Church and Society: To Judge or Not to Judge

It is a common approach for Christians today in their interactions with people, Christians and non-Christians alike, to focus on and emphasize sin. To bring people to Jesus in the first place, we inform a person of their sin, telling them they have done wrong and therefore need Jesus in their lives. Once a person is a Christian, more veteran Christians seem to monitor the new Christian's lifestyle and whenever a sin is uncovered, it is pointed out and the newer Christian is asked repent in order to remain in the church. If a Christian confesses a sin, or something they are told is a sin, they don't receive loving hugs, and offers of support, but scoldings and admonitions to confess to God and stop sinning.

One of the major areas we see this today is with the issue of homosexuality. If a person is gay, apparently the Church thinks them unworthy of Jesus' grace and love. I read a recent article entitled Bishops Push Back On Allowing Gay Couples In Housing which discusses how Catholic bishops do not want HUD to prevent the discrimination of homosexuals to receive aid for housing. In other words, HUD wants to prevent the discrimination of the LGBT community to receive federal housing assistance, while the Church wants the LGBT to be discriminated against because of their "sinfulness." To many this may seem extreme and not representative of most mainline churches or of orthodox Christianity. Unfortunately, as I have perused the internet, watched the news, and listened to those within the Church body, I have discovered that condemnation against homosexuals, as well as against others outside and inside the Church, runs rampant in Christianity. No wonder Christianity has such a bad reputation, it does the exact opposite of what Jesus' message called us to do.

I can point to many passages that will illustrate my point, but there are a particular few that will do just fine. First I want to point to Matthew 7:1 which says, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Many Christians quote this passage, but few ever practice it. When Jesus says not to judge, he means we are not to condemn people based on their actions. A person's actions are not necessarily an indicator of their heart, and therefore cannot be used to assess a person's spiritual status. Since we cannot know a person's heart, and only God can, it is outside of our scope of practice to say who will and will not enter heaven based on their actions. It was this practice that Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his for doing. Matthew 23:13 says, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." The religious leaders were seeing the behavior of people and condemning them to eternal punishment, even though they had a relationship with God. That is what we are doing when we condemn a Christian for being gay (even though homosexuality may not even be a sin), we are locking them out of the kingdom of heaven, even though Jesus has made them right with God.

Another passage that we need to remember is Matthew 7:3, "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" We are constantly trying to point out the fault in others, but are blinded because of our own sin. It seems that focusing on someone else's sin is a sin in its own right. Christians unfortunately think that when they reach a particular spiritual status, overcoming certain sins, that places them in a position to point out other people's sins. But the point of this passage is the log is never out of our eye. If we are focusing on other people's sins, we are blinded to our own. Jesus never intended for us to change other people and point our their sins, he intended for us to change ourselves and only focus on our own sins. Only the Holy Spirit has the authority to do this work, we do not.

Finally, I want to point to Matthew 25:31-46. In this passage Jesus tells of his return when he will separate the sheep on his right and the goats on his left, and where he tells the sheep on the right that when they helped out the unfortunate and the unaccepted in society, they had actually done the same for him. Jesus explained, "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" (25:40). When we help out people, especially when they have sinned (or we perceive they have sinned), we are helping out Jesus. The contrast to this, and explained in this passage, is that when we do not help out these people, we fail to help out Jesus. Therefore, when we judge people, we are judging Jesus; something I am sure we all understand is wrong.

When Jesus was here, he showed a radical love for people that were constantly rejected by the religious leaders. This does not mean they were necessarily sinners, some were and some were not. The point is that regardless of their sin, Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and adulterers. He ate with those that were condemned by the religious authorities of his day, showing them acceptance and love. In his blog Radical Love: Why Christianity Is A Queer Religion Reverend Dr. Patrick S. Cheng illustrates this point beautifully: Christianity is compatible with homosexuality. Being that the LGBT community is the biggest group unaccepted and condemned by the religious authorities (i.e. Christians) today, it should be the most loved and accepted group by genuine Christ-followers today.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Links:
Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Homosexuality, Robert Schuller, The Crystal Cathedral, and What Jesus Did

How Christians have Strayed

Jesus and the Religious Leaders in the Bible

Westboro Baptist Church Hellraises at Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral

