Punished according to their works

A bit of back story – please forgive me if I waffle, I have a tendency of doing that.

I while ago I posted something about hell, and included some throwaway statement like ‘people receive punishment in hell according to their bad works on earth.’ Helpfully, I now can’t find that post anywhere. Anyway, someone commented saying they didn’t believe me and asked me to justify what I said. Absolutely fair enough, people don’t do that enough! The problem was that I couldn’t find the particular verse that had led me to that conclusion in the first place.

The good news is that after probably about a year I’ve found a good quote about it, and (more importantly) the Bible passages! Here’s the quote, from Randy Alcorn:

Because God is fair, hell won’t be the same for everyone. The severity of punishment will vary with the degree of truth known and the nature and number of sins committed.

And here are the Bible passages:

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” (Matthew 11:20-24)

And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Luke 20:45-47)

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:3-5)

Fair enough? I’m glad we had this little talk.

I don’t know if I get to go to heaven

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It was over a year ago that I posted this about whether or not Christians go to heaven when we die, or if we don’t simply enjoy a perfect regenerate creation for the rest of eternity.

But then the other day I was reading this blog and was pointed towards this free book about how to speak to Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The author of the free book (which in general is very good) points out one of the key important differences between Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Heaven. The home of God. The majority of believers will not spend eternity with God in heaven, but rather with Jesus on a refurbished earth.

Now, like I say, the book itself is good so I’m not picking apart the author’s theology or anything…but I’m not actually sure that the Bible says that we’ll spend eternity with God in heaven, I think it suggests that all believers will live on this ‘refurbished earth’ for eternity.

Here’s my deal. I don’t think the whole ‘heaven vs. new earth’ thing is a massive deal, but I do think that Christians should know what they believe rather than basically guess (i.e. saying ‘I’m going to heaven when I die’ is basically people just repeating something they’ve heard rather than developing a theology from the Bible).

The Jehovah’s Witnesses conclusion around this (that 144,000 stay in heaven with God while the rest stay on a refurbished earth) is absolute rubbish made up by a guy with a significant number of screws loose, but I’m not convinced that the widely believed ‘Christians go to heaven’ doctrine is actually biblical either.

Summary: on this particular doctrine I don’t think it’s that important to get the details right, it’s not like we’ve missed out on Jesus being the Son of God or something. But not understanding something like this really opens the door to heretics like the Jehovah’s Witnesses to show us bits of the Bible which suggest that actually we do stay on earth for eternity. And that brings up that silly little thought: ‘if they’re right about that, perhaps they’re right about something else’.

Atheists say dead heroes shouldn’t be honoured

Seven firemen killed as a result of their heroic actions on 9/11 were publicly honoured by the American population – they earned the title ‘the Seven in Heaven’, and a commemorative street sign was erected.

Of course, this didn’t please a bunch of atheists, who have now come out and are threatening a lawsuit to remove the sign.

They do have a point – they say that heaven is a distinctly Christian idea, and that city officials, by allowing this sign to be publicly displayed, are going against the separation of church and state.

But they’re wrong. Let’s just start with the Christian concept – Christians believe that we’re saved by grace, not works. So no Christian would say that these firemen have any greater or lesser chance of getting into heaven based on their heroic actions on that day – it’s already been achieved by Jesus.

But in addition to that absolutely basic misunderstanding, here’s a quote from Ken Bronstein, president of New York City Atheists:

It’s really insulting to us…We’ve concluded as atheists there is no heaven and there’s no hell…And it’s a totally religious statement…It’s irrelevant who it’s for, we think this is a very bad thing…

I find it ironic that he’s able to say ‘we’ve concluded there’s no heaven’, then say that belief in heaven is ‘a totally religious statement’. Double standard anyone?

David Silverman, president of American Atheists, said:

It implies that heaven actually exists…People died in 9/11, but they were all people who died, not just Christians. Heaven is a specifically Christian place. For the city to come up and say all those heroes are in heaven now, it’s not appropriate.

And this is where the argument falls short, because it’s going round in circles. First, heaven doesn’t exist, now it’s wrong because they might not have been Christians? Is he basically saying that he’d rather the sign said ‘Seven turned to ash’ if they were atheists?

But it gets better – this is Silverman again:

All memorials for fallen heroes should celebrate the diversity of our country and should be secular in nature. These heroes might have been Jews, they might have been atheists, I don’t know, but either way it’s wrong for the city to say they’re in heaven. It’s preachy.

What? Hang on. All memorials should celebrate the diversity…should be secular. But the vast majority of Americans would say that they have faith in at least one god. So you’ve just contradicted yourself in one breath – either you celebrate diversity in beliefs, or you admit that you think you’re right and everyone else is wrong – you can’t have it both ways.

Again, it’s ironic that using the word heaven on a street sign is preachy, but then demanding that everything should be secular isn’t.

Rant over.

For the moment.

Christians with disabilities

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This shook me this morning.

The encouragement given to disabled Christians is often that they can look forward in eternity to walking and running.

One disabled Christian, however, said what he was most looking forward to:

I’m most looking forward to kneeling.

Desires for more

I know this is uncreative but I was caused to think by this quote:

The sobering reality is that having a longing does not mean that it will necessarily be fulfilled. As [C.S.] Lewis observes, simply because I get hunger pangs does not guarantee I will get to fill my belly. But what it dies tell me is that I was created to eat. These inconsolable yearnings tell us that we are creatures who have been created to find fulfilment somewhere else. Lewis says, ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.’

