The first of four controversial issues: "hell"

   I like to get things on the table, and I do so for the next four blogs.  I start with the topic of "hell."  This is a subject some Christians avoid, whereas a small minority like to harp on it.  Here I make four brief points.
   First, we know about "hell" because Jesus revealed it.  There were previews of a punishment in the Old Testament, yet Jesus is the One who gave the firm revelation.  For example, he talked about "hell" when talking about adultery.
   "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell" (Matthew 5:27-30 NIV).
   This passage is in no way promoting physical abuse.  Not at all!  On the other hand, Jesus is serious about the disaster of lust.  So what is the interpretation?  The key is to realize that when it comes to lusting, neither our eyes nor our hands are the problem!  The problem is our hearts.  The heart is the center to all decision making.  The heart is what is ultimately making the decision to lust.  The heart of a human is what needs to be changed.  Believing in Jesus will result in being united with God in a manner that God will be able to change your heart.  It is a long process, and it is a spiritual process, but it is a real process.  And believing in Jesus is a totally different path than the path to "hell" which Jesus reveals.
   Second, the other day in my Contemporary Approaches to Theology class, someone made the point of how "hell" is an uncomfortable topic and suggested maybe we Christians would be best off by avoiding the subject.  I disagree.  Prison is an uncomfortable subject, but possibly numerous people would not be there if they had been warned about the reality of consequences to wrongdoing.  Instead of ignoring the fact of how many people are in prison, we should be facing reality, and I argue the same is true for "hell."  The object is not to scare people.  The object is to warn.
   Thirdly, I learned in my Evangelical Theology class there are two main views on "hell" among evangelicals.  The first interpretation is called the "classical view."  This view is that God created people to exist forever, so those who are not saved by Jesus go to hell where they will experience everlasting suffering.
   The second interpretation is called the "annihilation view."  This view is that people who are not saved by Jesus go to hell where their souls will perish forever.  They will physically and spiritually die.
   The vast majority of evangelical Christians take the first interpretation.  In many evangelical seminaries, the professors have to sign a faith statement which includes the "classical view" of "hell."
   This is a unique situation for me since I am strongly with the minority on this doctrine.  I take the interpretation that hell is a place of spiritual death, based on verses such as John 3:16 and Romans 6:23.  I learned from my textbooks at CCU that John Stott was considered the leading theologian to support the annihilation interpretation.  Dr. Stott did pass into heaven while I was studying at CCU, in July of 2011.  I add that I agree God created people to last forever, yet in order to have that blessing, they had to be obedient to God.  By Adam and Eve eating from the tree of life, they brought about the separation between God and people, and spiritual death resulted.  God creates, and God can destroy.
   I close this subject by saying that whatever position a person takes, "hell" is the ultimate tragedy.
   Fourthly, this is such a delicate topic, I recommend reading a book on the subject by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle entitled Erasing Hell.  They give a humble and caring examination of the subject.  Though I do not think they give the spiritual death view equal examination, at least they discuss it a bit.  And I also add they miss, and so many others do, the message of I Peter 3.
   I can let you know what I like to focus on!  Heaven!  Yet when telling the Gospel, the word alone, which means Good News, lets us know there is also some bad news.  May we Christians always rely on God to tell the truth in love!
Hunter Irvine

The Atonement

   Christianity is a religion which is completely based on a relationship with Jesus.  The radical claim is that in being in a relationship with Jesus, you are in a relationship with God, because Jesus is God the Son, one Person of the Triune God.

   How is this relationship with God possible? The Atonement!

   People have been separated from God ever since the Fall involving Adam and Eve.  And people have been further straying ever since Adam and Eve.  The result of this is that all people sin, which is doing that which is counter to the perfect will of God.  The consequence of sin is the spiritual death of people.  Yet praise be to Jesus, salvation was made possible, because Jesus became what theologians term the penal substitutionary atonement.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God..." (I Peter 3:18 NIV).
Also - "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NIV).

And - "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

   That "him" is Jesus, and Jesus is God the Son, who had no sin in the first place.  Truly only Jesus could be the substitute for sins, because only Jesus, who is infinite, could die for all humans, who are finite.  I add that Jesus died for everyone, yet His atonement is the choice of a person.  Each individual chooses whether she or he will believe in Jesus.

by Hunter Irvine