn from the sappy memory like mine above and from the massive moments encountered. Learn from the drunken old guy who hands you a tract in a bar. Learn in all things to give glory to God.

And then you can tell sappy stories to make a point. 

Journaled Time

I cannot, or even, claim to know any part of the mind of God or the particular reason he acts how he does and bring what he brings.

            I do know, however, that he is about his own glory (which coincides with my good) and therefore when he does things they are done in paramount necessity and perfect will and timing.

            But that jut it, time.

            Bound so closely to our bonds; woven so inextricably to our hearts; and tied, so very neatly, to our lives. Time is the subtle (at times screaming) reminder that, “We are not as we once were.”

            Time, this slow unstoppable march to our ends from our beginnings making our middles the adventure (and making them flutter with butterflies), when closing our eyes is the worst possible sin.

            For in so doing, we’ll miss it, whatever it is, and relegate our stories to the obituaries and not the feature.

            I don’t not think this is how life ought to be lived, in a half-hearted fashion, no, for what little time we have here we must, because Christ is our King, take hold of all of life and use every small bit for the glory, the same glory God is after, the glory of God.

            Therein is life.

(The picture is of art at Wichita's Final Friday.)

Maturation

So here and there I’ve written about (like all other writers and artists) the loss of innocence, i.e growing up and forgetting what it was to be young and to be carefree.

We used to imagine everything, right?

I don’t think we’ve stopped.

Sure we still imagine everything, what it would be like if ________ were true.

We haven’t grown up, we’re still kids in our minds. We haven’t matured we’ve just continued.

Sure we’ve lost innocence, clouds and fireflies don’t enchant us anymore. But we’ve not grown up our minds are still blank.

Until we look at reality and are enthralled by the what-is we’re still children in our thinking. Because any kid can imagine himself greater than he is or better than his friends, but it’ll take a mature mind to understand his own limitations and live right up to those limits.

Do we not strive for more? Honestly, I think we’re all capable of more than we think we are; we’re just lazy. Can anyone do what I do? Yes.

It’s not a positive thinking deal, not at all, no it’s a thinking deal.

It’s not telling yourself everything’s gonna be alright when the crap is hitting the fan, no, it’s a sucking it up and in spite of the crap fighting to continue.

So what is it to grow up? It’s to boldly face reality and understand in spite of yourself you are not capable of changing the world, but you are capable of being a friend, a parent, a sibling, a worker, a ___________ to the glory of God and the benefit of whoever.

Mundanely Radical

Hope that is seen is not hope it’s idolatry.

In Romans 8:24-25 we read the rhetorical question: “For who hopes in what he sees?” Yet all too often our hope isn’t in anything past our noses.

Sure it’s easy to write about how we must be hoping in Jesus… But practically, like in the everyday stuff of life, how do we do this? What’s it look like to be radically Christian in a world of mundane nothings?

Doing all things for the glory of God, all things.

We’ve been freed from what we were once slaves to and can now do things to the glory of God. So, now, all of life is amazing.

A good buddy (mentor) of mine wrote a post, “The God of the Mundane,” it’ll be a book soon, but he works through just this idea. How do we as normal Christians live extraordinary lives? Because the likelihood of every believer ever being called to do ‘radical foreign mission’ is pretty slim.

The thought of being able to make friendships to the glory of God and that be a radical thing should floor us! We can get to know our friends and that is radical mission. Crazy. We can fold laundry to the glory of God. Breathing, seeing, smelling, walking, eating, drinking, any and all things can be and now are for the Christian an amazingly radical thing. Because God is, and causes us to be.

Scriptural Logic

Scriptural Logic i.e. logic which is defined by Scripture, taking the philosophy of Christianity and arguing for it based on the merits and cohesiveness of the Bible.

However for Scriptural Logic to be true or even plausible 1) God must be real, 2) God must be sovereign, 3) God must be Trinitarian, 4) God must be glorified.

First, if God is not seen as real then Scripture is nothing more than a compilation of odd stories to be used like Aesop’s Fables. For if God is not real, then Scripture is not holy, and it’s words are not useful apart from refutation against those misguided believers.

Second, God must be sovereign. He must be in absolute complete control of all things ever. Evil, good, bad, fun, sad all things must needs be under his authoritative control all lives all desires all wants. For if God is not sovereign then Scripture is not but a compilation of stories wherein God’s will is mutable and may be acted upon and changed by the will of man.

Third, God must be Trinitarian. God must be seen as acting and moving throughout the entirety of Scripture as the three-in-one God he is. For if God is not seen, as Trinitarian Scripture becomes the action of an ever-changing god who in one moment is capricious and in the next he is vindictive and teenager-ish.

