{"id":20456,"date":"2014-01-07T08:13:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T13:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=20456"},"modified":"2014-01-07T08:13:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T13:13:08","slug":"the-sermon-or-the-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/01\/the-sermon-or-the-tears.html","title":{"rendered":"The Sermon or the Tears?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Richard Beck shared in a blog post<\/a> about his experience of preparing and preaching a sermon about hell. Here is the conclusion:<\/p>\n

\u00a0And that was the turning point.<\/p>\n

Somewhere deep within me I knew, a feeling I\u2019ve never let go of, that there was no way I could reconcile the bullet points of my sermon with my breaking heart. Going forward from that sermon I knew faced a choice. I was at a spiritual crossroad.<\/p>\n

On the one hand I could go with this list I was reading, this list of torture and horror and pain, and say \u201cThis is what God is like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or I could go with my breaking heart, I could choose the tears. \u201cThis, this ache of love. This is what God is like.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is hell like? What is God like? I had a decision to make. And I made it that night.<\/p>\n

I could choose the sermon or the tears.<\/p>\n

I chose the tears.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click through<\/a> to read the rest. On a related note, PZ Myers shared a graphic<\/a> created by someone who clearly chose the sermon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Beck shared in a blog post about his experience of preparing and preaching a sermon about hell. Here is the conclusion: \u00a0And that was the turning point. Somewhere deep within me I knew, a feeling I\u2019ve never let go of, that there was no way I could reconcile the bullet points of my sermon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":17129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[2081,4510,8592,10355,11111],"class_list":["post-20456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","tag-compassion","tag-hell","tag-p-z-myers","tag-richard-beck","tag-sermon"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sermon or the Tears?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Richard Beck shared in a blog post about his experience of preparing and preaching a sermon about hell. 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