Why Doesn't God Heal Everyone Who Asks?

When I was growing up, one of my best friends was Nathan Fischner who was born with a whole in his back (spina bifida).  He could walk only with a full lower-body brace and custom crutches, but he was an expert wheel chair racer and taught me the art and joy of the stationary wheelie.  Nathan is trained as a computer scientist, but for now he is working as a gem cutter.
A few years ago, I was preaching about a story of Jesus' healing a lame man, and I remembered Nathan.  I wondered how he reads this text and how he deals with the issue of healing from the perspective of one who has a life-long handicap.  His response - which has been percolating for quite some time - is thoughtful, personal, vulnerable, and at times profound.  With his permission, I am glad to post his answer here.

Nathan Fischner: You asked me in an email some years ago why it was that one does not say, "Rise up and walk!" to one who needs healing, and then send them on their way.  Why DON'T we ALL just go around mass healing the injured, disabled, and sick.  It seems so simple... and yet so many stay as they are.  The world God has made is a very big place, in terms of the possibilities of expressing his love to those he created in his own image.  There must, therefore, be more to it than it first seems.

I say that when it is revealed to us in terms we understand, we must accept God's will as a small trusting child would, without agenda and without expectations other than he is our Father and wants the best for us.  That being said, we are taught by Jesus himself to go into a quiet, secluded room, and, by the model prayer He gave us, to think on a much larger prayer than simply a need.  One is to acknowledge Him, His greatness and authority, and to truly rejoice before Him concerning what He has done for them and what this person has seen Him do for others (thankfulness isn't just presenting a list of items you have noticed done for you).  A little child, as we are meant to envision, comes to the Father saying "Please, fix this.", because the child has reached the end of his/her own resources, and the problem is something that they don't feel they can go on past without help.

Crowd Sourced Questions: Life and Church

We wanted to know what questions people are really asking.  For about two months, we asked our people to turn in their own questions and to poll their friends.  I even put my writing class students to work on this through homework assignments.  Today, we'll try to answer as many questions as possible in a rapid-fire two minute answer format.  

Previously, I posted the first two sets of questions: Questions about Theology and Questions about the Bible.   Here is the final set: Questions about Life and Church.

Feel free to offer up your own answers or questions in the comment section.  I'll try to post the audio of our Q and A time after we do it.  But for now, it may be helpful just to take a little refresher course on what questions people are actually asking - not just what questions do we think others should ask.

 Why are there so many denominations? Is this bad? Just preferences?

Should Christians drink alcohol?

Does God really expect people to wait until marriage to have sex?

What do we believe about women in ministry?

What about marriage roles? Should women submit to their husbands?

Why are Christians so judgmental or hypocritical?

Surprised by Joy - CS Lewis

When our family was eating at Sarah's uncle's house, I saw this book on the shelf.  C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and one of my goals is to read everything he has written.   Surprised by Joy is Lewis's story of his un-conversion as an adolescent leaving the Christian faith and his eventual re-coversion as an adult.
Lewis beautifully connects his deep inner longings for joy and wonder with his innate human longing for God and Spirit.  His awe for nature, narrative, and fantasy had the same roots as his longings for God and nourished by the same Spirit.  Eventually, Lewis is able to connect the dots between his inner longing and the God who fulfills that longing.
Although the story starts slowly, it becomes quite captivating about a third of the way into the book.  The theological complexity and depth steadily increases until toward the end, nearly every paragraph deserves highlighting.
Well worth reading, and rereading.
Thanks Uncle Steve.

By Gracious Powers: A Poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning,
And never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
For which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.

And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world you give us
The joy we had, the brightness of your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through
And our whole life shall then be yours alone.

By gracious powers so faithfully protected,
So quietly, so wonderfully near,
I'll live each day in hope, with you beside me,
And go with you through every coming year.



- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Letters and Papers from Prison."

