The Proposition
The proposition is not “worship me and do what I say or else I’ll punish you.”
God did not create humanity for Hell, and he didn’t create the Lake of Fire for humans. We consigned ourselves to Hell when we decided to try to be our own gods and joined in the rebellion of Satan and his fallen angels, for whom the Lake of Fire was created to contain.
Hell is eternal separation from the Source of all life and light and goodness. That separation began at the Fall. We began dying then, and that’s the default state into which each of us is born. God is not on a mission to punish us for our sins, but to rescue us from that separation that results in death and destruction and restore us to life in Him.
The proposition is this: “You’re drowning in fire and you’re dying. Please take my hand and let me save you.” But the vast majority of humans respond to this with, “No, go away, I’ll save myself.” Which simply isn’t possible. God is the only one who has the power to restore to life.
All of human history has been God holding his hand out to individual humans and offering restoration and rescue. Israel was supposed to be the light of the world that illuminated the way to the Father and to life through faith, but they botched it by letting themselves be seduced by fallen angels and joining in their rebellion. So God sent his own Son to do the job without fail, making the rescue plan clear and explicit. Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”
We’re all dying. He’s holding out his nail-scarred hand. Some of us -- pitifully few -- take that hand and say “Yes! Thank you! You’re awesome! I love you!” The vast majority stick to, “No, go away, I hate you, I’d rather die, and besides, I can save myself.”
Say yes and live.
Say no and continue dying until it’s complete.
It’s really that simple.
But, tragically, most people prefer the light of the flames to the Light of God.
The above came to me during my morning meditations, and I think it was prompted by two things. One was a dream I woke up from this morning in which someone accused Christians of believing people go to hell for being gay, and in my dream I didn’t get a chance to respond. The other was this Red Pen Logic video that my husband and I watched and discussed the other day, which has been on my mind all week.
I pulled out my laptop (much to my dog’s consternation, as she was trying to engage me in her favorite game that involves her setting her Kong on the ground and staring at me until I tell her to “Git it!” over and over again until I make her stop) and wrote it down, and I’ve been praying all morning about what to do with it. I was going to post it in Notes, but then I felt like it should have a more permanent home. So here it is. I hope it ministers to someone.
We’ve both been convalescing all week, slowly recovering from the flu. In case you’re wondering, this is about the sixth time we’ve both gotten sick since December. It seems like every time I get motivated to start writing for this publication and start to get some momentum going, my husband and I both get hit with a virus. Coincidence? I don’t know, but I’m really tired of it. Hoping and praying that this will be the last bout of illness for a good, long while. We’d both appreciate your prayers for our recovery.
I hope you’re all blessed on this Mother’s Day weekend. Happy Mom’s Day to all the moms out there of all kinds, and love and peace to everyone for whom this particular holiday hits hard. El Roi — the God who sees — sees you, and I pray that you experience His comfort.
Until next time,
