doctrine

Thinking Well About Hell

Kyle Strobel — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:31:00 -0800

If I'm honest, I just don't know what it means to think well about hell. I've spent a great bulk of my life thinking about the doctrine of God, salvation, and figures like Jonathan Edwards, but I really don't spend an aweful lot of time meditating upon hell. To get some conversation going, let me try to draw out some thoughts about what it might mean to think well about hell.

1. Questioning hell because of God's love is absurd.

Let me explain my brash statement. It is not surprising to find atheists taking a similiar line of logic to deny the existence of God - a loving God can't exist with the reality of this kind of world - or so the argument goes. But for Christians, we have no room to make these arguments. What we must never do is to start with a general idea - love - and then apply it to God. Rather, since God is love, we must see what God is like to know how to define love. If our God send people to hell, that has to somehow inform what a loving God is (even if we don't directly tie it to his love per se). In the same way, we must not talk about a loving God outside of talking about the cross.

2. We must not simply prooftext; or, biblical theology is not enough

There used to be a time when theologians were theologians. These days, that is not often the case, at least among conservative evangelicals. Instead, we tend to stop at "biblical theology" (which we think must be the right way to go since it has the word biblical in it - for my thoughts on things like this click here). Instead, we have to build upon our biblical theology to talk meaningfully about doctrine. We cannot merely abstract hell away from everything else we do, but we must integrate it as best we can within our understanding of who God is (theology proper), providence / redemptive history, salvation, and glorification (within the broader development of eschatology). This must include, in light of our biblical analysis, a discussion of the wrath of God. A failure to relate hell to the broader doctrines surrounding it is a failure to believe that our God is the God of all history and all creation.

3. Our view of hell must be trinitarian

Things brings us full circle. Typically, as has been noted by Stephen Holmes, when one speaks of hell (in his example, Jonathan Edwards), God often ceases to be trinitarian and turns monistic. Rather, and this is where we come back to God is love, we must talk about hell in light of God as Father, Jesus as Son, and their communion in the Holy Spirit (or however you want to parse that out). Often, the way this is achieved is through the idea of separation. Jesus as their priest is rejected, and the Spirit is denied. The result is God's granting, through the Son and the Spirit, unbeliever's wishes - a denial of fellowship. This constrasts well with heaven as fellowship consummated.

4. Becoming Accountants doesn't help

As I peruse Francis Turretin's three volume systematic theology, I notice that he, with much of the tradition, turns to the infinite weight of sin to talk about hell's eternality. Rather, I think, talking about hell in relation to fellowship and the reality of life under God (true of all creatures) is more fruitful. Hell isn't, if we follow the line developed in the last point, about punishment per se, it is about a denial of fellowship. By permitting that, and allowing creatures to "have their way" as it were, seals the eternity of the deal. Suffering, in this instance, will never turn people to God, but will have its truly fallen result - it will cause a greater and greater condemnation of God.

Well, that is off the top of my head, so let me know what some of your thoughts are. Like I said, I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about this, but from just looking around it is clear most everyone else hasn't either! What could it mean to think about hell well?

To close, let me make a couple of observations: First, hell is a hard topic to talk about. It isn't a hard doctrine to affirm, but it is hard to speak meaningfully about it. Second, and building on this, the reason why hell is so often rejected, in my opinion, is because the topic is often approached so arrogantly - and almost joyfully. This results from, what I would call, a misconstrued development of glory (but I won't go into that here). Rather, with Jesus, we should weep at the reality of a people that God wanted to pull under his wing like a mother hen would her chicks. Third, again building on the last two statements, what we need is not to simply shout louder that hell is real, but to think deeply about what that statement entails and actually align it with the broad scope of our theological beliefs. We need to reason about hell in the shadow of the cross.

Understanding Emerging Adults, Part 2

Sean McDowell — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:09:42 -0700

In the last post, I provided a summary about emerging adults from Christian Smith’s new book Souls In Transition. Now, let’s explore what this means for ministering to this generation. Rather than focusing on outreach to the current emerging adults, I want to focus on how we pass on our values to the next generation in light of this research.

Are Christian Kids Leaving their Faith?

One of the surprising findings of Souls In Transition is that 64 percent of 13 to 17 year old conservative Protestants (evangelicals) remained so as emerging adults five years later (p. 108). Thus, 36 percent are leaving their evangelical faith after five years. This is still a significant number, but it is a far cry from the common claims that 80-90 percent of evangelicals are leaving their faith after high school graduation. Smith says, “The myth of overall religious decline among emerging adults must be dispelled” (283). In fact, Smith argues that those who do not go to college are more likely to lose their faith than those who do go.

The key problem, however, is not that students are abandoning their faith in mass, but that their faith has little impact on their lives.

How Do We Minister to This Generation?

Here are some humble thoughts based upon Souls In Transition and my personal experience.

1. Begin young. According to Smith, the vast majority of those who have ever committed their lives to God did so before age 14. The old paradigm that we must reach students by high school graduation is passé. In fact, the worldview of young people is largely shaped even before they enter junior high.