Because of the Prince of Peace - Philippians 4:1-9

"Prince of Peace" by Wendie Thompson

One of the most famous texts about Jesus’ birth is Isaiah 9, where it says, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us,” and then it goes on to list all of these amazing names, but one of these names for Jesus is “Prince of Peace.”  Something about that name has stuck in the memory of Christians.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  

This little baby, born in a shed for farm animals, was born as a royal peace giver.  This little baby - so innocent, so vulnerable, so fragile - is yet the Ruler of that Peace for which we desperately long.  Somehow, even though we struggle to believe it, this little baby is the answer to all our questions.  Jesus, Prince of Peace.

Now, hold that in mind, as we listen Stacy Keene tell her true story about how a coming baby impacted her world.  (Click here to listen.  You can skip to 1:00 and stop at 6:00.  Or you can read the text below)

So my first true love was my Grandpapa, and he really set the precedent for every other man I ever considered loving.  He was clever but modest, and brave but quiet.  So when I was an adult, and I found out the great news that I was pregnant with my first child, the first person I wanted to tell was my Grandpapa.

Except that he had just found out a week before that he had four weeks to live.  

100 Things I Love About Korea - #20 - People: Shannon Smith

This month our church members are sharing testimonies during the worship service.  This is Shannon's testimony from two weeks ago.

Anyone who knows me well will know that I am not a person who likes change. I came to Korea 4 1/2 years ago with the intention to stay here one year and go back to the U.S. I didn't want to come to Korea, but after living here a few months, I made many friends, learned to love Korean food, as well as love Korea's people and culture. As I said though, I hate change and I have experienced a lot of change while living here. Since moving to Korea, I have worked at 5 different schools, lived in 5 different apartments, and said goodbye to so many friends. It hasn't been easy for me. Part of the reason is because when I care about people, I care about them deeply, so it’s hard for me to let them go. It’s good because it means I genuinely love others, but it’s bad because it means I am often easily hurt. 

For most of my life, my self-worth and acceptance have come from what other people think about me. I am a people-pleaser. I often feel like I can't say "no" to people, because I worry about whether they will still love me or care about me. And even though I have been a Christian for almost 20 years, my relationship with God was the same. I never felt good enough or worthy enough for God to love me. No matter how many times I asked God to forgive me, I never felt like I was really forgiven. I believed God could heal and forgive everyone, except me. I walked around with so much guilt, shame, brokenness, and negativity. I felt so lonely, even though I was rarely alone. 

Most people didn't know this though, because I was too afraid to share it with others. I cried almost every day for months and it was even hard for me to pray. I just felt so heavy and burdened by all of it. I wanted to fix it, but there was nothing I could do. Throughout this whole time of struggle, I was so focused on what "I" should do, that I never really surrendered it all to God. I was never really honest with God about all of my angry and hurt feelings. Just like my fear of telling people about my struggles, I was even afraid to tell God. It wasn't until I simply said, "God, I need you. I need you. I need you", over and over through my tears that I began to really experience God's love and grace in my life. There never would have been anything I could have done to heal my brokenness and pain. I needed God to heal me. I needed God to reassure me that no matter what my past looks like, He still loves me and forgives it all. I needed God to give me peace where there was so much despair. And I needed God to give me hope that no matter what my future holds, He is with me and will never leave me alone. 

How Do You Know If God Is Saying, "Yes," "No," or "Wait"? (Talk Back Series)

Talk Back Question:  I believe that God answers all prayers, and no prayer is left unanswered and unheard.  However, how do we know God's answer - if it's a Yes, No, or Wait?
[This question can in on a Talk Back card at our church. Answered by Matt Banner and Josh Broward.]

It sounds like you already have a strong faith in God, and a true belief that God hears and answers our prayers. But all Christians struggle with this question of how to discern God’s voice and how to know what God is saying.

It would be really easy if God just spoke to us in loud, booming voice and told us what was going to happen. But, unfortunately, that has never happened for me. It takes, time, patience and maturity to learn how to discern God’s voice. But Jeremiah 29:12-13 says "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." First, we must make sure that we are seeking God and praying to Him sincerely.

Next, we must be sure that we are praying for God’s will and for things that are part of God’s guidance in our lives. It’s okay to ask for jewelry or a new wallet, but these are things that we are asking for in our own selfish way and not things that are for the glory of God. John 14:13 says “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” This is not simply invoking Jesus’ name to get what we want, but instead, it says we should ask for things in the same way that Christ would ask and in the same spirit that Christ would pray.