As everybody has heard by now, Elizabeth Taylor passed away last week. Immediately following the news of her passing, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson and legal advisor Margie Phelps began tweeting that the church would be protesting the funeral, as they have done not only to funerals of war heroes but also to other celebrities. According to the Huffington Post one of the things Margie tweeted was, “No RIP Elizabeth Taylor who spent her life in adultery and enabling proud fags. They cuss her in hell today.” Apparently Margie did not feel it was appropriate for Elizabeth Taylor to support AIDs research and stand up support of the gay population. I wish I could say this is simply a marginal group with too much time on their hands. Unfortunately, this is far from the case, as most mainstream Christians, although not so blatantly slanderous, think and act in ways that show they stand alongside the Westboro Baptist Church, if not physically, in the spirit.

I have begun frequenting ChristianForums recently and have found my worst fears realized: many of the posters at the site write things that, when reading between the lines, sound similar to the espousings of the Wesboro group. As a matter of fact, one poster has proved my thesis by pointing to Jesus’ judgmental and critical interactions with the religious leaders in the Bible as justification for his judgment and criticism towards homosexuals and those who have had abortions. No matter how much I explained the category mistake he was making, he could not see the error. Jesus criticized and condemned the religious leaders because they were in a position to know that the Torah (the Jewish Scriptures which was the sacred text at the time) was meant to promote “justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23), and yet they used it to oppress people and condemn them. One of Jesus’ harshest criticisms of the religious leaders was that they “lock people out of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 23:13). His criticisms were against the religious leaders and no one else. His criticism was not against those perceived as sinners, his criticism was against those perceived as “righteous” because of their poor treatment of those perceived as sinners. So to use Jesus’ interactions with the religious leaders to justify our interactions with those perceived as sinners is a total category mistake.

What groups like the Westboro Baptist Church are doing is acting like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day by locking people out of the kingdom of heaven by condemning them for their homosexuality, for having had abortions, for saying they do not believe in a hell, and so on. Christians are too busy criticizing that we do not even realize we are doing the exact same thing the religious leaders were doing that Jesus criticized them for: “[crossing] sea and land to make a single convert…[looking] righteous to others, but inside are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness…[tying] up heavy burdens, hard to bear…but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them…” (Matthew 23). This chapter in Matthew is a good read because it gives us an accurate picture of why Jesus criticized the religious leaders: it was because they continually condemned others, acting perfect themselves, and excluded people from the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 12:7, Jesus responds to the religious leaders’ criticism of him and his disciples for breaking the Sabbath by saying, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless,” quoting Hosea 6:6 (some versions say ‘compassion’ as opposed to ‘mercy’). Jesus came to bring mercy, where everyone else wanted to bring condemnation. As Christians, we strive to have compassion for people, being empathetic to their situation, and showing them the love and acceptance that the world so often hesitates to give. Jesus’ revolutionary message was that forgiveness is here, and the restoration to wholeness can once again be achieved through him. Let us strive more to bring the love of Jesus to people through a more caring, more compassionate attitude.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Forgive me for riding on the coat tails of the recent spotlight Charlie Sheen was in. I realize that it has been two weeks or more since he held the attention of America as he seemed to spiral more and more out of control. But I thought this would be a great opportunity to illustrate the grace of God and compassion of Jesus in a contemporary setting. I am sure that Christians everywhere who were paying attention to the news looked at the life Charlie was living and in harmony shouted what a sinner he is. I am sure that in certain circles an abundance of condemnation and judgment were heaped upon him for his misdeeds.

But is this the biblical approach to how we should respond to Charlie Sheen? Looking at Scripture, Jesus spent his time with, and gathered his followers from those perceived to be the worst in society. It was scandalous that Jesus spent his time with adulterers and prostitutes. The Pharisees even asked Jesus' disciples why he spent time with such vile people. Jesus' response was classic, "those who are seek need the physician, not those who are well." It would later be understood that no one is truly well enough not to need a physician. Paul wrote, "all have sinned and have fallen short." Jesus spent time with these "wretched" people because they needed him. He did not avoid them because of what they did. Jesus befriended and showed love and compassion to these "worst of sinners" because no one else would.