That’s from The God Who Smokes by Timothy J. Stoner, and he quotes from Mere Christianity. Next time you have one of ‘those’ longings, thank God a better time is coming soon!

The God Who Smokes by Timothy J. Stoner

Yes, the guy’s name’s funny. He admits it on the opening pages. Anyway, this book OS intended to be ‘scandalous meditations in faith’, particularly by trying to find middle ground between the emerging/emergent and fundamentalist evangelical movements. Stoner’s chapters look at God’s character and our response.

For a start, this is phenomenally well-written. Through personal stories and clever analogies it’s impossible not to enjoy the communication style. The content’s good too, biblically sound, logical and gracious.

That said, I struggle to put this in a box. With this title you don’t expect orthodoxy, but that is what you get, albeit presented in a post-modern style. He clearly tries to get the emergent crowd on board by using the word ‘crap’ in the introduction, and quoting Rob Bell and Brian McLaren throughout, but he fundamentally disagrees with them both.

The problem with this book isn’t the words, it’s the cover. It doesn’t really discover a new middle ground in Christianity, it just presents evangelicalism in a more Rob Bell style.

So, it gets plenty of thumbs up from me – I looked forward to reading it every day – but on this occasion you have to conclude that you can’t judge a book by its cover!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

#TOAM What is hell?

In the Tracking Theological Trajectories training track we looked at Tim Keller’s The Reason For God. It stood out as an excellent book tackling some tough questions in a good style, but raised questions in two areas: evolution, and hell.

Keller’s idea of hell was essentially written to rid his readers of the idea that God somehow gets enjoyment as he pushes those he doesn’t choose into a pit of fire, laughing all the way. Of course, he’s right to correct that image, but the way he does it is questionable.

Chosen consequences

He takes an idea from Romans 1: 18-32, that God hands sinners over into their sin and that therefore people who end up in hell have actually chosen to go there. He quotes C.S. Lewis at some point when he says something like this:

God gives everyone a chance to say ‘thy will be done’ in case on the final day he has to say, ‘thy will be done’.

It’s a powerful idea but one which actually portrays hell as a somehow desirable location, and that’s simply not true. Keller takes Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and points out that the rich man tried to get Lazarus to enter hell, rather than beg to be let out…but he does want his brothers to be warned about the place of torment, so I’m not sure that’s right.

John Piper blogged recently that this theory is like looking at a fat person – they wanted chocolate, not obesity. In the same way, a person in hell didn’t want to get there, they wanted to sin.

God’s wrath

Perhaps more dangerously, however, Keller’s theory proposes the idea that hell is actually God’s passive wrath. The man is merrily cycling towards the pit of fire, and God’s just standing by allowing it to happen.

I think that hell must be God’s active wrath – he is punishing sin because it’s so horrific to him. The Bible doesn’t hold back about describing sin as ‘whoring’, and it’s exactly the fact that God hates sin so much that makes the cross so incredibly grace-filled!

Well, I thought it was interesting – I’d like to hear your thoughts though! If you’d like to hear the session in full it’s located here.

#TOAM In heaven forever? I don’t think so.

It’s become a bit of a cliché: ‘you’re either going to heaven or hell’. At the Together on a Mission conference last week my training track looked at Tom Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope, to discuss whether this is even true or not.

Quite simply, heaven is God’s dwelling place. The Bible doesn’t talk about us ‘going to’ heaven in the same way as hell. We’re told that the thief on the cross immediately went to ‘Paradise’ when he died, but that’s really only a holding place before eternity.

In the same way that Jesus’ resurrection is a model for our new life in him, Wright suggests that the new heavens being united with the new earth as described in Revelation is Jesus’ resurrection model when applied to creation.

In other words, our idea of ‘heaven’ is not biblical. Eternity will be lived out on this creation, albeit a perfect, redeemed creation. In the same way that our Christian lives are simultaneously completely new and a continuation of our old lives, the new creation will retain all positive aspects of this creation (but they’ll still be infinitely better), and every bad bit will be forever gone.

That sounds a bit better than harps on clouds to me, and it’s way more biblical too.

How will God respond to Richard Dawkins?

Here’s a thought provoking video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7906__OpkM&feature=player_embedded

If you’re an evolutionist, I’d encourage you to watch it just as I’ve watched Dawkins and heard his beliefs. Just as I find Dawkins arrogant and offensive I expect you may take some offense at what this guy says, but I think that’s partly because of the audience and partly because it’s really him talking to Christians…but watch it through anyway, it’s not that long.

God likes me!

So a friend of mine gave me a call yesterday to say he was being sectioned so wouldn’t be able to leave his ward for a month; I decided to visit. As I walked through the door he looked up, and when he saw me shouted, ‘Sam!’ He leapt up and shook my hand firmly; for some reason he was genuinely pleased to see me!

A. W. Tozer once said: ‘Did you ever stop and think that God is going to be as pleased to have you with Him in Heaven as you are to be there?’ Just sit for a moment on that truth – I’ve spent my entire life basically sticking the middle finger up at God yet when I walk through those pearly gates He’s going to cry, ‘Sam!’ and with a big smile on His face will welcome me in!

How do I know this? Well, going through what God did for me is evidence that He wanted the result pretty badly, i.e. reconciliation between me and Him…God loves me very much. And you, by the way.