Crowd Sourced Questions: Theology

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.  This Sunday, we'll try to answer as many questions as possible in a rapid-fire two minute answer format.  

Here is the first category: Questions about Theology.  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.)

 What is predestination, and what do we believe about it?

Can we lose our salvation?  Can we be separated from God?

What is hell like?

How could a loving God allow eternal punishment in hell?

Are there aliens? How would we make sense of aliens with our beliefs about God and Jesus?

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. ...

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Love Wins - Review

I read Rob Bell's controversial Love Wins yesterday - as in I started at 8:30 and was done by 3:30.  Granted, I'm preaching on heaven and hell this week, so I figured I should at least read the most debated book on the topic in recent memory.
If you missed the controversy, let me just say it was messy and ugly, and I was only viewing the remnants and echos from the other side of the world.  For a not-so-brief summary of the controversy, check out this article.  For a beautiful interview with Rob Bell about how he has handled all this controversy, click here.  For a look at what this conversation means for the current state of North American Christianity - especially evangelicalism, read this excellent article by theologian Scott McKnight. 
Essentially, the controversy is all about two long debated points within Christian theology.
1. What does it take to be saved (to go to heaven and to avoid hell)?  (Specifically, can people who have never heard about Jesus be saved?)
2. Is hell a place of eternal, conscious punishment from which there is no escape - ever?
Both of these questions have been asked by theologians almost since the time of Christ, and for almost that long, our best Christian thinkers have come up with a variety of answers.  There is no Christian consensus on these two points.  Neither of these two points are critical questions of Christian orthodoxy.  Therefore, throughout history, most Christians have afforded each other the freedom to disagree.  Rob Bell's answers to both questions fall well within the scope of the varied Christian opinion throughout history.
So what does Bell actually say?  Although he says it very well, in his wonderful way of putting very complex ideas in simple and beautiful words, he actually only makes a few specific points.

Regarding heaven, Bell clarifies the use of the word heaven in the Bible.  In the New Testament, the word "heaven" is used in three different ways: (a) as a reference to God (e.g. "Kingdom of Heaven"), (b) the place/time of total restoration in the future, (c) the invasion of that future reality into our present reality ("Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" - type of thinking).  Basically, heaven is something we can experience in part now. (Remember all your pastors talking about starting the "eternal life" now.  This is what Bell is talking about.)  But one day, this foretaste will become the real deal, explosively joyful, unfiltered presence of God among the loving community of God's people.  So far, Bell is right in line with all good theologians.

Regarding hell, Bell unpacks almost every Biblical reference to hell.  And then he slowly works to prove that it is at least possible that a person's experience of hell might not be forever.  The fires of hell might be for the sake of purification rather than eternal punishment.  There might be a second (or third) opportunity to repent and to return to God's grace even after death.  It is possible that God might eventually empty hell and reclaim every lost child.  This may sound strange to people who have grown up with the concept of hell as a place of eternal, conscious, permanent punishment.  However, as Bell points out, good Christian theologians ranging from Justin Martyr to Origen to Luther have said exactly this.

Regarding salvation, Bell makes three basic points.  (1) God is everywhere.  (2) God is always trying to woo people to him and his ways of love.  (3) We will be judged on how we respond to God's wooing - however or wherever we find it.  Although he puts the argument in more beautiful and more controversial tones, this is the essential point, and this is nothing new to Christianity.  Everywhere there have been Christian missionaries and thinkers, people have wondered about this, and many of them have said exactly the same thing.

So here's my conclusion.  Rob Bell didn't say anything new or unorthodox or unChristian, but he said it really, really well.  Honestly, I'm not sure he's right, but I think it's possible.  And I think it's important that we talk about hell and who may or may not go there with a little more humility and uncertainty.  (The Bible seems to be intentionally unclear on that point.)  And I am sure that Bell (or anyone else) can believe everything in this book and be authentically Christian.

The Josh rating: JJJJ.

(Coming soon, my sermon on Heaven and Hell.)

Ghosts, Zombies, Hell, and Jesus - 1 Peter 3:13-22

    Today is survey day.  I have three questions, and I want you to vote your opinion on each of these three questions.  You can vote: yes, no, or I don’t know.
    First question: Do you believe in ghosts?  Do you believe there can be contact between the dead and the living?  I want you to actually raise your hands.  It’s OK.  Nobody’s going to judge you one way or the other. 
    Everybody who believes that there are ghosts and/or contact between the dead and the living, raise your hand. 
    If you don’t believe in ghosts or any contact between the dead and the living, raise your hand.
    If you don’t know, raise your hand.
    OK, let’s go to our Old Testament Lesson: 1 Samuel 28:3-18.
 3 Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned from the land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
 4 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. 6 He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets. 7 Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”
   His advisers replied, “There is a medium at Endor.”
 8 So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.
   “I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?” 



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