Thankfully, there are many guides to help us figure out how God is answering us.

1. Scripture ~ The Bible is the inspired Word of God and often when we read the Scripture, we will remember or read something that helps us know the answer.
2. The Holy Spirit speaking to our heart ~ Sometimes, we can feel God’s Spirit in our lives and in our prayers.
3. Godly Counsel ~ Talking with people you know and trust in the church can help you see where God is leading
4. The peace of God ~ Sometimes, when you are really struggling with an issue or decision, your heart will become calm and peaceful, and you know what to do or where God is leading.
5. Circumstance/Timing ~ The actions and events around us can confirm what God is saying and sometimes those circumstances are the answer.

God sometimes speaks to us using two or more of these ways. It is important to seek out God’s answer as much as possible.  But we must also be aware that we are imperfect beings and we will make mistakes.  If we sincerely seek God and pray to God, then we can discern God’s voice.  

But sometimes, the only way to know the difference between "No" and "Wait" is to ... wait.  Sometimes, "No" and "No for now" sound exactly the same and require the same basic response from us.  We just have to release the issue to God and allow him to make his plan clear over time.

The Just Trust (Habakkuk 2)

You talked back, and we heard.

• Why does God create people with mental illnesses?
• Why do so many people do good with bad results or do bad and are constantly blessed?
• If God is love, and God is good, then why does a good God allow suffering?

You talked back, and God heard you.  Before you even asked the questions, almost a year ago, God led our worship planners to plan a series on the Minor Prophets.  Somehow,God led us to the book of Habakkuk, which answers your questions directly.  

Habakkuk has the same kinds of questions.  Adam introduced them last week.  

• Why is there so much injustice in the world?
• How can God allow evil people to prosper while good people suffer?
• Where is the God who is supposed to protect us and to take care of us?
• Where is the justice in this messed up world?

Even a prophet has doubts and questions.  Perhaps, it’s the prophets especially who voice the questions and doubts.  Maybe they are the honest ones who say what everyone is thinking and feeling.

It’s time for you to get a little prophetic.  In your bulletin, you’ll find a piece of black paper.  On this paper, write down your biggest doubts and questions about our world.  How is our world unjust?  What bothers you the most about our world?  When you think abou the global situation or your personal life situation, what makes you really angry?  Write it down.  I’m not going to ask you to read it to anyone or to talk to anyone.  The paper is black so that even your neighbor or your spouse can’t read what you’re writing.  Be completely honest.  Use all caps and explanation points and curse words if you want.  No one will see it.

OK, go ahead and write.

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Now, hold on to that paper and that doubt for a few minutes as we turn to Habakkuk.  He asked God his questions.  He shouted at God, and then God answered.  Today, we’re going to read Habakkuk 2, which gives us God’s longest answer to Habakkuk.  We’ll start where Adam left off last week.

Even Prophets Have Doubts? (Habakkuk 1)

[This is the first week in our series on the Minor Prophets, specifically Habakkuk and Zephaniah. Our Youth Pastor, Adam Jantz, is batting lead-off.]

Have you ever been mad at your parents? I mean really mad…. Like so mad you didn’t even want to think to them, obey them, and just felt like… It is entirely their fault for this situation that I am in! You get so mad with your parents and so frustrated for not fixing the situation, you just didn’t know what to do and why they are taking sooooo long to fix the situation…. Why not Now! 

Eventually you realize you have to turn back to your parents… Yeah, the one you just said you would never talk to again!  Then you felt ashamed, maybe a little regretful and, if you are like me, a little stupid for making a mess of things… You wanted answers and you were troubled that you couldn’t get any.

Well I am sure all of us have there or thought about going there for one reason or another… 

Let’s take this a little further... let’s replace “parents” with “God.”

Have you ever been mad at God? I mean really mad… Like so mad you didn’t even want to think about God, obey Him, and just felt like… It is all God’s fault for this situation that I am in!  You get so mad with God and so frustrated with God for not fixing the situation, you just didn’t know what to do and why he is taking sooooo long to fix the situation… Why not Now! 