But these people, you might object, repented of their sins, which is why he spent time with them, right? Actually, the answer is "no." These "sinners" only repented after Jesus showed them love and compassion. Let us look at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10. In this story, it was not until Jesus accepted an invitation from the tax collector to come eat with him, and it was not until Jesus had spent some time with Zacchaeus, that he agreed to give his ill gotten earnings back, and to give some to the poor. It was not a requirement that Zacchaeus repent before Jesus would accept his invitation. It was only when Jesus showed him love and acceptance without ulterior motives that the man repented.

That is interesting because in today's Church, we expect repentence to come before a person is accepted in. But it seems that in Jesus' day, acceptence came first, followed by repentence. Maybe that is why the Church is losing numbers today, we have things backwords. We expect people to change their lives, showing them judgment and condemnation, which does the counter of what we want by preventing them from changing their lives. We see someone like Charlie Sheen and critize and ridicule him, and then are surprised when he gets worse. If Jesus were around today, Charlie Sheen would be the one Jesus would be spending time with, showing love and compassion, even accepting his two "girl friends" into the fold, knowing that by showing him that love and grace, the true medicine of the physician, Charlie would find the healing he so desperately needs for his wounds. Meanwhile, I am sure that Jesus would reprimand many within the Church for being so condemning, and for not providing the much needed medicine of love, mercy, and grace.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Threat of Punishment or Promise of Love as a Method of Evangelism

As I have been surfing the blogs and reading what people have been saying regarding Rob Bell's recent book, "Love Wins," I have been startled by the amount of gross condemnation that is clothed in the language of love. Many Christians are arguing that preaching hell and eternal punishment is done out of love for their fellow human being and that Jesus preached hell out of love. One poster made this claim: "Jesus demonstrated love in everything he did. Including preaching on hell." If one reads the verses where hell is preached, it sure doesn't seem to be out of love. It seems more to be out of anger for abusing the Scriptures and oppressing the people. But I have made my view on hell and Jesus' purpose for preaching it clear in "Rob Bell, 'Love Wins,' and the Universalist." I want to devote this post to discussing why preaching punishment is not done out of love, and why it is not an effective method for evangelism.

The same poster who I quoted above, also made this statement: "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom...(a), Psalm 111:10. I know I do things sometimes out of fear of the Lord. He's got the power, and I know it. It's a parent/child relationship. My children do things so they don't get punished by mom or dad. Same principle." And it is this mindset that guides much Christian evangelism today. We tell a person how bad they are, we convince them of their sin, we threaten them with eternal punishment, and then we present the solution of Jesus Christ. We therefore create good, God-fearing Christians who will go to heaven when they die. But does this foster the deepest possible relationship with Jesus? Let's look at the illustration our poster uses of a parent/child type relationship (after all, this is the model Jesus uses when illustrating our relationship with God). He makes the claim that when a parent threatens a child with punishment for certain behavior, let's say eating a cookie before dinner, and that child obeys the parent, then that parent has done a good job. But what has that parent really done? That parent has taught that child that the reason he should not eat the cookie before dinner is because if he does, that child will be punished. In other words, that child abstains from eating the cookie because he fears being caught. It is the threat of punishment that prevents that child from doing that behavior, or rather fear of getting caught, and not because of some intrinsic good. What this results in is that the child, when the fear of getting caught is removed, eats the cookie. It also fosters resentment in the child toward the father for being so cruel.

Let's relate the above story to the popular method of evangelism in which threat of hell for bad behavior is so often employed. Perhaps a person is convinced of their great sin and their need for repentance. When that person first becomes a Christian, the honeymoon period begins and she willingly abstains from past sins because of the newfound joy she has encountered. But after some time, when the thrill has begun to wear off, temptation begins to set in again. She goes to a party which she has not been to for awhile and finds herself drinking too much. She goes home, mortified by the guilt she is feeling. She is horrified that she may receive harsh punishment for backsliding. She begs God for forgiveness, because she fears punishment. This woman, as she continues her Christian walk, finds temptation harder and harder to resist, and finds herself aware of more and more sin in her life. She continues to plead for forgiveness and ask for help from God to overcome the sin, but it does not seem to be working. All she knows is that if she continues in this sin, she will be punished. After awhile, she begins resenting God, seeing him no longer as a being which forgives, but which threatens punishment, even when it seems the sin is out of her control. Eventually she stops trying to resist temptation, because, as many Christians turned ex-Christians have said, "what's the use." Instead of being brought to Jesus because of his love and the healing he provides for our hurts, this woman was taught that Jesus was necessary because without him, she would be punished. What happened was, like the child in the above paragraph, this woman refrained from sin only because she feared being caught. Her motives were wrong which prevented her from really being able to overcome much of the sins in her life. As she continued to sin, she began to resent God who was always there, preventing her from ever "getting away" with the sin. The threat of punishment was always looming and weighed her down, which is not what Jesus wanted.