Fourth, God must be glorified. The aim of all of creation, the end for which it was made must primarily be the glory of God. So it is understood that from creation to re-creation God has done everything, from the fall of Satan to the fall of man to the cross, from death to life, salvation to damnation, love to hate all things are done for himself, by himself to the glory of himself. Therefore in the gospel message God is aiming at glorifying himself by gather worshipers for his namesake.

If God is not about glorifying himself then Scripture can only be read as a God who is both merely responding to the wills of his subjects and is being vindictive and capricious for no reason.

Scriptural Logic is, or at least, should be apart of the Christian life, because in many ways God is believed only to be a stopgap for the times of life, which are difficult. Rather than life being pressed into the mold of God and the leftovers being thrown away, God is forced into the mold of life and is consequently a bastardized form of God, which is not God at all is leftover. But since it suits the shaper their belief is characterized by nothing else than mismatched verses and false pretenses.

Whereas in the process of Scriptural Logic one cannot at any one time say they have arrived at a point of understanding the Godhead and therefore they must, for they are forced to by sheer beauty, continually be in awe of the Creator of such a system.

Evangelical Leprosy

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). It’s a blight on evangelicalism. It really is a disease inside the Christian Church.

Let’s take the idea one word at a time.

Morals. Lists of rights and wrongs made up by every individual person to live a good life. No drugs, no pre-marital sex, no cursing, no alcohol, yes church, yes trying to be kind, yes being a ‘good’ person. The church, meeting place, is teaching how to have a better life, and be a better you, and managing debt well, and have a better marriage/parenting/spouse/fill-in-the-blank-here.

Therapy. We all know this one. There’s no guessing what it’s about. Making us feel good about who we are and what we’ve been/are. No pushing to change only the desire to see just a few more 'how to’s' added to the list of morals from above because hey, God loves you.

Deism. Deism is the belief in a Supreme Being who created the universe. But deism is nowhere near Christian. Deism holds that this Creator created then left us to play everything out. The clock-winder-god. He wound the clock and now it sits on his mantel only to be glimpsed when wanted. This is not Christianity. Not. At. All.

Morals won’t save you.

Therapy won’t make you well.

Deism doesn’t do anything.

Morals won’t save you because you can’t be good enough (Romans 3).

Therapy won’t make you well because pride kills (Psalm 31; 59:12; Prov. 8:13…).

Deism won’t save you because it is absolutely void of the Gospel.

Let this be crystal clear. The cross is central to the Christian faith. Jesus is what separates Christians from all other religions. To call deism ‘Christian’ is like calling a mouse an elephant and the moon the sun. 1) It is a lie. 2) It is a blatant disregard for the way God has made things. 3) It is pure ignorance.

It’s why we preach the Gospel. It’s why we talk about the brutality of the cross and the glory of the resurrection. It’s why Christianity is Jesus and not morals or therapy or deism.

Quite frankly - I'll go Puritanical in my speech here - this way of teaching (MTD) needs to die. Pastors who preach this will be welcomed into hell by the screams of their congregants, I don't doubt this. "Whoa, that's a little harsh Sam." I'd agree with you, if it wasn't the glory of God and the saving of souls at stake. Wishy-washy belief makes for non-commital people which causes heresy that is not Christian.

And this heresy staralizes people to the Gospel, because why would a 'good person' need saving?

Creature

I got a cat. The Wichita Eagle had a classified add for, “Absolutely free kittens.” I called, went over with my sister and took one (his name is Luther and he’s at current intently watching me type while he lays upside down).

As we were leaving the place my first thought was, “These people are really going to let me walk out of their house with one of their pets? I’m not responsible enough for this! This has to be a crime.” But they did. (O and he’s litter box trained.)

Anyway, enough about the cat.

The point is responsibility, and knowing life isn’t about you. Sure you get a critter to love and nurture, but you also have to wake up to feed them, make sure their healthy, and clean up after them (it’s like an infant on an incredible light scale - but infants don’t have claws).

Learning to put others before you in a small way to begin with. Fighting your (my) sin of workaholic because there’s a creature at home.

Fighting sin to the glory of God should weigh in on many of our decisions.

God Created Reality

Have you ever felt thwarted at your every turn? Having thought you’d done everything correctly and been as wise as possible in your decisions only to realize you’d failed? Attempting to grasp at the reasons for your failure but even in that failing to understand the breaking point.

