Rudy at Urban Onramps posted a story asking his readers if they are “linkers” or “thinkers.” I think I am a linker who longs to be thinker. Whaaa!??!?!
Anyway, a few weeks ago I finished reading Brian McLaren’s The Last Word and the Word After That“. On Monday, Brian did a few guest blogging sessions at various “emergent” blogs. On JordonCooper.com here is how Brian summed up the main thrust of his book:
For those of you who haven’t read the book, here are some of the main ideas:
A. Our view of hell has a lot to say about our view of God (and vice versa).
B. For many people, hell means that God torments or tortures people consciously and forever, with no possibility of repentance and no possibility for an end to the tortures.
C. This view of God, I believe, is unworthy of the God presented to us in Jesus Christ.
D. The conventional understanding of hell developed over a long period of time. It wasn’t revealed in the Old Testament, but arose in the period between Testaments. When Jesus speaks of it, he hasn’t invented it, but rather is responding to it as a controversial idea among the Jewish people of his day.
E. The Sadducees were the conservatives who held to the older view that there was no hell or no afterlife. The Pharisees were, in a sense, the liberals who accepted the idea of hell. Many believe that the idea of hell came into Judaism from Persian religion – and that the name Pharisee may be from Farsi, or Persian.
F. Jesus does not follow either the Sadducees (who reject any idea of afterlife), nor does he follow the teaching of the Pharisees and their view of hell. Rather, he charts a bold new path and uses the language of hell (“owned” by the Pharisees) to draw attention to his own message – centered in the kingdom of God, and the character of God.
G. “The kingdom of God” does not mean heaven. Being excluded from the kingdom does not necessarily mean eternal conscious torment after death in hell either.
H. All people will face judgment. God is always both just and merciful in judgment. Being judged does not necessarily mean “being sent to hell.” Nor does being condemned. These words mean being exposed for being disobedient to God, not pleasing God, not serving God.
I. Matthew speaks the most about hell, Mark and Luke, less, and John not at all. Paul speaks often of the reality of judgment, but he doesn’t talk about hell. The New Testament is not as clear about the subject as many people believe.
K. We need to rethink the message of Jesus and the apostles in terms of the kingdom of God – which is God’s will being done on earth, and not be so preoccupied with the issue of hell.
Pretty challenging. I can’t say that I agree 100% with everything here but I can tell you that I am 100% stretched and moved. Brian does such a wonderful job asking questions. The two points that poke at my heart are A and K. I will be wrestling with this for a while and I encourage you to as well. I just wanted to post this link here for us to think about.
I have just read several articles on the web on “hell.” Each of the “scholars” argue for the existence of hell based on the English language. Not once do any of them actually analyze the Biblical words used in the New Testament.
There are 4 such words with one of them being a derivative of the 3. I have not found anything in these 4 Greek words that indicate a present location that houses the lost souls in flames. I certainly do not deny the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 20 or it’s description in Revelation 14. But it seems that these 4 words in the New Testament all point to Rev 14 and 20, a future fire for the lost and not a present one.
The articles I was reading today use the English “forever and ever” or “torment” as their proof of eternal torment. However, the word “torment” (Strong’s # 928)Greek, basaniso, according to Vine’s NT, “properly signifies “to test by rubbing on the touchstone.” I further went after this word and found a reference in Romans 9:32,33 that Paul refers to Jesus as the “stumbling stone” that the Jewish people of Christ’s day denied. The Apostle Paul was quoting Isaiah 28:16. The word in Isaiah (Strong’s # 230, but in TWOT #976) means to “put to the test.”
This stone is describe as that of an assayer’s touch stone that was used to determine the value of precious stones like gold or silver. The assayer would rub the precious metal on the touchstone to determine its worth.
The most precious metal we are told to get from Christ in Revelation 3:18 is the “gold refined in the fire.” Fire won’t destroy gold, it will only refine it. Which brings me to 1 Cor 3:10-15 where Paul writes about building character on the true foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
In Paul’s passage he writes that we either build on precious stones or build on wood, hay or straw. We know what v 15 means, that wood, hay or straw go up in flames very quickly. But the precious stones do not burn. By precious stones Paul is referring to having within us the quality of ones belief in Christ. Paul further states in v13 that everyone’s life will be tested by fire.
The word then, in Revelation 20:10 for “torment” refers to this “touch stone” that has its reference to Christ. Anyone found to be without the building block of His character (gold tried in the fire) in us will not meet the requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. Torment means the testing of ones character and not the torment of eternal on going burning that so many teach today.
There’s much more on this and I would like the opportunity to write more if anyone is interested.
Sincerely,
Tony