Let's contrast that with the child who raised to love, honor, and respect his parents. The father shows unconditional love for his son and even forgives the son when he is truly sorry for doing wrong. The father does punish his son occasionally, as it is necessary, but saves punishment for real serious issues, and doesn't make it the main reason for abstaining from bad behavior. Instead, the father fosters in his son the understanding that good behavior is to be done, and bad behavior avoided, because of the love he has for his father, not because of the threat of punishment. In this case, when there is no threat of being caught, the son nonetheless has the knowledge and understanding that he loves his father and his father loves him, and that grabbing the cookie before dinner will be disrespectful of his father and will make him feel ashamed for doing something that his father would not be pleased with. In the long run, this fosters a more stable morality in a person.

This goes the same when we approach people with Jesus. When method of evangelism is to bring the love of Jesus to people, by showing them his unconditional love, accepting them for who they are, bringing the promise of healing instead of the threat of punishment, this will do more to help people fall in love with Jesus, helping them to develop a genuine relationship with him, which will provide more stability and a stronger defense against temptation.

I understand that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." But most people know that "fear" in this context means respect and love. When we have respect and love for the Lord, then we begin to have wisdom. Jesus came, as I showed in "Is the Christian God to be Feared," Jesus came to remove the fear people had when approaching God. He came so that we may no longer fear God. When Jesus approached people, it was out of love for them. He wanted to heal their hurts. We see this with the abundance of compassion Jesus showed to people as he was approached by them. In the story of the woman who had an issue that ran for 12 years (Mark 5:25-34), we see this kind of compassion and the removal of fear that Jesus promised. In this story, Jesus was surrounded by a crowd, so much so that people were running into him. A woman, who had been bleeding continuously for 12 years and had been seen by many physicians to no avail, was following Jesus in hopes of being healed by him. But the story implies she feared approaching him. We read, "after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, 'If I just touch His garments, I will get well'” (vv 27-28). She was afraid to approach him for fear he would reject her perhaps. Or maybe she felt she would be condemned by him as he might blame some sin for her health issues (a common belief back then). So she attempted to be healed without getting caught. But Jesus immediately knew what had happened, so he stopped and searched for the person who had taken power from him. The woman, I can imagine, came forward like a dog who cowers, knowing they have been found out. But instead of being reprimanded, the woman received a response she was not expecting: "And [Jesus] said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction'" (v 34). Instead of punishment, the woman received love and compassion.

Let me say that I know that there is a time for punishment. I am not so unrealistic that I deny the need for punishment, believing that all a child needs is love in order to behave well. At times punishment is necessary. But if punishment becomes the main focus of our parenting, what kind of child are we going to raise? Punishment has become the main focus of our message to unbelievers, which goes against the message of Jesus in Scripture. Another important thing to understand about punishment is that its purpose is corrective. Which means that punishment must end so that the corrected behavior can begin. This is the only kind of punishment that can be understood in the context of love. That is why I do not believe the message of hell coheres with the message of an all loving God. It cannot be corrective being that there is no end. It can only be masochistic which goes against everything I know about God. Therefore, for those who resist the love and grace of God, I must believe that when they die, they either cease to exist, or go to a temporary place of severe punishment in order to bring about the correction of one's behavior.

When our message is anything other love and compassion, if we teach that the reason we need Christ is because we are bad and will be punished without him, we divert from the true message of Scripture which is that Jesus provides us with the love, hope, and healing that we need in our lives. The message that Jesus preached was that there was no need to fear God, but that he loves us unconditionally: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
Blessings,
-Brandon

Homosexuality, Robert Schuller, The Crystal Cathedral, and What Jesus Did

Robert Schuller's church, the Crystal Cathedral, made news recently because the choir was asked to sign a covenant that denounced homosexuality. Robert Schuller rightly came out against the covenant saying he knew nothing about it, and rejected the anti-gay sentiment found in the document. I say "rightly" because Schuller himself made the statement that the Church is a "hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints." Even if we were to categorize homosexuality as a sin (something I am not sure I am ready to do) this statement reflects the fact that the Christian Church should not exclude a particular group simply because of a particular behavior. Traditionally, during different times in Church history, Christians have picked out a particular behavior, called it a sin, and excluded anyone who participated in that behavior from the Church. At one point it was anyone who drank, at another it was anyone who smoked, people who went to movies were at one point excluded. At other times, women who lived alone and practiced alternative health care were excluded from the Church, labeled as witches, and killed. So it is now with the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) population.

