Conclusion :The doctrine of hell is crucial-without it we cant understand our complete dependence on God, the character and danger of even the smallest sins, and the true scope of the costly love of Jesus. Nevertheless, it is possible to stress the doctrine of hell in unwise ways. Many, for fear of doctrinal compromise, want to put all the emphasis on Gods active judgment, and none on the self-chosen character of hell. Ironically, as we have seen, this unBiblical imbalance often makes it less of a deterrent to non-believers rather than more of one. And some can preach hell in such a way that people reform their lives only out of a self-interested fear of avoiding consequences, not out of love and loyalty to the one who embraced and experienced hell in our place. The distinction between those two motives is all-important. The first creates a moralist, the second a born-again believer. We must come to grips with the fact that Jesus said more about hell than Daniel, Isaiah, Paul, John, Peter put together. Before we dismiss this, we have to realize we are saying to Jesus, the pre-eminent teacher of love and grace in history, I am less barbaric than you, Jesus--I am more compassionate and wiser than you. Surely that should give us pause! Indeed, upon reflection, it is because of the doctrine of judgment and hell that Jesus proclamations of grace and love are so astounding. >T.keller https://facebook/AbigailWT/posts/10205482977298620
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 11:14:57 +0000
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