Why is it possible to try so hard and constantly pray and have faith and still fail?

That’s a good question.  Success and failure depend on a complex network of factors.  You mentioned three: effort, prayer, and faith.  These are definitely very important, but what about wisdom, knowledge, skill, and support for example?  

I may have the dream to climb Mount Everest, but effort, prayer, and faith aren’t going to get me there.  I’m going to need a whole lot of knowledge, skill, and support from a team.  However, that doesn’t even take into account the bigger question of whether climbing Mount Everest is the right dream for me to pursue.  Wisdom is knowing the right mountain and the right approach path.

But even beyond that, we have to acknowledge that there are simply many factors that are beyond our control.  For reasons that we can only guess, God doesn’t protect us from many of those: storms, disasters, drunk drivers, illness, the sins and mistakes of others, etc.  Sometimes failure comes from within, and we can rightly blame ourselves.  Other times, we just have to acknowledge that we had a few bad breaks, and it didn’t work out for us.  There doesn’t have to be “a reason for everything.”

I suspect that most of the time, when we fail after trying hard and praying hard, we are really missing wisdom and support from others.  Thinking that we can handle anything with just us and God sound all nice and holy, but it just doesn’t work in practice for most people.  There is something mysteriously powerful about humbly gathering with our brothers and sisters, confessing our failures, and honestly asking God to heal us together.  This is why Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step groups have spread around the world.  There is an aspect of God’s grace and healing that can only come to us through other people.  

Whatever it is that is frustrating you these days, here is my advice.  Get together with some good friends and get really honest with them.  Tell them exactly what you’re struggling with, and ask for their support and prayer.  You may find the truth of this ancient verse: “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

[This is a response to a question shared on a "Talk Back" card at our church.]

Caution and Challenge (1 Samuel 17)

Read 1 Samuel 17.

“David and Goliath” is one of the world’s best known Bible stories.  It is the classic story of victory for the “underdog.”  David and Goliath are now part of the global vocabulary.  When a small company enters a new market, reporters call it a “David and Goliath” situation.  This is a “feel good” story that we all love to love.

But this very familiarity creates a problem.  We are so likely to hear this story wrong.  We are so likely to apply it incorrectly to our lives.  If we take the simple childlike version of this story and apply it to our grown-up lives, we could get a gross distortion of the Christian message.  This story has an important message for us, but we have to be careful how we get there.  Today, as we talk about David and Goliath, I want to offer us four cautions and one challenge.  

First the cautions.

Caution #1: Don’t assume using God’s name leads to victory.

History is littered with people and nations who got this wrong.  Even the Bible tells one story after another of people who misused God’s name in battle.  

In the book of Numbers, when Israel finally got to the borderland of Canaan, they chickened out and decided to go back to Egypt.  God told them to go into the desert for more lessons in faith, but the people changed their minds again and decided that they would try to fight the Canaanites after all.  “‘Let’s go,’ they said. ‘We realized that we have sinned, but we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us’” (Numbers 14:40).  They marched forward in God’s name as God’s people to the land God had promised, and they were soundly defeated.  They used God’s name, but they were still not faithful to God.

Utterly Devoted - 1 Samuel 15

About a year and a half ago, a revolution started in Syria.  It began with peaceful protests against the oppressive regime of King Al-Assad.  These protests were met with increasing cruelty and repression by Assad and his supporters.  Eventually the protests transitioned to armed rebellion, and now a civil war has begun.

  

Assad grows more and more violent every week.  Recently he defended his actions as necessary for the health of the nation: “When a surgeon in an operating room ... cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?  ... Or do we thank him for saving the patient?”

On May 25, soldiers and pro-government forces attacked the city of Houla just after nightfall.

  For about five hours they looted homes and killed whole families.  A total of 108 people were killed, including 49 children and 34 women.

  This was an open attempt to terrorize Syria’s people into giving up the revolution.  The photos of children stabbed, shot, and beaten to death have outraged the world into near unanimous condemnation and disgust.  

Hold this disgust and horror in mind as we turn to our Biblical text today.  Only these real events can set the proper frame for what we are about to read.

