Posted on 03/27/2006 5:42:58 PM PST by sionnsar
I was going to write a bit of a Lenten reflection on heaven and hell, but Frederica Mathewes-Green does so much better a job of it than I possibly could.
Hell has never been a fashionable destination, but it in recent years it's met a fate that even the most passé hotspots don't endure; people suspect it doesn't exist. Or, if it does exist, it attracts no customers; "we are permitted to hope that hell is empty" is how this is sometimes phrased. Even the most conservative Christians have a hard time putting a positive spin on a wrathful God who flings evildoers into flaming torment.That's just a teaser; read the whole thing; you will not be disappointed.
It is tragic that some Christians have been so battered with stories of a prideful, vindictive God that they have fled from Jesus' fold. No wonder some become atheists; who would want to spend eternity with such a tyrant?
Yet I'm going to make a case for hell, though not the one you see in cartoons, a fiery cavern where demons poke you with pitchforks. Dante made that kind of thing look pretty exciting, but "The Inferno" was written almost 1300 years after the Gospels. When you strip away European and medieval assumptions, and look at the writings of Christians in lands and cultures closer to Jesus' time, you get a different picture
"The same sun that melts wax hardens mud" is how Origen, the 3rd century Egyptian writer, put it. In the 4th century, St. Basil the Great used the story of the three young men in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-30) as an illustration: the fire spared the prayerful trio, while the guards who threw them in were destroyed.
Frederica Mathewes-Green is Eastern Orthodox isn't she. A relative of mine met her someplace in Maryland, I think. He husband is a priest, isn't he?
Yet knowing of God, something akin to Heaven and Hell must surely be, by His way.
Yes, she went from Anglican (Episcopalian) to Orthodox, I believe. I do not know about her husband. But she's also kept ties/friendships. David Virtue lists her as an "esteemed colleague".
"Yes, she went from Anglican (Episcopalian) to Orthodox, I believe. I do not know about her husband."
Not only is he Orthodox, he's an Orthodox priest. He was an Episcopal priest in his "former life".
Why We Need Hell - because we need a place to put the Democrats.
May I humbly suggest that there may be Democrats (I'm not sure I know any such myself) who are not headed there?
There are Dems who aren't headed there - Zell Miller, for one. The Democrat Party's values are now those of murder, treason and socialism. They've made that clear enough.
"Where are these people? In my years as a Christian I haven't met them."
I had a good friend in college--we were both late twenties at the time--who had spent all of his school years being taught by the nuns. By the time I met him he had completely left the church, all churches to be exact, and vowed never to return. He told me he was so sick and tired of constantly worrying about whether or not he was in a state of grace, in case he was run over by a bus or struck by a meteor, or some other unforeseen disaster, that he just couldn't take it anymore. All those years of pressure just took a toll on him, I guess.
"Even the most conservative Christians have a hard time putting a positive spin on a wrathful God who flings evildoers into flaming torment."
No, no, no, no, no. God does not send people to hell. Not by a longshot! Evildoers CHOOSE that destination simply because they refuse to abide by God's rules which provide for the health and welfare of every individual. He will just happen to be the One refusing to allow them into heaven on Judgement Day because of their own selfishness/obstinancy/pigheadedness. And that is because he simply cannot tolerate evil...
God does not impose hell on anyone; people choose to go there, they do not want to be bothered by God.
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