Monday, July 27, 2009

Hotter 'n Hell

It's interesting the way expressions of religious beliefs...of a sort... become part of our national vocabulary. It's not that they have any transformatory power over the thinking and behavior of those who use them, obviously they don't.
The phrase, "Hotter 'n Hell". most of us have used or heard, unless of course we've been living in a Mason jar...sorry, I had no control over that pun. Which brings me to the point of this introduction: Does God torture sinners with fire for eternity?
If we think about it, there is a fundamental disconnect between believing in a God of Love and the same God who would torture (with fire) forever and ever. Such a juxtaposing of the two ideas brings shudders of fear and horror, and that was the goal because this is what a lot of people believe. Satan has done his work of distorting what people believe about God.
Question: if "God so loved the world that..." then why would he spend eternity "getting even" with those who, for this short life, choose to ignore and/or deny Him? It doesn't make sense, but evidently, it doesn't have to, because there are plenty of preachers who "like" to preach a forever hell because it scares the hell out of the poor souls who listen.
Of course the Bible says that "God is love" [somewhere in first John] but no matter, the furnace has been heated seven times hotter and is waiting to be fed the souls of sinners. Hmmm...didn't God deliver three young men from a furnace in Babylon? Maybe there's a lesson here.
In order to be God, He has to be love, He has to be fair, He has to be just, He has to exercise all righteousness, He has to be merciful, He has to ....you finish the list.
Here is my conclusion and recommendation: look to Jesus Christ and measure His words, His actions of healing, mercy, His life of suffering and death on the cross and then carefully weigh the question; "Is this the God who would torture sinners forever and ever with fire because they didn't believe?
Please don't recite the parable of Lazarus and the rich man [Luke chapter 16] because that is a parable in the midst of several parables and Christ used parables to teach principles and thought lessons; not doctrine. If you take the time to look in the back of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible you will find a list of parables and this one is listed. Still, some use this as a basis for believing that Heaven and Hell are just a shout away from each other and the "saved" get to watch the "lost" be in torment for eternity. That would be heaven?? I don't, I won't, I can't believe it.
Be Blessed! e.c.

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