What the hell do we do with hell? I don't have answers but really just more questions. First of all I wonder can we or should we seperate our emotional response from our Biblical response? Or should we listen for Truth in both? I am just wondering...

Second...has modern systematic theology got it all figured out? In our own "falleness" can we really trust our own interpretations of Holy Scripture? Do those interpretations lead us to make a judgement call about who is obviously going to hell and who is not? Do our judgement calls then lead us to ignore the apparent "unresponsive" and move on to other "reponsive" people? Shouldn't we get beyond this? Shouldn't we (Christ followers, missionaries, pastors, airplane mechanics, stray-at-home moms and mailmen) just love the hell out of people to our dieing day? Can we do this wether or not somone responds?

Obvioulsy you can see I am taking a journey that probably looks dangerous, but what do we say do the people of Papua New Guinea? How do we respond to their qeustions? When missionaries first arrived with the "gospel" in the 1950's the people were blown away. "Why if such eternal realities were at stake had Christians waited close to 2000 years before they ever came this island?" they asked. Good question, and I wonder. Are they to believe that every one of their ancestors in the past 20 centuries has gone to hell? Who out their can honestly say yes?

Of course systematic theology would lead us to say yes. But that elaborate theology is a combo meal of both Holy Scripture and our interpretation of it. What if it is tainted with our own falleness and leading us to assume too much? Am I playing devil's advocate? I love Christ - and their is something more for us to be doing that trying to figure out who is in and who is out? If hell truly exists, and I believe it does, we should stop trying to figure it out, stop talking about it from our comfortable office chairs and climate controlled offices. We should stop talking and start loving because words mean all too little today.



- posted by Jacob B. @ 3:32 PM