All tagged hell
We can't always be serious, especially during the holidays, so I'm changing things up. I realize that on a theology and culture show it is easy to come across as having a resolute grasp on reality. Truth is, there are many things I do not know, do not understand. In this reflective, but light-hearted, episode I work through different elements of life: church configurations, mundane daily realities, the Bible, culture, politics, and history. Come laugh and think with me here in Advent!
What does the Bible suggest to us about those who never hear the Gospel? What points of logic should be brought to bear on such a question? Does a horrible death equate to eternal life? Does pure faith equate to salvation? Is the issue how sincere one's faith is? In this issue I also reflect on the recent SCOTUS, Justice Kavanaugh, hearings. Still more, I tell the story about when I made my only hole-in-one.
After his death did Jesus go to hell? Why do some theologians believe that he did? What does the Bible say about that? If he did go to hell what did he do when he was there? How should we handle ambiguous bible passages? Finally, I discuss how it is that Jesus changed the way we will die. Wild stuff!
What did Paul teach about hell? Or did he at all? Did he, instead, promote universalism: that all will be saved in the end, no matter what? What is the constant basis for universalism? How do we process salvation in light of a first century Jewish mentality? How do Modernism and the human desire for mastery go hand-in-hand? What do I think about people who have bright lime-green hair?
Is hell real? Is it eternal? Or is hell just Jewish symbolism for annihilation? To answer some of those questions we look at what Jesus had to say about hell, the terms he used, the contexts within which he spoke, and why he talked about it at all. Did he build on the Old Testament teaching or completely re-vamp that? Also, I discuss the Roman Catholic Church's ongoing sexual-abuse catastrophe.
