Who's in hell? Pastor's book sparks eternal debate
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/118576674.html
When Chad Holtz lost his old belief in hell, he also lost his job.
C. S. Lewis had something when he said that the damned are those who have become their sins, embraced them so thoroughly that they have thereby cast off all other attributes -- and that they would be comfortable in no other place than hell. I think he has something there. Making mistakes in one's life isn't the problem. Buying into mistakes -- thus turning them into a freely chosen life-style -- is. And by "mistakes" is meant actions predicated on heartlessness, cruelty, untrammeled greed, unterammeled rage, and all the other mental states we rightfully label as "hellish." Above all, whether there is an afterlife or not, we make our own heaven or hell right here on Earth. And among those who are most prone to make hell are those who dwell for hours on thoughts about people being tortured forever in flames or ice or something other horror. They're like moths drawn to a flame, circling and circling it, coming ever closer, until finally a wing touches the flame and the moth disappears in a puff of hot gas and soot.
There is such a thing as true evil; the world is full of it. But there's also true good, and many people evidence it -- including many which the spiritual elitists would never believe could enter heaven. Evil should be quarantined until it ceases to be; perhaps that's what hell is for. And if there is a heaven, good should be united with it.
As the man says, all the focus on hell and its torments has driven many good people away from Christianity before they can know much about it. Maybe that should change.
When Chad Holtz lost his old belief in hell, he also lost his job.
C. S. Lewis had something when he said that the damned are those who have become their sins, embraced them so thoroughly that they have thereby cast off all other attributes -- and that they would be comfortable in no other place than hell. I think he has something there. Making mistakes in one's life isn't the problem. Buying into mistakes -- thus turning them into a freely chosen life-style -- is. And by "mistakes" is meant actions predicated on heartlessness, cruelty, untrammeled greed, unterammeled rage, and all the other mental states we rightfully label as "hellish." Above all, whether there is an afterlife or not, we make our own heaven or hell right here on Earth. And among those who are most prone to make hell are those who dwell for hours on thoughts about people being tortured forever in flames or ice or something other horror. They're like moths drawn to a flame, circling and circling it, coming ever closer, until finally a wing touches the flame and the moth disappears in a puff of hot gas and soot.
There is such a thing as true evil; the world is full of it. But there's also true good, and many people evidence it -- including many which the spiritual elitists would never believe could enter heaven. Evil should be quarantined until it ceases to be; perhaps that's what hell is for. And if there is a heaven, good should be united with it.
As the man says, all the focus on hell and its torments has driven many good people away from Christianity before they can know much about it. Maybe that should change.