While doing my quick little study on Hell this evening (see previous post), I got to noticing which words had the most references in the concordance. So, I decided to do a little informal "most common word" research using the highly professional method of counting up how many words had more than one column of references in my Bible (including related derivatives). I think the results are rather interesting.
4 Columns or more
Lord (9 1/2)
God (8 1/2)
Love (7 1/2)
Faith (4 1/2)
Trust (4)
3 Columns
Heart
Knowledge
Right/Righteous
Sin
2 Columns
Believe
Christ
Commands/Commandments
eternal/everlasting
evil
Glory
Heal/healing
Holy
Israel
Jerusalem
Joy
Judge/Judgement
Just/Justice/Justify
Keep
King/Kingdom
Law
Life
People
1 Column
Baptism
Call/Calling/Called
Comfort
Compassion
Condemn
Create/Creation/Creator
Crucify
Delight
Desire
Die
Exalt
Father
Forgive
Give
Glad
Good
Grace
Hand
Hear
Heaven
Jesus
Live/Living
Look
Name
Obey
Peace
Please/Pleasure
Poor/Poverty
Power
Promise
Pray/Prayer
Prophet/Prophesy
Salvation
Save
Serve
Son
Spirit
Strength
Teach
Understand
Whole
Wicked
Woman
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Quick Bible review of Hell
One of the recent Brian Mclaren books I've listened to recently seemed to hint that we've been misled a bit about the Bible's actual teaching on hell- especially what that would have meant to people of Jesus' day. My initial reaction to that was, "huh?" I know a large percentage of people these days- even Christians- supposedly don't believe in a hell, but I figured that has more to do with people not wanting to believe in hell than anything else.
I think Mclaren's The Last Word and The Word After That is supposed to have an expose' on the topic, but I decided to do a bit of Bible sleuthing on it this evening. I don't pretend to have this all sorted out, but here's what seemed to come out.
The word "Hell" is rarely used at all- indeed I think the average sitcom episode these days has the word said more than the entire Bible does. The word is always literally from the "(Valley of) Ge Hinnom"- location just outside Jerusalem that, besides having sacrifices to idols and so forth at various times done there, was in Jesus' time essentially a perpetually burning city dump. Evidently this was useful imagery.
Other phrases typically considered equivalent are things like "the fiery furnace", and "eternal fire." Interestingly, virtually all these references are used in the context of a parable, where that/those which are bad are thrown there.
"Hades" seems to be clearly distinguished as the place after death, but before the final judgement. Reportedly "hades" is equivalent to the Hebrew "Sheol" which I don't think is actually in the Bible.
Note that this dearth of specific references to "hell" is in stark contrast to "heaven" and "eternal life."
Now "punishment" gets some play- and in more explicit passages, like 2 Thes. 1:5-10:
"...will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel...punished with everlasting destruction and be shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." That sounds bad to me, but, as some have said, those that have fought against God may think that's actually a good thing.
Matthew 25:31ff is a pretty explicit statement too- this time by Jesus himself. He pretty clearly describes the final judgement by the "King" (not really figurative, as in parables) and the separating of the good from the bad (as "sheep from goats") with the result being "eternal punishment" versus "eternal life". It is interesting to note, by the way, that the basis for judgement here is whether love is shown to people (feeding, clothing, providing water).
All in all, it seems a bit difficult to craft a definitive statement on "Hell" from these scriptures. But several things are clear:
I think Mclaren's The Last Word and The Word After That is supposed to have an expose' on the topic, but I decided to do a bit of Bible sleuthing on it this evening. I don't pretend to have this all sorted out, but here's what seemed to come out.
The word "Hell" is rarely used at all- indeed I think the average sitcom episode these days has the word said more than the entire Bible does. The word is always literally from the "(Valley of) Ge Hinnom"- location just outside Jerusalem that, besides having sacrifices to idols and so forth at various times done there, was in Jesus' time essentially a perpetually burning city dump. Evidently this was useful imagery.
Other phrases typically considered equivalent are things like "the fiery furnace", and "eternal fire." Interestingly, virtually all these references are used in the context of a parable, where that/those which are bad are thrown there.
"Hades" seems to be clearly distinguished as the place after death, but before the final judgement. Reportedly "hades" is equivalent to the Hebrew "Sheol" which I don't think is actually in the Bible.
Note that this dearth of specific references to "hell" is in stark contrast to "heaven" and "eternal life."
Now "punishment" gets some play- and in more explicit passages, like 2 Thes. 1:5-10:
"...will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel...punished with everlasting destruction and be shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." That sounds bad to me, but, as some have said, those that have fought against God may think that's actually a good thing.
Matthew 25:31ff is a pretty explicit statement too- this time by Jesus himself. He pretty clearly describes the final judgement by the "King" (not really figurative, as in parables) and the separating of the good from the bad (as "sheep from goats") with the result being "eternal punishment" versus "eternal life". It is interesting to note, by the way, that the basis for judgement here is whether love is shown to people (feeding, clothing, providing water).
All in all, it seems a bit difficult to craft a definitive statement on "Hell" from these scriptures. But several things are clear:
- There is clearly a Judgement
- There is clearly a literal "Heaven" described
- It is clear that not all will be in Heaven
- Those who won't be in heaven will be punished (evidently both after death- in "hades" and after the final Judgement)
What the punishment will be is not very clear. It seems to my rather untrained eye that a person could, yes, be punished for an eternity, as is traditionally stated. But it does seem reasonable to postulate that the punishment of "eternal destruction" and being "shut out from the presence of God and ...his power" could be consistent with the "snuffing out of existence" theories many hold. The destruction is eternal, but it is not explicitly stated, at least, that the punished are eternal. Indeed they don't have "eternal life". While the fires of the Valley of Ge Hinnom may be perpetually burning, no one thing thrown there persists very long.
