{"id":1958,"date":"2020-11-25T17:48:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T01:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2020-11-25T17:48:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T01:48:18","slug":"i-believe-in-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2020\/11\/25\/i-believe-in-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"I Believe in Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I do believe in hell. I just don\u2019t believe in hell, the way most Christians, or the general public for that matter, does. I haven\u2019t arrived at this understanding on my own. I didn\u2019t imagine it or think it up myself. It\u2019s not a belief I plotted and reasoned out myself. It was a view introduced to me by Christians in history and in the present. In other words, it\u2019s not just wishful thinking or me picking and choosing which doctrines I like or don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

What then do I mean when I say I believe in hell? \u00a0I think I believe what is articulated here<\/a> by David Bentley Hart. As many know, whether from my writings or personally, Hart is one of my favorite living American theologian\/philosopher\/scholars. Some do not care for him, but that usually has little to do with his actual scholarship, writings, or ideas.\u00a0 Please take the time to watch the entire video. It\u2019s about 20 minutes long and well worth your time.<\/p>\n

While Hart draws lines that lead directly to the last four years and our current political climate, I would ask you not let that distract from Hart\u2019s greater points, which go much deeper than our current political moment in time.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s speaks of a \u201cdifferent class of the imprisoned.\u201d He speaks of the \u201cleast of these\u201d written of in Matthew 25 as \u201cChrists by proxy.\u201d Give that some thought.\u00a0 He says at one point:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure to see the face of Christ in the poor, the infirmed, the refugee, and the prisoner is the soul\u2019s condemnation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heaven or hell are as close as the face looking back at us. But not just any face. When we fail to see Christ, choose not to see Christ, in the faces of the disenfranchised, those outside the camp, those not like us, the less powerful, then we condemn ourselves. We choose hell and make the Evil One our father\u2014at least in those moments anyway.<\/p>\n

According to Christian orthodoxy, all faces reflect the image of God. However, Christ has chosen the least of these<\/em> to be him by proxy. Just as the religious leaders, teachers, and priests of that day could not see God in Christ, every generation thereafter, is challenged in the very same way\u2014in moments of specificity.\u00a0 There is a recapitulation, a cycle that seems woven into time since the fall, wherein we get our chance to play out the very story told in the gospels. But who will we be? Will we be the ones who do not see Christ and even persecute him?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see God in the face of the well-off, the healthy, the beautiful, the young, the charming, the smiling face of privilege and prosperity.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to see God in the face of the powerful person. When it\u2019s a face with skin the color of my own, from a similar background, economic class, religion, political party, or experience, it\u2019s easy to see God in those faces. Those faces ask nothing of me and, in fact, can perhaps do something for me. Plus, they make me feel safe.<\/p>\n

We treat those faces well. We recognize them, we communicate in various ways to them, \u201cI see you.\u201d It\u2019s very much like we are looking in a mirror though. We often are just selfishly recognizing ourselves. We pat ourselves on the back, thinking, \u201cSee, I do recognize God in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

All well and good, but that is not what we are called to do in Matthew 25. That is not our challenge. Our challenge is to recognize Christ in the other\u2014the least.\u00a0 Our challenge is to go \u201coutside the camp\u201d (Heb 13).\u00a0 That is where we will run into people who do not look like us, live like us, or experience life like us. These are the ones left out.<\/p>\n

As Hart points out, we have no permanent city in this life and we are called to go outside the gate, outside the camp, for there Christ is and there is salvation. This is why nationalism is a heresy and patriotism too often a trap. We have no patriotism beyond a simple love of neighbor, which includes those outside the city, outside our nation or ethnic group.<\/p>\n

Hell is bound up with our reaction and response to Christ in the least of these. We are not condemned because we failed to pray the \u201csinner\u2019s prayer,\u201d or join the right church. We are not condemned because we were baptized incorrectly or not at all. We are not condemned because we didn\u2019t attend church regularly, tithe, have the right politics, theology, or share our faith.<\/p>\n

We are damned because we refused to see Christ in the poor, the infirmed, the refugee, the thirsty, the hungry, and the prisoner. Paradoxically, this means we did not truly see each of these in their humanity and individuality, either. Our judgment is both now and not yet.<\/p>\n

Heaven and hell are mere moments from each us; they dwell in the face of the person we encounter next and our response to that face. If we worry or wonder about who that person might be, we echo the question posed to Jesus in the gospels: \u201cWho is my neighbor?\u201d\u00a0 We know who it is. The Samaritan. The one either we or society have decided is less than us\u2014the one on the margins, the one not like \u201cus.\u201d That one.<\/p>\n

I do believe in hell. Lord have mercy.<\/p>\n

I have a Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I do believe in hell. I just don\u2019t believe in hell, the way most Christians, or the general public for that matter, does. I haven\u2019t arrived at this understanding on my own. I didn\u2019t imagine it or think it up myself. It\u2019s not a belief I plotted and reasoned out myself. It was a view […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":1963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[182,830,407,602,473],"class_list":["post-1958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-heaven-and-hell","tag-matthew-25","tag-salvation","tag-social-justice","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nI Believe in Hell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I do believe in hell. I just don\u2019t believe in hell, the way most Christians, or the general public for that matter, does. 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