Is there a proper way to respond to this? Is anger at your misunderstanding proper? What about confusion? What about complete indifference? Quite frankly, I don’t know what the right response is for those in this station. For in some sense anger seems correct because you desire to understand, but in some sense is your misunderstanding worth being angry over? Confusion seems proper because you have no idea what’s going on, but we linger here too long. Indifference seems most right in my mind, even though it might mean not learning a lesson at this exact moment.

Here’s my answer: sitting in a library looking at birds play while listening to some dang good banjo playing. That’s my answer. Trying to understand one thing: God created reality. For his own glory because that is (really it is, truly) my good.

Death is Grace

What do we think of when we think of death? Often, I assume, we think of caskets and crying widows, Psalm 23, or the manner in which a friend died. Driving by graveyards with our breath held because it was a fun game when we were 10. Viewing the, “Homecoming Escort,” as both annoying and morbidly intriguing.

We usually steer clear of the discussion of dying. And, to be honest, we rightly do so, for it is a vast unknown. Some have faith, and some have science, but both are not 100% sure what will happen.

As one being saved by Jesus I would fall into the category of faith of an afterlife and an eternity with God. But sometimes I have my doubts. And sometimes I want nothing more than to be there now, and it of this I wish to write.

‘Longing’ might be a good word here, longing to die. To be free of earth and sin and myself, to look beyond that vast unknown chasm knowing what it felt like when my last breath was gone.

(Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Get this dude a psychotherapist because the suicidal thoughts in the post are everywhere.” Societal thought has made death taboo however it’s just as much apart of life as love and we can talk about that without need of psychotherapist all day long).

But here’s my point: when we feel and understand so deeply our revulsion to sin we are, in that moment, screaming at the top of our hearts, “O death where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” And it is then when we see death as a grace not as a monster.

For what good God would let his loved creation wallow in the self-deprecating pitiful state that is Falling Short? How could a loving God be loving if he sat aside and let all men trudge along rather than bringing them away from the monotony? How could a glorious God be glorious if he did not eventually show his awful power and beautiful splendor to those he made to behold it? You see, death is a grace.

Now is Important, right? (pt 2)

Last week I blogged on some musings from 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 in a posted called “Now is Important, right?” (Read it here). I’d like to continue the theme from that post, applying it to something different.

We all want to be loved. To be hugged and cherished, to be - perhaps - swooned over and recognized for what we are or who we are. The way we dress, the way we speak, what we read, and what we own all of these things are attempts at placing ourselves in the realm of the people we esteem. We want to be cool.

Not to be the odd nerd in the corner or to be the guy with his nose stuck in a book. But to be the one everyone loves, that’s what we want, but why?

Why do we want to be loved by everyone? Becoming social chameleons to be hated by none. We even do this in the church, changing and adapting and lying to not be left out or given the cold shoulder.

But shouldn’t the church be the one place where you are capable to be you? To not worry about what the “cool folks” do and feeling the pressure to conform to their image?

God has made us. He has made us who we are and wired us the way we are wired for one reason, and for one reason only, to glorify himself. But we take this body, personality and characteristics and cannibalize them, ripping them limb from limb and duct taping them together to make this Frankenstein of a monster for the sake of being cool.

How would things look if you were the person you are when your alone all the time? And to say it wouldn’t be pretty is to say that what God created is ugly.

Friday's Ripped from the Journal

(A couple of weeks ago I read something in my journal which I thought interesting so I posted it. So, welcome to the inaugural post of "Friday's Ripped from the Journal" anything's game here, so it could be down right weird or upright funny, or simple confession of sin, there's no telling. Thoughts, comments, or anything you think of while reading you should post as a comment. We could have some neat conversations. Enjoy!)

"Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light." Luke 11:35-36

Often it is asked, “How do I be a light?” or “How can you be more of a light?” For many think it is what you do that makes you exude light in dark places. So in response to these questions people go to bars and don’t drink beer to be ‘a light’ or hang out with friends and don’t cuss to be ‘a light.’

But it is not what is done or not done which makes someone illumine a dark place it’s the feeling persuasion of the heart and head, the conviction or deeply rooted intent of the person, which makes them a conduit for glory.

Many men of old did and said things which modern “pop-Christianity” would find astonishing. Yet “pop-Christianity” is changing, moving from one set of systems and philosophies of thought to another. And while the system and philosophy is not an issue, the heart is. For if the system is seen as paramount in the realm of importance than there is no light in a dark place.

It is thus reasonable, no reasonably important that our motives, our reasons for doing something are being checked in a constant continual fashion. For while it is not wrong to abstain or partake on their own merits, it is wrong to not why you’re doing what you’re doing.

The intent must be sought out, and by the grace of God it will be the glory of God.

(The above picture is by Steve Coleman more can be seen here)