LA Times, our Times and Hell

I recently read an article in the LA Times regarding hells fall from popularity. Actually, I doubt hell was ever a popular topic but at one time in the Christian community hell was a relevant threat spiritual leaders felt the need to warn their parishioners about. Hell was spoken of from the pulpit in vivid detail as a painful, lurid place where those who were not reconciled to God went, and of course an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as ones Lord and Savior followed as the solution. Accept Jesus and you will live forever in heaven with God and all of His angels on streets of gold, or live eternally damned among satan, his demons, and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hmm, what's your choice? It gave rise to the idea of salvation as a form of "fire insurance." The idea of what hell is has even changed. Hell used to be described as a place where souls were tormented forever by burning flames. Read sermons by the preachers of ages past and you can almost hear the wailing of people in agony in hell. Now when hell is brought up it is described as eternal separation from God. Not a good thing, but certainly not a terrorizing place of dreadful pain.

Christians are still preaching a need for salvation and Christians still believe in hell so why is it that hell is no longer taught on in the churches, preached on, or written about in today's churches and Christian circles? Why is hell so out of fashion? Has existentialist philosophy, emphasizing the here and now, effected Christianity to the point that Christianity now proposes salvation as a means to live a higher quality life in this world? Does hell even need to be discussed from the pulpit, and if so in what terms shall hell be described? The church is becoming less propositional, and more relational and so maybe the concept of hell does not fit in our talks about being invited into a relationship with a loving creator. If the church has so much room to maneuver on such a pivotal issue as where we spend our eternity, then what else may change over the next fifty years or so?

Most people would agree that the philosophy of postmodernism prevails today. Postmodernism elevates tolerance to the highest of all virtues, and what could be more antithetical to the idea of tolerance than the concept of hell, which punishes people who are unrepentant sinners? Postmodernism would have a hard time defining something as sinful, much less as worthy of sending someone to eternal damnation over. Postmodernist reject the concept of a shared reality, and the concept of hell, an unbending and unapologetic negative reality for all people who do not fit into one certain category would be unfathomable.

Hell does not fit in with our current zeitgeist, and so churches are not preaching on hell. They still believe in it, but it is not the focus of our plea for conversion, and if pressed to talk about hell, the definition will be toned down. (In fact, pleas for conversion aren't nearly as prevalent as they used to be, but that is another story.) It is easy to hear this and be sad that we have allowed culture to be the influencer rather than the other way around, but if the bottom line is that we want to offer Christ to people desperately in need of him, then where is the balance? All of church has been adapted to fit in with current culture. Consider the preacher, minister or pastor is now the moderator, speaker, CEO, or environment architect as one mega church pastor puts it. Consider sin used to be touted as wrong because it grieved a holy God, and now sin is something we should steer clear of because it will end up having negative repercussions in the here and now. To remain relevant as a church some things must change and we must always present the Gospel within the cultural context but where is the balance? I understand that, in general, theology is not taught a whole lot in churches any more (when is the last time you heard a sermon on sanctification?), but if we do believe hell exists it seems odd to me that there is no place for it to be taught on. I have no desire to criticize pastors who provide a service I could never aspire to, but the approach to hell I would want to suggest would be to tell the Truth about it. Frances Schaeffer talked about the need to pre-evangelize. He said the cultural climate produced people who didn't even realize their need to be saved. For the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be good news, one must first understand the bad news and hell is part of the bad news, which the gospel provides an antidote to. Shouldn't pastors find a way to provide an environment that teaches about the reality of hell? I am sure it will not be a favorite subject to teach on, but neither is stewardship but out of necessity it is done. I'd pray hard that the Holy Spirit would allow me to communicate the Truth and the Truth in love and then I would want to fulfill my obligation to the congregation I am accountable to God for by telling them that there is a hell and one needs to keep that in mind when choosing a belief system to live under.

Even among evangelicals, what is taught about hell from the pulpit may vary but I would want to make sure the basics were covered. Eternity is forever; we are either in heaven or hell. Heaven is with God, hell is eternal separation from God. Hell may literally be a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth as some places in the Bible describe it or it may be more like the trash heap at the edge of town that other parts of the Bible describe it as, but either way it is existence completely apart from and without aid from our creator. This notion raises the question of what salvation is. Is salvation escaping eternal damnation or is it walking with our creator for all eternity beginning the moment we first believe? I would answer the question with a resounding BOTH! If you accept Jesus as your salvation merely for the "fire insurance" then you miss out on participating with Him in what He is doing in the world here and now, you have missed out on walking with a best friend who is big enough to handle anything. If you walk with Christ because you want to experience the here and now with almighty God and absolutize that, you have left out a big part of the equation. It is so much easier to walk this life when you have a view that gives perspective to life in this world for our limited number of years.

In seeing this shift, I do wonder how much more things will change. I wonder what ideas are subtly changing in my very lifetime that I do not even notice because I am apart of it. I pray that God will give me the strength and courage to be diligent in thinking, even, or especially in spiritual matters. May we find the balance of questioning and searching for Truth and still live a life of faith.