This makes me wonder if the Church has not placed the wrong emphasis on sin in its interaction with the outside world (the world outside the walls of the Church). We learn from scripture (and Schuller's statement above) that sinners were meant to live within the walls of the Church, not to be kept outside. In the Gospels, Jesus was constantly battling the religious leaders because they were doing what most churches/Christians do today, excluding people because of what they perceived as sin. Constantly, the Pharisees were criticizing Jesus and the disciples for doing work on the Sabbath; a practice they could label a sin based on their interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus, however, showed a new (or older) way of interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures to redefine what it meant to honor the Sabbath, thereby removing the "sin" label. Maybe he would do the same with homosexuality. Where the religious leaders would have excluded the disciples, Jesus included them in His Church, and they ended up becoming the leaders of the early Church, growing it in ways no one else could have. This was a perceived sin that was in fact no sin at all. But how did Jesus react to actual sin? This is illustrated in John 8 when the adulteress woman is brought before Jesus by the religious leaders who ask Jesus what they should do with her, reminding him that the Hebrew Scriptures command to stone her. Jesus tells them that the one who is without sin should be the first to throw a stone. When Jesus looks back up they all had left. Jesus asks the woman if any had condemned her, to which she replied, "no." Jesus responds, "then I do not condemn you either." where the religious leaders would have excluded this "sinner" from Church, Jesus accepted this woman for who she was. So whether homosexuality is a perceived sin (being no sin at all) or an actual sin, it should in no way prevent us from including the GLBT community into the walls of the Church.

Evangelists, as they witness, traditionally point out a person's sins and try to show them their need for Jesus. But Jesus never focused on a person's sins, but instead focused on their hurts. Jesus' desire wasn't to show people how bad they were so they would come to him, his desire was to show people love and compassion, without having any ulterior motive. Jesus' focus was not to exclude people because of their sins (something he adamantly objected as a bad practice among the religious leaders). Instead, Jesus' focus was to include people because of their hurts.

Somewhere along the line we have become like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, misrepresenting Scripture to justify the exclusion of particular groups from our fold. That is not what Jesus wanted and not what we were meant to do. Let us no longer focus on our differences. Let us instead do what Jesus did by focusing on our common humanity and having compassion and love for others, thereby including them in the body of Christ.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Rob Bell, "Love Wins," and the Universalist

