Love > Hellfire & Brimstone

In the last few years I haven’t made a habit of jumping on this blog and reacting to too many things, although that was one of the things that got this baby started back in its heyday. And I’m not really going to do that now, although I will say that this new Rob Bell “controversy” has produced an enormous amount of really great dialogue which I have found tremendously refreshing. (For some great reading go here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here)

I think questions of heaven and hell, and how a loving god could condemn good people to hell or allow bad things to happen to good people, is at the heart of our faith, and I don’t think these types of questions should be ignored simply because it’s easier to live within our current structures. Courageous people asked questions to challenge status quo to get us to this point (Jesus, for example), and courageous people are going to carry us into the future.

So Wednesday I had a six mile run ahead of me and decided to find a podcast to listen to. Ironically Eric Bryant had a blog post that day that recommended an old series by my favorite speaker and author. I imagine it was purposeful because he only had one of the topics hyperlinked on the post: Is There a Hell? That’s right in my wheelhouse, thanks Eric!

Is There a Hell? by Erwin McManus – September 17, 2006
Download mp3

As usual Erwin makes some great observations, then closes in a deeply emotional prayer which he ends by saying, “May love prevail.”

So immediately after this lesson, in which I’ve been challenged to live life to the fullest, I look up to the beautiful night sky and thank God for all the crystal clear stars above me, as the following song starts up to lead me home for the last mile….

Love Like Rockets — Angels & Aiwaves
I held my head as it left the ground,
The belts grew tight as the blast grew load,
A loving wish whispered in my ear,
Please lead with grace, all the best my dear,
Yeah, It’s like

I held your hand as I pulled you in,
Your lips sealed tight, ready to begin,
I kissed you first, then you kissed my ear,
If I ask you once, will you ask me every year?

Do You Feel Alive? (Imagine, Imagine)
Do You Feel Alive? (Imagine, Imagine)

The Sun it set in the night time sky,
The stars they cast a glow upon my eyes,
The Earth itself a burning ball of light, yeah, it’s like
And our first love was ignited late that night

Do You Feel Alive? (Imagine, Imagine)
Do You Feel Alive? (Imagine, Imagine)

The stars in your eyes light up the sky with thoughts, light and fire and sound
The stars in your eyes light up the sky with thoughts, light and fire and sound
Do You Feel Alive? (Imagine, Imagine)

Filed under: Hell, Love

The New Road to Hell

I read a great article recently.

It was the back page article in the March 24, 2008 issue of TIME, written by Nancy Gibbs, and called The New Road to Hell. It dealt with the “new social sins” decreed by the Vatican recently—Environmental Pollution, Genetic Manipulation, Obscene Wealth, Infliction of Poverty, Drug Trafficking, Morally Debatable Experiements, and Violation of the Fundamental Rights of Human Nature.

She had the following good thoughts…

Sin, unlike crime or folly, is a spiritual notion: for Muslim or Jew or Christian, sin is the saboteur that keeps us from grace, separates us from God. The new list is about what separates us from one another; it makes abstract the failings that once were intimate and in the process may make sin smaller, not bigger or more relevant. Private faith already speaks to public duty, as Mohandas Gandhi suggested with his version of the seven deadly sins: “Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality and worship without sacrifice.” The responsibility rests with the individual, but that includes the duty to take care of others as well as your own soul.

I think she wraps it up very nicely at the end. Which goes in line perfectly with what she said earlier in her article that the original mortal sins had as much to do with attitudes as with acts themselves. It’s not the laws themselves that compel us to avoid things, it’s what’s inside us that does.

Filed under: Catholicism, Genetics, Hell, Mohandas Gandhi, Nancy Gibbs, Sin, Social Conscious, Social Justice, Time

Special Place in Hell

I really hate starting the morning off on such a downer. I really am in good spirits today despite bouting with the flu. It’s just that when I read about stuff like this—as well as stories of child abuse of any sort—I have a really hard time wanting any more for these people than for them to rot in hell.

I know that doesn’t mesh too well with me being a Christ follower, but those are just my feelings and I’m not going to lie about it. This quote by this extraordinary woman made me smile quite a bit though…

“I’m quite sure that if it had happened when I was younger, I would have been after him,” she said. “I’m a very strong woman. I’ve been that way my whole life.”

as well as this statement…

“Her hat flew off, but she remained on her feet.”

Did you catch the fact that she was 101 freaking years old? I would have been on the floor crying like a baby.

Filed under: Forgiveness, Hell, Suckers