This is a very weird subject to broach, but I'm very curious. I was conversing with some people about the idea of hell. The interesting thing that came out during the conversation was how seriously both of them had thought about themselves being headed for hell. What occurred to me is that I personally have never thought of myself as going to hell. I'm not sure if that makes me less cultivated in my faith or not. There are so many Christians who believe scaring people with hell is the best way to bring people to Jesus and I've never been in that camp, but maybe that's because of me not considering it with reference to myself. The call of the question here is whether any of you really thought that way or if there are others like me that try as you might, consider the idea and dismiss it. I don't want to have a conversation about hell, just about whether you considered yourself a potential citizen and what effect that had on you. Although if no one wants to tell me that's ok... It is a strangely personal question.
FAUSTUS. How comes it then that thou art out of hell?
MEPHASTOPHILIS. Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss!
--Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus
11 comments:
you sure talk to weird people...
I, for one, have never felt I was headed for hell...purgatory maybe...
That's nice to know MLLR. And yes I do talk to weird people. I wasn't sure if maybe thinking about going to hell was a Christian rite of passage I had missed... Like I had missed one of the colors in the salvation color thingamajig. (black, red, white, green, yellow).
I did think I was going to hell for a time.
did that change your view of God?
No--I think that is why I thought I was going to hell. God is who He is and I am who I am.
A couple of times other Christians caused me to question whether I was going to hell, but it was just a fleeting thought.
I think I've thought that other Christians thought I was going to hell and that hurt me, but it didn't really make me think that about myself.
Sheep and the goats!
Perhaps exposing your children to Chick tracts, detailed accounts of the horrors of the tribulation, and excorsisms is not the best way to insure their belief in a loving God...
I guess I always thought that the sheep and the goats story was scary, except that I thought it was clear about what we are supposed to do... I wonder if I've fed, clothed, and visited Jesus lately? It is amazing that in spite of all the wackiness of my religious upbringing that I didn't have more divergent thoughts about God... Other than being depressed as an adult and thinking God didn't like me.
Sheep and goats reminds me of Bohoeffer... grace vs. obedience. being a christian was never as simple as one or the other.
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