1 Samuel 15:1-23

One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! 2 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”

Faithfully Doubting God - Psalm 22

Most of the time, we think of faith and doubts as polar opposites.  We think of faith and doubt on a single spectrum.  We think that if we have more doubt, we have less faith, and if we have less doubt, we have more faith.

<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

Doubt                                          Faith

But that’s not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible’s perspective on doubt and faith is more like the father with a sick child who said to Jesus: “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).  Belief and unbelief are all mixed together - like overlapping ovals.  We have all these doubts of different shapes and sizes, but they can be enveloped by an even larger circle of faith.  Having doubts does not mean we don’t have faith.  Doubts can actually enlarge and enrich our faith.  True faith is not being doubt-free.  True faith is taking the leap to trust God even while the doubts are there screaming that we shouldn’t.  True faith is moving forward to follow Jesus - even if it means carrying a backpack full of doubts along the way.

Sometimes, we let our doubts drive us away from God and away from God’s people.  We can get very ashamed of our doubts.   We think, “If I was a real Christian, I wouldn’t feel like this.  If I really trusted God, I wouldn’t have these doubts.”  And so we end up hiding our true selves from other people at church and even from God in prayer.  We only say the nice things.  We only pray the nice prayers.  We stuff our doubts down.  We try to shoo them out the window of our souls.  

Here’s the thing about doubt and pain and fear.  It’s part of us.  It will always be part of us as long as we live in this broken world.  If we don’t bring God our pain and fear and doubt, then we are leaving a huge part of us in the back room of our souls.  If we don’t bring our church and our friends our pain and fear and doubt, then we are hiding huge parts of ourselves and preventing deep relationship from ever happening.  

We (as a church) and we (as Christians) have to find healthier ways of dealing with pain and doubt.  Thankfully, we have Psalm 22.  This is probably the single most famous “lament” or “doubting” Psalm in the Bible.  Listen for how it mixes together doubt and faith.  

1  My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?   Why are you so far away when I groan for help?

Goodbye Letter #03 - Arnold Tanubrata

[When people in our church move on, I ask them to write a goodbye note before they go.  I hope this will be one way to help us navigate these transitions well.]

   In 19 years as a servant of God, I never saw or met any power bigger or greater than the power of God, no matter how bigger my problems were or how bad I feel that I'm 'being cruxified' because of my loyality to Him.

   My name is Arnold Tanubrata, but I am also known as Tan Yue Liang since I am Chinese-Indonesian. My extended family originally owned a top pharmaceutical company, producing prescriptions drugs and OTC drugs and importing pharmaceutical and chemical raw materials.  However, my nuclear family was the second poorest of the families in our clan, so I considered myself as middle class of Indonesians.

   As a middle class Indonesian, I lived happily like in heaven. I received the highest education available -  from kindergarten to a posh graduate university.  However, I had friends from many backgrounds both poor and rich, including children of the unemployed, military generals, artists, and governors.  After graduation, I also got good jobs, slowly moving up from staff, to supervisor, to assistant manager, to manager, and finally to director.

   Things started to change in 2008.  I lost my job due to the global economic crises. After lost my job, my relationship with my ex-wife became worse until she cheated with another man.  I became very angry and even had a plan to have the other man killed by a professional.  My father knew all about my situation, so he suggested that I go to South Korea to work and to search for a better future there.

Retro Poem #2: Initiator

Because you chose me,
   I choose you.
Because you first loved me,
   I now love you.
Because you have always been faithful to me,
   I want to be faithful to you.
Because you rejoice in me,
   I rejoice in you.
Because you long for me,
   I long for you.
Because you will not turn from me,
   I will not turn from you.
Because you remain in me,
   I remain in you.
Because you are patient with me,
   I will be patient with you.
Because you will not force your will on me,
   I will not force my will will on you.
Because you suffer with me,
   I suffer with you.
Because you initiate,
   I respond.

