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FOCUS READING

Romans 3: 23-25 (NRSV)

...since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed...

DAILY BYTE

I must begin by telling you that a lot of the content and ideas in the BDC this week comes from a book released this past March by Rob Bell called, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person that Ever Lived. This book has created a firestorm of controversy, and we don’t have enough time to get into the nitty gritty of all the arguments that are being made for and against Bell’s particular stance, but the book and its study guide, The Love Wins Companion, are available over the internet, and I encourage you in small groups, preferably, or on your own, to get them and go deeper into this discussion. I’ll be pretty blunt about the convictions that this book and the passage from Revelation that we’ll explore this week have brought to my heart. But, my hope is that whether you agree with me, or agree with Rob Bell, or not, that exploring these issues of life and death will encourage us all to think deeply and examine our own lives in light of the scriptures.

But I do want to tell you the story that Rob Bell tells at the very beginning of his book because I think it’s an important story for the passage from Revelation that we’re going to talk about this week.

He says that several years ago there was an art show at his church, and the theme was peacemaking, so artists displayed their paintings, poems and sculptures on what it means to be a peacemaker. “One woman included in her work a quote from Mahatma Ghandi,” which many people found inspiring. But, he says, not everyone. One person attached a piece of paper to the artwork that said, “Reality check: He’s in hell.”

Rob Bell’s reaction was much like mine – “Really?” he says. “Gandhi’s in hell? He is? We have confirmation of this? Somebody knows this? Without a doubt? And that somebody decided to take on the responsibility of letting the rest of us know?”

Now, there’s a bit of cheek in that response. I realize that. I also realize that we do need to take seriously the concern of many people that others will not “make it to heaven.” It’s a very real concern – maybe even for you, who are reading this. Perhaps you are terribly worried that people you love are not in “heaven” – that you may never see them again.
It’s not actually a laughing matter – for, say, a woman who lost her son to suicide, who’s been told that it’s a great tragedy not just because he cut his earthly life short but because he’s condemned himself to an eternity of hell. It’s not a laughing matter for parents who lose a baby before its been baptized and are told that it’s a terrible shame because it was never given God’s grace and welcomed into God’s family, so there is no hope.

Now, these may seem like harsh statements that you can’t imagine yourself making, but they are actually not that much different from saying and thinking things like ‘the man who was shot and killed for trying to break into my neighbor’s house got what he deserved.” Or, “men like Ghaddafi are monsters who are better off dead in a place where they’ll get the judgment they deserve.” These people are someone’s children, too.

Isn’t it interesting that we are so quick to judge who gets to spend an eternity with God in heaven in that better place and who must suffer punishment and be tormented for eternity because of what they’ve done or who they are?

Rob Bell asks the question, “Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?” Many do interpret scripture this way. If so, what are the criteria that God uses for this judgment? If it’s true, as it says in Romans 3 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – that “they are now justified by his grace as a gift” - Why are some condemned and not others? Why later? Why now?

Bell asks the question, “Have you ever heard people make claims about a select few being chosen [for heaven] and then claim that they’re not part of that group?”

It seems that we think, whether we consciously admit it, or not, that we have the power to decide who is saved and who is condemned.

Do we think that our criteria and timing for salvation is the same as God’s? Do you?