Now, those are just quick thoughts after a couple of hours digging around. I'm not going to abandon all traditional theology over these thoughts, or anything, but it will be interesting to now see what can be learned from actual scholars on this subject. Someday...
Friday, September 15, 2006
Pride and Charity
At long last, I suppose, I've found the joys of Mere Christianity. I've heard so many Christians from so many different backgrounds point to this book as being critical to their faith. I got the audiobook version recently and started into it this week. Yep, it's worthy of its praise.
Lewis, is so right about "the center of Christian morality" being Pride. "...the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil:Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind....The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity-it is enmity."
In the "charity" chapter, this quote caught my attention:
"Don't waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor. Act as if you did....When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."
Lewis, is so right about "the center of Christian morality" being Pride. "...the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil:Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind....The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity-it is enmity."
In the "charity" chapter, this quote caught my attention:
"Don't waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor. Act as if you did....When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."
Thursday, September 07, 2006
More on the kingdom
After now finishing out The Secret Message of Jesus, I've found much of the theme (what Jesus meant by "The Kingdom of God/Heaven is at hand" all over the place (as the book notes)- like this sermon by Tony Campolo.
Somebody gave me an article a few months ago about this very subject. Digging this article -"Is the Church Interested in the Kingdom"- back up (I kept it because it was intriguing), it turns out to be by a sociologist (Christian Smith) written in 1989. Here is some of it:
Consider the following possibility: many churches in our country today have very little to do with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not a place or an institution. Nor is it the church per se. The kingdom of God is the experience of God reigning among people in history. The kingdom of God is present whenever God's will and intentions for us as individuals, communities, and societies is received and lived out.
Strange as it may sound, God is not at work in history to establish the church. God is at work to establish the kingdom, God's reign among the people of the earth. What then is the role of the church? The church is merely the human institution whose job it is to facilitate the breaking into history of the kingdom of the kingdom. It is, then a provisional institution of instrumental, not intrinsic value. The church is- or, rather can be- a channel, an instrument of the kingdom. But the church is not itself the kingdom, and its outward existence does not guarantee the presence of the kingdom.
When the kingdom of God is present, life gets changed. The kingdom changes a lot about us; our relationships, values, activities, commitments, goals, and ways of life. Because change is so central to the kingdom, Paul urged the Roman churches to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind, that you prove what the will of God is" (Romans 12:2). The kingdom, then does- or should- produce a transformed people who, because of God's reign in their lives, live in a way that is distinctively different from the world. Unbelievers ought to be able to point to Christians and say, "Ah ha, that is what the kingdom of God looks like."
....
THE POSSIBILITY UNDER consideration is that many churches today have very little to do with the kingdom of God since they typically- rather than pursuing the kingdom like a pearl of great price- spend themselves trying to maintain and preserve their own institutions and traditions as if they were of ultimate value, are devoted to an ethic (being nice) which is fundamentally irrelevant to the concerns of God and his kingdom, and reflect a way of life virtually identical to those who have nothing to do with the kingdom of God, thereby falsifying the transformative power of the kingdom.
Ultimately, the question at issue, of course, is not a matter of good and evil, salvation or damnation, but what of our work for the Lord will stand in the end. Paul explains:
Be careful how you build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. You can build upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw. But whatever the material, the work of the builder will be clearly revealed when the day comes. That day will begin with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If anyone's work stands, they will receive a reward. But is anyone's work is burned up, they will suffer loss. Though they will be saved, it will as one who has gone through fire. (I Corinthians 3:10-15).
Consider the following possibility: many churches in our country today have very little to do with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not a place or an institution. Nor is it the church per se. The kingdom of God is the experience of God reigning among people in history. The kingdom of God is present whenever God's will and intentions for us as individuals, communities, and societies is received and lived out.
Strange as it may sound, God is not at work in history to establish the church. God is at work to establish the kingdom, God's reign among the people of the earth. What then is the role of the church? The church is merely the human institution whose job it is to facilitate the breaking into history of the kingdom of the kingdom. It is, then a provisional institution of instrumental, not intrinsic value. The church is- or, rather can be- a channel, an instrument of the kingdom. But the church is not itself the kingdom, and its outward existence does not guarantee the presence of the kingdom.
When the kingdom of God is present, life gets changed. The kingdom changes a lot about us; our relationships, values, activities, commitments, goals, and ways of life. Because change is so central to the kingdom, Paul urged the Roman churches to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind, that you prove what the will of God is" (Romans 12:2). The kingdom, then does- or should- produce a transformed people who, because of God's reign in their lives, live in a way that is distinctively different from the world. Unbelievers ought to be able to point to Christians and say, "Ah ha, that is what the kingdom of God looks like."
....
THE POSSIBILITY UNDER consideration is that many churches today have very little to do with the kingdom of God since they typically- rather than pursuing the kingdom like a pearl of great price- spend themselves trying to maintain and preserve their own institutions and traditions as if they were of ultimate value, are devoted to an ethic (being nice) which is fundamentally irrelevant to the concerns of God and his kingdom, and reflect a way of life virtually identical to those who have nothing to do with the kingdom of God, thereby falsifying the transformative power of the kingdom.
Ultimately, the question at issue, of course, is not a matter of good and evil, salvation or damnation, but what of our work for the Lord will stand in the end. Paul explains:
Be careful how you build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. You can build upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw. But whatever the material, the work of the builder will be clearly revealed when the day comes. That day will begin with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If anyone's work stands, they will receive a reward. But is anyone's work is burned up, they will suffer loss. Though they will be saved, it will as one who has gone through fire. (I Corinthians 3:10-15).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
