Since a snowstorm is raging, I thought it would be a nice time to reflect on a hotter target, say...hell.
Hell is a polarizing and often overly simplified aspect of Biblical Christianity.
First it is referred to in sketchy contexts Biblically. Certainly it has been fictionalized and expounded upon much more drammatically than its Biblical existence & description supports. Second, it feeds into the unfortunate reality that we Christians do like tidy and devastating judgement to fall on others, don't we? And how better to make our enemies pay than to imagine them floundering in constant fire? (We'll get into the Bible of hell another time. It will suprise some of you.)
The reality of hell is, like most eternal matters, uncertain and unknowable...until we are dead and it is too late to be pursuaded. But it can be better understood by reflecting on God, Who God is, and therefor what God is not.
God is love, life, light, resurrection (fresh starts/ forgiveness) and truth...an ever-present counselor. In all areas of living (and post-living) that we pursue those attributes of God, we are living in God's goodness and are likely experiencing characteristics similar to that of heaven.
Conversely, despair, lonliness, the absence of relationship, darkness, absolute shame, death, and lies are not God and are therefor hellish whether it happens before or after death. As I type that list I wonder if the much-touted fire was ever even a useful exaggeration as that all sounds completely miserable.
Hell is a polarizing and often overly simplified aspect of Biblical Christianity.
First it is referred to in sketchy contexts Biblically. Certainly it has been fictionalized and expounded upon much more drammatically than its Biblical existence & description supports. Second, it feeds into the unfortunate reality that we Christians do like tidy and devastating judgement to fall on others, don't we? And how better to make our enemies pay than to imagine them floundering in constant fire? (We'll get into the Bible of hell another time. It will suprise some of you.)
The reality of hell is, like most eternal matters, uncertain and unknowable...until we are dead and it is too late to be pursuaded. But it can be better understood by reflecting on God, Who God is, and therefor what God is not.
God is love, life, light, resurrection (fresh starts/ forgiveness) and truth...an ever-present counselor. In all areas of living (and post-living) that we pursue those attributes of God, we are living in God's goodness and are likely experiencing characteristics similar to that of heaven.
Conversely, despair, lonliness, the absence of relationship, darkness, absolute shame, death, and lies are not God and are therefor hellish whether it happens before or after death. As I type that list I wonder if the much-touted fire was ever even a useful exaggeration as that all sounds completely miserable.
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