Hell of a Topic

It was the 70s. We had the Vietnam War, Roe vs. Wade, Watergate, the Cold War, Hal Lindsey and the Late Great Planet Earth, and the ultimate B movie, A Thief in the Night. Times were uncertain. In hindsight it was not surprising that there arose an evangelical wash of end time scenarios with heightened emphasis on Christian escapism. “I wished we’ed all be ready,” sang the church. Odd the song was in the past tense.

As a late teen during the mid 70s, I was not sure if I was more afraid of an escalation of war time scenarios or that Jesus would return, and I would be left behind or I would be taken up in the clouds having not ‘fulfilled” all that life ahead had to offer.

The rapturous evangelical hype culminated in Edgar Whisenant’s (a former NASA engineer) published 1988 pamphlet “88 Reasons why Jesus was going to come back in 1988.” Reportedly 4.5 million copies were sold or given away. But alas Jesus did not get the memo.

That great non-event was followed by the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the so-called Cold War. There was still the Gulf War, but the “good guys” won and in terms of war it was quick and somewhere out there. We sighed, felt relief (not so much if you lived in Iraq) and turned the page. To be sure there were efforts to keep end-time fervor alive and well. Whisenant continued with new failed predictions. But most church goers simply shrugged and moved on. Not to be outdone, Tim LaHaye and the Left Behind series was popular, but it was fantasy in the same way Harry Potter was fantasy, only as literature Left Behind was better left behind.

But now in the 21st century with the end of one unsuccessful two-decade war, (never sure what a successful war looks like) facing another significant war in Ukraine, threats of a nuclear war, a yo-yo stock market, a pandemic, hospital shortages, climate change, conspiracy theories with a social network primed to spread their fabrications, we are now faced with a Global Anxiety of pandemic proportions. And while predictions of an imminent Rapture are in short supply there is renewed talk of a revengeful “savior” appearing. Witness the popular bumper sticker, “Left as a Lamb returning as a Lion”, an Ahnould[1] Jesus if you like. I’m Back! (a popular misreading of Revelation 5 when in fact the Lion has conquered, and the slain Lamb rises to power.)

And if Global Anxiety is not enough deal with, there seems to be a renewed emphasis in predominately evangelical circles on hell. “Hell is no joke,” says one circulating Facebook placard, “and it is time we stop downplaying it and start warning people of the consequences of a life without Jesus.” I understand the message is intended to scare the hell out of people, but I suspect such flinty infernalist pronouncements do a better job “shutting the Kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.” (Matthew 23:13).

11 times the synoptic Gospels refer to “the Gehenna,” Greek for the Valley of Hinnom, which is perhaps tragically translated by many versions as hell. “Gehenna” was a valley to the southwest of Jerusalem that by the time of Jesus had become known in Jewish lore as either a place punishment, purification and sometimes annihilation. What was in the mind of Jesus when he referred to it is difficult to say. At least once Jesus personified the word as a warning to the religious elite of his time. Speaking to the Pharisees Jesus spoke, “you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are” (Mat. 23:15). A cautious inditement to those who would leverage the thought of hell to win converts.

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The cross is the primary symbol that God’s way of salvation is the antithesis of vengeful violence

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Taking in the weight of scripture there are serious problems with the traditional eternal infernalist positions of the broader evangelical church.

1. Jesus, the one described as the same yesterday and forever, is apparently bi-polar. He was the sacrificial lamb but soon and very soon he will be out for revenge.

2. Holders of such views invariably either position themselves outside such judgment or eternally beat themselves for falling short apparently of God’s requirements. Taught from an early age it can inflict irreparable harm.

3. The weight of scripture suggests that God will not rest until all have come into a saving knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14, Romans 11:32, Ephesians 1:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Titus 2:11 Romans 5:18-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Hebrews 2:9, John 17:2 1 John 4:14, 2 Peter 3:9, John 4:42, Philippians 2:9-11 John 3:17 “For God sent the Son into the world not that he might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” And so on and so on.

4. It flies in the face of what we encounter in the Gospels on the life and times of Jesus. This pass month I did a tour of the Legacy Museum in Montgomery Alabama. The museum chronicles the story of how millions of Africans were torn from their homeland and shipped to the New America, Those who survived the voyage were sold as slaves, tortured, lynched for misbehaving (in some cases looking at a white woman). And somehow upon their death they are faulted for denying the brand of Christianity they witnessed and Jesus himself will now assign them for eternity to hell.

5. Nowhere in Scripture is there a place of perpetual cruelty presided by the Satan.

6. The evangelicals of my youth reminded me that young children are protected by the age of accountability. (a nice sentiment but not found anywhere in Scripture). We were also sold the idea of original sin, so we are all held accountable. The incongruity of it all is simply beyond the scope of this posting.

So, can I believe in a place of eternal damnation outside of the Kingdom of God/heaven? There is much that I do not know but take out the word “eternal” and I can. But I also believe that the gates of heaven are wide open. They are never closed and there is no entry fee except hearing the constant words “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).

Will everyone go in, probably not at least right away. Some will resist and remain in their hell (Gehenna). But the Bible is explicit that God will not rest until all come in.

Who are those who refuse to come in? I can imagine predominately two groups of people. There are those who are so broken (prodigals) who feel they are not worthy of entrance (and the church both historically and currently has some accounting for shutting the door of heaven in their faces). And there will be many self-identified law-abiding Christians, who will resist the words of forgiveness (elder sons and daughters) and say “I am not going to join the party, if such and such is there. I would rather stay here in Gehenna then go there.” And of course, all the Father wants is everybody to join in.

[1] I have borrowed the “Ahnold” from New Testament Scholar D. Mark Davis, ““In Jesus we see that, even in rejection, God’s steadfast love endures forever; in Ahnold we see that that God’s steadfast love is on a timer and we are nearing the midnight hour when it’s over…...The cross is the primary symbol that God’s way of salvation is the antithesis of vengeful violence.” Davis, Left Behind and Loving It: A Cheeky Look at the End times (Cascade Books: Eugene, Oregon, 2011):102,103.