Hell is a curious belief to hold in this age. It’s sort of the red-headed-stepchild of evangelicalism. When I was a kid I remember adults observing that one never hears “Fire and Brimstone” sermons anymore. Very true, Mom and Dad. Our church certainly never did any lengthy sermons on it. When somebody did mention it they spoke in hushed tones and looked at the floor; like the wizards in Harry Potter talking about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Hell was for sweaty-faced, shouting preachers somewhere in the south. Certainly not for us–the rational, the graceful. Sure we believed in Hell.
We just didn’t like it.
Whoops, Jesus just died of a broken heart
I remember specifically one evangelistic sermon I heard at a youth rally: In this sermon Jesus became little puppy out in the cold, scratching at the door. Let him in, won’t you? This little puppy will be your best friend. He will make you happy when you’re sad. You’ll never be alone again. The evangelist began to describe the crucifixion. He described how they pierced Christ’s side and blood and water poured forth. He said how this showed that his heart had burst while on the cross. And then with his arms spread wide he said, with thousands of teenagers looking on, “Jesus died… of a broken heart. He loved you so much that he died of a broken heart.” Poor Jesus.
I had a hard time swallowing this line. Jesus died of a broken heart? Lame. Was Jesus really like an overdramatic teenage girl who dies if rejected? The creator of the universe is a bit fragile, eh? I’m sure this evangelist was well-intentioned but his picture of Christ was wimpy and unmanly. Aslan had become a kitten.
But what about Hell? This evangelist probably believed in Hell but, like so many Christians, he didn’t like it. He preferred to think of the heart-broken, love-stricken Christ. And that was okay with the rest of us; he could ignore Hell as long as he officially believed in it. Doubting Hell equaled herecy. Ignoring it was fine.
What was the result of this? Sitting at the feet of that evangelist, the result in 13-year-old Levi was apathy and a bit of skepticism mixed with embarrassment. The invitation to the alter was like someone asking you to “go steady”. Why should I follow Jesus? Because he loves me so much that he died of a broken heart? Gosh, it seems kind of mean to say “no” when you put it that way.
That is the culture of evangelicalism that I grew up in.
Houston, we lack conviction
Fast forward fifteen years and I’m reading the preface to “Love Wins” by Rob Bell. Most people paying attention to Evangelicalism will know that this book is controversial. Rob Bell seems to have crossed a line somewhere in the pages ahead. But this should hardly come as a shock to those of us raised on the current diet of Evangelicalism. Listen to what Bell has to say in the preface:
First, I believe that Jesus’s story is first and foremost about the love of God for every single one of us. It is a stunning, beautiful, expansive love, and it is for everybody, everywhere.
This is less saccharin than “Jesus died of a broken heart” but it’s essentially the same. And here’s why Bell has an audience for this book.
If I believe Jesus is nothing more than a kitten lost in the cold, and I open the door to find a lion, I’m going to have a problem. “This isn’t what I signed up for,” may cross my mind. We may feel panic starting to boil somewhere deep down.
A friend of mine once confessed that he didn’t like the Old Testament. All the accounts of God’s judgement, all the violence was hard to reconcile with “God made you special and he loves you very much.” He had opened the Bible and found something different than what was advertised. Rob Bell wrote Love Wins for my friend and people like him. Bell says so himself:
I’ve written this book for all those, everywhere, who have heard some version of the Jesus story that caused this pulse rate to rise, their stomach to churn, and their heart to utter those resolute words, “I would never be a part of that.”
This is the fruit of an evangelical culture who lacked conviction. We printed “God: Safe for the Whole Family” in big bold letters and wrote that you should tremble in fear of him in microscopic print. We weren’t prepared for what we would find in the Bible and Rob Bell is here salve our wounds.
Who is this guy in crimsoned garments, anyway?
In the book of Isaiah, Chapter 63, the prophet sees a man coming from Edom with a red-stained robe. This man is the Messiah. Christ. He answers the prophet:
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.”
That’s Jesus? Many of us would not recognize him. We can’t reconcile this blood-stained warrior with a servant dying on cross for the sake of love. So we ignore him. We Photoshop the picture of Jesus into something that we like, removing the bloodstains and red eyes. And, ah, much better. I can already feel my pulse slowing and my stomach settling. Here is a Jesus that I want to “be a part of”.
But will we truly know him? Can we really say that our faith is not a refuge for weakness if we’ve made a religion where our pulse never pounds, and our stomach’s never flutter? Truth that never challenges us smacks of fantasy. Truth that always agrees with our inclinations feels like delusion.
So Jesus doesn’t love us?
The danger of books like Love Wins is they do the opposite of what they set out to do. They claim to enlarge our conception of God when, in truth, they narrow it. They claim to be open-minded but they act more like censors, cutting out the scary parts and claiming that “it’s just as good without them”.
Rob Bell is right when he says that Jesus’s story is about God’s amazing, scandalous love for us. But it is a love that can only be truly understood in the light of God’s terrifying hatred of sin. This is a God that gives demons nightmares. This is a God that will make mighty kings crawl like terrified dogs.
Like it or not Hell is a key part of God’s story. We can “believe it” and yet ignore it, like so many Evangelicals have done. Or we can redefine it and declaw the lion like Rob Bell is attempting to do. We do both at our own peril. Paradoxically, God’s hatred of sin is part of his love for us. When we erase Hell we may have a God who is comfortable, agreeable, modern, but we won’t have Christ. His love will no longer be scandalous and amazing; instead it will be hallow and, as I once felt, a little bit weird.
Should we just stop here?
My goal by reading Love Wins is to solidify my conviction in God’s love and justice. I don’t just want to feel obligated to believe in something like Hell so I can be a part of the Christian club. I believe Rob Bell is asking questions that many Christians need to ask. I believe that Hell needs to be redefined away from some popular conceptions. I think that by asking these questions and submitting to the scripture, we will know God’s love story better. And I believe with all my heart it’s a dangerous, heartbreaking, desperate, infinitely wonderful story.
It’s the best story—-a God who is both Judge and Savior. Who could of thought of it, but He alone? And when I hear it, almost every time, I feel like, (in the words of your son Jack) “rejoicing on the outside, but crying on the inside.”