Let me start out by saying that I have not read Rob Bell's book "Love Wins." Let me also say that it is my intention to read Rob Bell's book "Love Wins." I have, however, been reading a lot of articles about Rob Bell and his recent book in which he argues against the existence of a hell, stating basically that the idea of a loving, caring, Father God, precludes the idea that a place of eternal punishment exists. For a good explanation of Bell's book, see the blogs at the end of my article. Many are crying that Rob Bell is a heretic, that he is a universalist, and that he needs to be excommunicated from the Church. Those who argue for excommunication apparently do not realize Bell is not a Catholic and therefore cannot be excommunicated. Bell denies being a universalist (the belief that all dogs, and all people, go to heaven regardless of their religion). Whether his argument implies universalism or not, I cannot say, only Bell can. And if he denies being a universalist, I have to accept him for his word. He is probably like me in saying that we really cannot say who God does and does not save. That he is a heretic, is what I here plan on disproving.
Bell is doing what more Christians need to do, he is emphasizing love over hate, grace over judgment. Bell believes that the idea of God's unconditional love contradicts the kind of hell we have come to believe in, a place of eternal, never ending punishment for those who deny Christ. How can an all-loving, merciful God send anyone to such a place? How can a Father do such a thing to His child? What if someone never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus? Do they go to hell? What if someone was horribly abused by a Christian who claimed to be abusing in the name of Christ? Does such a person go to hell? If we can argue that hell does not exist, the problem goes away.
We also have the problem of many evangelicals going around and using hell as a motivator to join the Body of Christ. "If you do not believe in Jesus, you're going to hell," they say. "If you continue in your sin, you won't make it into heaven, but will be punished forever, others say." Jesus says, "love your neighbor as yourself." God says, "I desire that all will be saved." Paul says, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So as you can see, our current language does not match up with the love language of Scripture. If we can disprove the existence of hell, then maybe we can get Christians to stop abusing hell for their own gain. When Jesus spoke, love was always his first and foremost concern. The biggest thing Jesus wanted his followers to understand was the importance of showing love and compassion towards others, not hate. What is happening today, however, is that love has been placed in the background so a message of hellfire and brimstone can scare people into becoming Christians. I've said it once and I'll say it again, when Jesus spoke to people, it was out of love and concern for them, not so he could convince them to follow him. If Jesus left an encounter and the person did not want to follow Jesus, or believe in him, that was ok with Jesus. Their freedom was more important to Jesus than getting them "saved."
So what about hell? What are we to believe? Certainly the bible speaks of such a place, doesn't it? There is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in which, upon dying, the rich man sees Lazarus across a vast space and resting in Abraham's bosom. The rich man is obviously suffering and Lazarus is obviously in bliss. Jesus speaks of a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And of course there is the imagery in the Revelation. So what are we to think? Let me first say that in the Old Testament, there is no talk of hell. There is talk of "Sheol" which just means the grave and was not a location of the afterlife. There is talk of "Abaddon" which can be interpreted in multiple ways, and is traditionally interpreted as a place of suffering, but without necessary connection to the afterlife. So, the idea of hell (as well as the Devil) was a much later idea and did not start developing until the Jews were exiled in Babylon where they were influenced by the pagan beliefs.
Later on we have 7 passages where Jesus speaks of the children of the Kingdom being exiled to a place where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:11-12; 13:41-42, 49-50; 22:12-13; 24:50-51; 25:29-30; and Luke 13:27-28). First, let me point out that none of these passages refers to this place as being eternal. So, whatever this place may be, it may simply be a temporary thing. One of the problems with the idea of a place of eternal punishment is that punishment is a corrective thing. What is the point of correcting someone, if there is no chance to be restored. When a parent punishes their child, the intention is to correct a behavior so they no longer behave in that way. It seems to me that eternal "punishment," therefore, cannot truly serve its purpose and is just cruel. What we know about God is that is not a God of cruelty, but a God of love. If God is love, how can He eternally punish someone. Perhaps, then, this place of weeping and gnashing of teeth is a temporary place to punish person, making them ready for heaven. From my studies, I have not yet found a reference to this place we call hell, being eternal. And Jesus does not use this language to scare just anyone. Again, if you look carefully, these speeches are directed at those who should know better, the religious authorities of Israel. Those were the people Jesus was always fighting with, those were the people that were oppressive and misused the Word of God. These verses are directed at those who should know better than to teach and preach what they are teaching and preaching.
Finally, let me direct you to Jesus' actions. His actions were far from condemning of people. Jesus showed nothing but grace and love to others. A good example of this was to the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant who was deathly sick. Jesus immediately obliged and even attempted to go with the centurion to help him. He declined having Jesus come into his home because he felt unworthy. Instead he told Jesus that he knew he could heal the servant without setting foot in the home. Jesus said this Roman had a stronger faith than any he had ever known, even within Israel. What is remarkable about this story is that this Roman centurion, would have been a follower of Mithras, a pagan god. He wasn't even a Jew, let alone a follower of Jesus. And yet this man had more faith than Jesus had ever seen. Who are we, as Christians, to say who can and cannot be saved, who goes to hell and who does not? If God desires all to be saved, if God wants none to suffer, why is it so bad saying that either there is no hell and those who do not want to spend eternity with God simply cease to exist, or to say that hell is a place of temporary punishment to prepare the worst of sinners to see God face to face. What is most important is that we stop using hell as a scare tactic and start showing the kind of love for others Jesus has for them. My prayer is that everyone I encounter may know the love of Christ from being with me.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Is Bell Into Hell, a Review of "Love Wins"
The Rob Bell Controversy: Does Anyone Go To Hell?
The Heretical Rob Bell and Why Love Wins

