allergic to vengeance

I am re-reading Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up by Francis Chan. This book has been my guide for a current Sunday School Class that I am teaching. This is a sobering topic... in more than one way. First, the realities of what Jesus and others in the Bible actually say about Judgment is simply terrifying. Second, these thoughts of Hell leave me grieving for those that might actually end up there, or are there. Finally, I am finding that I don't know if I am actually ready to speak the same way that the Bible does on this topic.

I want to share a quote that will convey my feelings on this, and will also show that I am not alone in these thoughts. Consider these following words from Francis Chan:

I said earlier that Paul never wrote about the details of hell. However, there is one passage where he comes pretty close -- a passage blistering with passion and urgency about Christ's second coming and the wrath that follows:

God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)

There are several things to note in this passage. First, the wrath of Jesus here is retributive and not corrective. In other words, the wrath isn't intended to correct behavior of those opposing Christ to make them fit for salvation. Rather, the wrath is an act of -- dare I say -- vengeance. In fact, this is the exact word that Paul uses. Christ will "inflict vengeance on those who do not know God" and don't "obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." Second, in light of this last phrase, Paul doesn't have a select group of people in view. Those who don't know god or obey the gospel include everyone not following Jesus. No matter how innocent some people may seem, Paul says that if they don't know God or obey the gospel, they will face God's vengeful wrath when Jesus returns.

Now, notice what Francis Chan says next...

As I read those verses, I am struck by how allergic I am to repeating the very words that Paul wrote. Affliction, vengeance, punishment, destruction -- for all who don't follow Jesus. I'm not sure if I have ever used the term vengeance in describing the fate of unbelievers. In my desire to distance myself from sadistic Christians who revel in the idea of wrath and punishment, I may have crossed a line. Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it.

Allow me to repeat that last line... "Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it." I know this... I know this is true... and yet, I can totally recognize my own allergic reaction to certain passages of scripture.

He ends this portion of the book with this statement:

I really believe it's time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself.

Amen.

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome! According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written. If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events? Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

HARMLESS THOUGHTS

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