(Written in 2001)

Pieces of Peace

Blue skies in my heart
Deep currents in my soul
Whirlwind in my chest
- My fragmentary whole

Performance, achievement
Anxiety, depression
Laughter, love, and joy
- My loose compression

Believing and doubting
Following and turning away
Resting and Wrestling
- My drunken stumbling way

His love endures forever
His mercies know no end
His death atones for me
- My unfailing Friend

Stronger through Sharing (1 Thessalonians 3)

       Tomorrow is 광복절 (Korea’s Liberation Day).  For more than forty years, the Korean people resisted Japanese colonization.  Sometimes, this resistance was public as in the March 1st, Declaration of Independence in 1919.  More often though, the resistance was through guerilla warfare, covert meetings, secret newspapers delivered at night, and hidden educational gatherings.  

Throughout the resistance movement, one thing remained constant.  The resistance became stronger when people bound together.  Isolation led to weakness, but communal sharing led to strength.  As long as people felt that they were alone in their desire to be free and alone in their faith that freedom is possible, then their courage to resist grew weak.  But when people realized that they are not alone, that others stand together with them, that others also share the faith that freedom is possible, then their courage to resist became stronger.  

Isolation leads to weakness.  Communal sharing leads to strength.  This is the message under the text of 1 Thessalonians 3.  Let’s read it now.

 ¹ Finally, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens, ² and we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God’s co-worker in proclaiming the Good News of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith, ³ and to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through. ...




To continue reading this post, click here.  (If necessary, scroll to the post on August 12, 2011.)


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Turning the World Upside Down (1 Thessalonians 1)

For the next five week’s we’ll be walking through a little New Testament book called 1 Thessalonians.  It’s pretty small - just five chapters and only about two pages in my Bible, but it was actually written to a really important city.

Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki) is still the second largest city in Greece, but it is some 2,300 years old.  Around the New Testament times, it was the capital of Macedonia - the northern half of Greece.  And it was rich, very rich.  It had an excellent port, comfortably nestled into the northernmost port of a gulf.  It was also centrally located on the major Roman highway running east and west through the empire.  All of this led to lots of importing and exporting.  They worked hard, and they had lots of cash.

Thessalonians were also very religious.  Like most ancient Greeks and Romans, they worshiped a wide variety of gods.

• Of course, there were the traditional gods of Greek mythology, but the most prominent in Thessalonica were Dionysius and Artemis.  

• Dionysius was the god of wine and ecstasy.  His followers were famous for wild drunken party-parades which “freed” everyone from all their social inhibitions.
• Artemis was worshiped both as goddess of wild animals and goddess of fertility.  

• Thessalonians also adopted two Egyptian gods: Isis and Osiris.

• Isis was the goddess of motherhood, fertility, and magic.  Her statues often showed her nursing a son.  Also known as the Queen of Heaven, she offered salvation and eternal life to all in exchange for humility, confession, and repentance.
• Osiris was Isis’s brother and husband, and he was supposed to be the god of the afterlife and underworld.  Osiris was believed to die every year and be raised from the dead by Isis’s tears.

To continue reading this post, click here.

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Doubt and Faith about Heaven and Hell - Tough Theology Week 6

(First read Matthew 25.)

After today, I hope you have two things: more doubt and more faith.
I hope you have more doubt about that are not true, more doubt about issues on which the Bible is not clear. More doubt about things you SHOULD doubt.
And I hope you have more faith in things you SHOULD have faith in. I hope you have more faith in a few things the Bible is very clear about. But most importantly, I hope you have more faith in God.

Next, let’s start with a few surprising truths.

• There is no required belief about hell to be a Christian.
• God is not going to say, Because you didn’t believe in hell, you’re going to hell.
• God is not going to say, Because you didn’t believe the right things about hell, you’re going to hell.
• God is not going to say, I won’t forgive you if unless you believe in hell.
• God is not going to say, You can’t get into heaven unless you believe in hell.

Let me say it again. Believing in hell is not a requirement to go to heaven or to be a Christian. It’s important that we say that because a lot of people have walked away from Jesus simply because they cannot believe in hell.
Don’t get me wrong. The Bible does talk about hell, and if we are loyal to the Bible, we will have some concept of hell. BUT - and this is the important part - we don’t all have to have the same concept of hell. ...

To continue reading this post, click here.

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