The Power of Presence

Friends,
When the angel Gabriel told Mary she was going to have a baby, conceived of the Holy Spirit, we read in Matthew 1:23 that he says, "'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'” Jesus represented God in our midst, he brought God's presence to the world. As we read in Scripture of Jesus' life, we come to realize that the greatest gift he gave to humankind was not any miracle he performed, it was not any word that he spoke, but the greatest gift Jesus gave to us was his presence. Sure he performed many miraculous things: healing the blind and the lame, bringing the dead back to life, and turning water into wine. But the purpose of God's incarnation in Jesus was not to heal physical ailments or make a boring party more exciting. Jesus' purpose in becoming one of us was to give us spiritual healing through the gift of God's presence. One of the examples of this in Scripture can be found in John 4 where we read about Jesus' visitation with the woman at the well. Jesus did not perform any miraculous healing in this story, and he didn't even provide any kind of teaching. Jesus gave his presence and brought acceptance to a woman who, as we read about her many husbands and how she was currently living with a man that was not her husband, we realize was not familiar with acceptance. She probably had many people in her village that did not accept her because they saw her as an adulteress because of her lifestyle. But Jesus showed her acceptance, kindness, and love; and most importantly, he showed her God. By providing his presence, God's presence, he gave the woman spiritual healing. Another story that illustrates this is found in John 8 when the religious leaders of Jesus' day brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, before Jesus. They questioned Jesus about stoning her, since that is what their interpretation of the law required. Jesus' reply was, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." When Jesus had looked away, and then looked back, he saw that there was no religious leader to condemn her. Jesus then asked, "did no one condemn you." Upon hearing the woman reply "no," Jesus responded, "then I do not condemn you either." Once again, Jesus does not perform any miraculous healing or provide any fantastic teaching, he simply gives himself, giving the gift of God's presence, by showing compassion and mercy. By being present with others, Jesus gave the gift of the presence of God, which encompasses love, compassion, and mercy.
One of the metaphors used in Scripture to refer to the presence of God is the Temple. In the Old Testament, the Temple represented God's presence in the midst of Israel. When the Temple was built by Solomon, we read in 1 Kings 8 that upon completion of the Temple, and once the Ark of the Covenant was placed inside, "It happened that went the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, 'The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud'" (vv 10-12). To the Jews, the Temple held God's presence in the midst of Israel. When Jesus, in all four gospels ransacked the Temple, overthrowing the money changers and announced that he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, he was illustrating that God's presence no longer dwelled in the Temple, but dwelled in himself. Jesus was announcing that wherever he was, God was. But something remarkable happens when Jesus dies, resurrects, and ascends. He told the disciples that his death and resurrection and ascension would be necessary in order for us to receive the Holy Spirit. We read in I Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Paul tells the Christians in Corinth that because we have received the Holy Spirit, that we are now the Temple of God. In other words, being Christ-followers, we now house God's presence bring God's presence into the world wherever we go.
What this means for us is that as we interact with other people, it is our responsibility as Christians, as those who house the presence of God, to bring compassion, love, and mercy to others. This means that instead of the judgmental, condemning attitude Christians often bring to others, it is our duty to bring mercy and compassion, bringing God's presence to others by showing them his infinite, unconditional love. It also means that we can stop trying to fix every problem, and help people to rest in God's presence despite the problem they are in. It seems that we too often, when we have no solution and no ability to solve a person's problem, we try to solve it anyway by giving advice and trying to work out a solution, instead of helping the person to rest in God's peaceful presence. As a Hospice Chaplain, I often visit people who are moments from passing. Often what is manifested is what is called "terminal agitation." This means that just prior to dying a person will experience high anxiety and become restless. The typical response is to try and do something to help them. Caregivers will run around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to come up with a solution. Medication is given, blankets are put on them, blankets are taken off them, 911 is sometimes called. The best thing to do in this situation is just simply to be with the person. To provide one's own presence, thus providing God's presence, without trying to perform some miraculous cure or relief, is the best gift a person can give. Sometimes just being their is all that is needed in many situations. Stop trying to give a miracle, stop trying to give the best advice, and learn to simply be. The power of presence, and the relief it can give is amazing and is truly the greatest of all miracles if we just give it a try.
-Brandon