Why, God? - Hell

Can a loving God allow people to go to hell forever?  Doesn’t that contradict belief in an all-loving and just God?  Isn’t eternal hell a bit much?  Maybe an overreaction?

The problem we most often have when questioning God is our almost irresistible urge to make everything make sense in our minds during this life; if something doesn’t make complete sense to us, we assume it must not be.  The central truth of Christianity, however, is not that Jesus came to be your friend, copilot, or fuzzy Zen teacher.  It is that he came to be your savior and to correct your eternal problem.

When we die, we don’t cease to exist.  Eternity—whether in heaven or hell—is simply the trajectory of our soul and the person created by our beliefs and behaviors on this side of eternity.

 

Scripture Used

Luke 16.19-31 (NLT)

Luke 6.20-23a (NLT)

Luke 3.8 (ESV)

Quotations & References

Repentance is what you do.  Forgiveness is what God does.

“Hell is the greatest monument to human freedom.” –CS Lewis

“There are only two kinds of people: Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done.’ And those to whom God says in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell.” – CS Lewis

Tim Keller: The Reason for God

Wisdom

"Everything I say I stole from God and your grandma." -Dave Ramsey

Contentment

Contentment is wanting what you have. Greed is trying to have what you want.

"You think I'm wrong about these religious questions, and I think you are wrong. Why doesn't that make you as narrow as me?" -T.Keller

Summer Pics (Portraits)

Why, God? - Pain & Suffering

Can God still be good when people get cancer?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  How can we reconcile all the bad things in the world with a loving God?  Should we even try?

I attempt to discuss the death of my sister at age 22 of angiosarcoma and how that event has completely affected my view of God and His sovereignty.

 

Scripture Used

Rom 8.28 (NLT)
2 Cor 1.9 (NIV)
Psalm 13.1-2a (NLT)
Jeremiah 20.7a (ESV)
Job 40.8 (ESV)
Exod 6.3a (NLT)
Jeremiah 32.2 (NLT)
Jeremiah 10.12 (NLT)
Psalm 119.68 (NLT)
Psalm 103.19 (NLT)
Isaiah 65.17-20 (NLT)

Quotations & References

CS Lewis: A Grief Observed (pp 42-43)

“But oh God, tenderly, tenderly. Already, month by month and week by week you broke her body on the wheel whilst she still wore it. Is it not yet enough?
The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed—might grow tired of his vile sport—might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take you choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For no even moderately good being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t.
Either way, we’re for it.
What do people mean when they say, “I am not afraid of God because I know He is good?” Have they never been to a dentist?”

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one."

In my father's house, there will be social liberals. If it were not so, I would have told you.

"What if when we die, we don't end, but spiritually our life extends on into eternity." -T.Keller

"Why do people say, 'I am not afraid of God b/c I know he is good?' Have they never been to a dentist?" -CS Lewis

You Were Made for This: The Cross

Peter made the same mistake we often do: trying to avoid the cross.  Satan tried to move Jesus away from the cross, and he continues to attempt the same with us.  However, the truth of God's message remains the same: No Cross, No Crown.

Jesus explains it was necessary for Him to go to the cross, and so it is also necessary for us to pick up and carry our own crosses if we're to follow him.

Crosses aren't optional.



Scripture Used

Mark 8.27-35 (NLT)
Mark 4.41 (NLT)
Ephesians 4.11-12 (NLT)


Quotes

No Cross, No Crown.

The idea of “coming to church” instead of “doing church” makes us water down what it means to “be the church."

If you want to keep reading: http://relevantbeliefs.blogspot.com/2010/01/point.html 

DCC--Please pray for Virginia Gutierrez. Her daughter Lydia was murdered in TN today. She just received word; she had 3 sons. -Repost!-

No cross, no crown.

If it's "People vs. Pulpit," tension always shows up: http://ping.fm/na9OA

Summer (pt. 2)

Listen to this week's sermon: Look like Jesus (1 of 2) http://ping.fm/XVHgf

Great article on the limits of radioactive dating and its inability to disprove creationism: http://ping.fm/16hJr

You Were Made for This: Discipleship

Ultimately, we were made to become like God.  God made us in his image in the garden, but through sin and willful disobedience, we tarnished that image and drifted away from him.  Our lives on earth are a journey back to Him.  That beings with faith in Jesus Christ as God, and it continues as we strive to again reflect his image.  That process is called discipleship.

 

Scripture Used

Gen 1.26 (NLT)
Col 1.15 (NLT)
Matt 28.20 (NLT)
Eph 4.24 (NLT)
1 Cor 10.13 (ESV)
Rom 12.2 (NLT)
Prov 23.7 (NASB)
Acts 4.24 (NLT)
1 Tim 4.15 (NLT)

Quotes & Statements

We get consumed by our comfort and forget our character.

Many want to show up, hear a sermon, sing some songs, then go back home.

When you meet God, your behavior and your beliefs change.

Temptations are just as much an opportunity to do right as they are to do wrong.

The battle for sin is fought and won in your mind.

Religion: Doing stuff without the right motivation
Hypocrisy: Saying stuff without the right actions
Christianity: Creeds & Convictions, but also Conduct & Character

Your character is the sum of your habits.

A Bible on the shelf is worthless.

“What has God already told me to do in his Word that I haven’t started doing yet?”

 

References

Warren, Rick: The Purpose-driven Life

Temptation provides just as much an occasion to do the right thing as it does to do the wrong thing. Temptation is simply the choice.

Be Smart

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." M.Twain

Family summer so far