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Why We Need Hell
The Waffling Anglican ^ | 3/27/2006 | Mike the Geek

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.

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…
That's just a teaser; read the whole thing; you will not be disappointed.

She draws her metaphors from Origen and Daniel.

"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.

I draw my metaphors from South Austin. I was going in the same general direction, but my best example involved the difference in reactions between the dog and the cockroaches when you flip on the kitchen lights. The dog goes to the cabinet for a snack; the roaches flee in panic and horror. I guess that’s why she’s an author and I’m a geek.

By the way, she will be one of the speakers at the 3rd Austin C.S. Lewis Conference at St. Edward’s University, August 29, 2006. The conference topic is Goodness, Truth, and Beauty – Apologetics and the Winsome Christ. I’ve been to the last two conferences, and I do not hesitate to give them a shameless plug. Be there or regret it.


TOPICS: Mainline Protestant; Orthodox Christian
KEYWORDS: christians; hell; salvation

1 posted on 03/27/2006 5:42:58 PM PST by sionnsar
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To: ahadams2; axegrinder; AnalogReigns; Uriah_lost; Condor 63; Fractal Trader; Zero Sum; ...
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (typically 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by sionnsar, Huber and newheart.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
More articles here.

Humor: The Anglican Blue (by Huber)

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

2 posted on 03/27/2006 5:43:43 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† | Libs: Celebrate MY diversity! | Iran Azadi 2006)
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To: sionnsar

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?


3 posted on 03/27/2006 5:54:25 PM PST by Lion in Winter (The older I am the more I want people to wake up and smell the coffee 'bout violent religions)
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To: sionnsar
"If I knew God I'd be Him."

Yet knowing of God, something akin to Heaven and Hell must surely be, by His way.

4 posted on 03/27/2006 6:07:22 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Lion in Winter; Kolokotronis
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?

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".

5 posted on 03/27/2006 6:37:41 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† | Libs: Celebrate MY diversity! | Iran Azadi 2006)
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To: sionnsar; Lion in Winter

"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".


6 posted on 03/27/2006 6:42:41 PM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: sionnsar

Why We Need Hell - because we need a place to put the Democrats.


7 posted on 03/27/2006 7:35:44 PM PST by Noumenon (Yesterday's Communist sympathizers are today's terrorist sympathizers)
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To: Noumenon

May I humbly suggest that there may be Democrats (I'm not sure I know any such myself) who are not headed there?


8 posted on 03/27/2006 7:54:45 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† | Libs: Celebrate MY diversity! | Iran Azadi 2006)
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To: sionnsar
"It is tragic that some Christians have been so battered with stories of a prideful, vindictive God that they have fled from Jesus' fold."

Where are these people? In my years as a Christian I haven't met them.

I have met a ton of "Christian" folk who believe God to be of the Downey-soft, wouldn't hurt a flea, non-judgmental, co-pilot, meek & mild, wall-flower sort.

Our problem is not too much of a fear of God, but an almost complete lack thereof!
9 posted on 03/27/2006 8:33:53 PM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: sionnsar

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.


11 posted on 03/28/2006 6:45:10 AM PST by Noumenon (Yesterday's Communist sympathizers are today's terrorist sympathizers)
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To: PetroniusMaximus

"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.


12 posted on 03/28/2006 11:49:56 AM PST by beelzepug (Kites banned in Pakistan...does anything in Islam NOT involve throat slitting?)
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To: sionnsar

"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...


13 posted on 03/28/2006 2:46:58 PM PST by Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin
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To: sionnsar

God does not impose hell on anyone; people choose to go there, they do not want to be bothered by God.


14 posted on 03/28/2006 7:54:32 PM PST by TradicalRC (No longer to the right of the Pope...)
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