Not everyone would answer “What matters most?” the same way. For those who profess Christ, Paul wrote, “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” should be our aim (Philippians 3:14). When we come to faith in Christ, it isn’t long until we begin asking questions about Heaven and Hell. Throughout our lives, we return to it as a North Star for all we do and believe. Near the start of a New Year, I usually reexamine my direction in those terms.
What matters most about salvation is a question of hope. This past year, I spent some time researching the concept of universal salvation: the belief that all will be saved in the end. In my study, I listened to a 2019 interview with writer, philosopher, and theologian David Bentley Hart on Jonathan Martin’s “Zeitcast.” I recall him saying something like “Everyone believes there’s a hell until it comes to their children.” I was traveling, so I downloaded the audio version of his book “That All Shall Be Saved” (2019, Yale University Press).
I have to say that he made a great deal of sense. I haven’t bought into it, but he and Martin spent a good amount of time talking about the difference between an eternally punitive hell and one that judges and corrects, but ultimately leads the the sinner back to God. Their point is that God was in Christ “reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Further for Christ, the matter of “What matters most” is that He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Finally, there is nothing about the life of Jesus that is consistent with the concept of hell.
I was raised in the Church of God (an Evangelical Pentecostal church) that embraced the belief in “eternal life for the righteous and eternal punishment for the wicked.” When I returned from college, I enrolled in the licensing and ordination program of that same denomination. Then 20 years ago, while maintaining status with the Church of God, I gained favor with a nondenominational ministry of well over 1,000 churches and ministries. Now I am 1 of 5 who serve on their Council of Bishops, and their beliefs about hell are the same. Mine are too but I don’t want them to be. Therein lies the problem; Like Jesus, I don’t want anyone to go to Hell either. I hate the idea, but that doesn’t change the reality.
God’s Grace has been what matters most in my preaching through the years. A few years ago, a man asked me why I mostly preach grace but never preach about Hell. I answered, “I preach Grace because I have a revelation of grace. I don’t have a revelation of Hell. After all, it’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance.” When our daughters learned to drive I remember the feeling of knowing they would be on the road with some crazy drivers. All 3 girls were in accidents of some kind. I wanted them to learn to drive but I didn’t want them on the road. Still, there they went out of my driveway. I want only good things for people. It’s part of my DNA.
What if Hell isn’t punitive, but rather it is corrective, and in the hereafter, when a person receives their correction they are whisked away to be with the Lord and the saints? Here is my point: I just don’t know exactly what things will look like. None of us do. Sure, some quote their favorite scripture as proof text, but what does that mean? It means they know that passage but they do not know exactly how it will be so. Still, it is what matters most.
- “Eternal conscious torment: the traditional view of hell that has “been held for at least 1,600 years by almost the entire Christian world.”
- “Christian Universalism (our topic): the view that in the end God will reconcile all people to himself through Christ.”
Parsing Hebrew and Greek passages of the Bible and debating what they believe about Hell is important. What is more important, however, is what you believe about Hell. What do you believe and why do you believe it? Those 2 questions do more to shape your life on earth than what secular or Christian scholars think about it. In the end, what you believe about the subject and what you do with your life are inextricably woven. It’s like the rapture of the Church. There are numerous views about that as well.
But what matters most to you and why? How does that belief shape the way you think about your life and your lifestyle? How does it affect the way you worship God? These are important questions for every Christian. Whenever there is a calamity or a large-scale religious revival, there is usually an urgency in Christian circles about these discussions. During the Jesus Movement Heaven and Hell seemed present in almost every sermon and conversation. It mattered to them and to the people they loved. That movement and all that it embodied changed the world, and the nation, it changed churches, families, and lives. Some may believe this topic to be of little importance or urgency. However, it will ultimately be of eternal importance to us all.
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