2. Teach doctrine. By the emerging adult years 1 in 13 evangelicals do not believe in Heaven. And nearly one-third does not believe that Heaven is for those whose sins are forgiven by Jesus (123). Between 40-44 percent of those who were evangelical teenagers believe it is okay to pick and choose from different religious faiths (137). Here’s why beliefs mater: One factor highly associated with religious believers who maintain their faith into adulthood is having believed in divine miracles as a teenager. Those who believe in miracles as a teenager are more likely to resist secular modern assumptions that pervade the university. Worldview training does matter in helping young people remain in the faith.

3. Connect doctrine to life. About two-thirds of emerging adults believe that Jesus was the Son of God who was raised from the dead (121). Yet clearly, the majority of emerging adults are not living in the power of the resurrection (Phil 3:10). What’s gone wrong? The problem is that religious beliefs are seen as having no connection to real life. Religious claims are considered subjective preferences that help people to be good. This is why my dad and I recently wrote “The Unshakable Truth” (Harvest House, 2010). Our goal was to connect doctrine to real life. What’s the point of teaching doctrine that doesn’t affect how we treat God, others, and ourselves? Doctrine is critical, but it is not enough. Even Satan has correct beliefs.

4. Model biblical living. One of the deeply held beliefs of emerging adults is that religion is personal and ought to be privatized. They simply have not seen adults live out a biblical worldview in which faith pervades the entirety of one’s life. This is precisely what Moses encouraged the Israelites to do in the famous passage of Deuteronomy 6:4: “Repeat them [biblical truths] to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Teach and apply biblical truth to everything! God is to be the focus of our entire lives, and we are to teach this to young people at every opportunity. Recently, I’ve been having morning devotions with my 6-year old son. We make hot chocolate in the morning and read our Bibles together. It’s fun, easy, and a great way for us to connect.

There is certainly no guarantee to helping a young person stay in the faith. But as Souls in Transition points out, there are some critical steps that give us the best opportunity of seeing kids succeed.

The Doctrine Debate

Sean McDowell — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:46:13 -0700

Doctrine is under attack. You initial response might be, “Of course it is, heretics have been challenging the foundations of the church since its inception!” But there is a powerful difference regarding the challenges of today: not only are particular doctrines under attack (e.g. the Trinity, the incarnation, Hell, the inerrancy of Scriptures), but the idea of doctrine itself is increasingly being considered antiquated, irrelevant, and downright divisive. And these challenges are not only from outside the church, but from inside as well.

In God’s Word, true knowledge of Jesus Christ is what brings transformation: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Eternal salvation depends upon believing accurately in Christ: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life…” (John 6:40). We recognize false prophets because they deny a key doctrine about Jesus, namely, that He came in the flesh (1 John 4:2). And Paul’s encouragement to Titus is to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9). Biblically and historically speaking it is difficult to underestimate the importance of right doctrine.

WHY DOCTRINE MATTERS
As a youth worker, I can hardly think of anything more important that helping young people see God and the Scriptures accurately. The reason is simple: our view of God affects how we relate to God and others. Wrong doctrine has consequences.

For instance, lacking a biblical perspective on Heaven sets many young people up for discouragement and sin. In the minds of many youth Heaven is like a dull, uninspiring church service. Most of them think there are certain pleasures that if they don’t experience them now, they may never. Since God will forgive them, why not indulge now? This is why Randy Alcorn says that some of Satan’s favorite lies are about Heaven, for Satan knows that if we truly understood the reality of Heaven, it would radically transform our present lives. We would have far more resolve and boldness if we understood and embraced the biblical doctrine of Heaven.

The total American missionary force has decreased substantially over the past 50 years. Albert Mohler believes the reason is that inclusivism and pluralism have seeped their way into the church: “At base, the issue is a failure of theological nerve—a devastating loss of biblical and doctrinal conviction…” If salvation can be found apart from Christ, then why have a sense of urgency concerning the lost?

Given the importance of doctrine, it is distressing how biblically illiterate many Christians have become. In the “National Study of Youth and Religion” sociologist Christian Smith revealed that of conservative Protestant youth 23 percent are not assured of the existence of miracles, 33 percent maybe or definitely believe in reincarnation, and 41 percent disagree with the statement that people should practice only one faith. Smith concludes: “For a tradition that has so strongly emphasized in infallibility or inerrancy of the Bible, the exclusive claims of conservative Christianity, and the need for a personal commitment of one’s life to God, some of these numbers are astounding.” And according to Smith, the problem lies at the feet of the church: “Our distinct impression is that very many religious congregations and communities of faith in the United States are failing rather badly in religious engaging and educating their youth.”

RIGHT CREEDS, RIGHT DEEDS
Right doctrine should never be about simply being right. Rather, the point of right doctrine is always right relationships. Perfect doctrine without love is worthless. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” After all, even the demons had pretty good theology (James 2:19). Orthodoxy (right belief) is meant to lead to orthopraxy (right practice). As my pastor puts it, “Right creeds lead to right deeds.”

Paul regularly makes the connection between doctrine and practice. For example, in his letter to the Ephesians Paul spends the first three chapters (1-3) explaining what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ. Then he spends the final three chapters (4-6) telling us how we should live in light of that truth. A similar pattern is found in both Colossians and Romans. But there is one key difference in Romans: Paul spends eleven chapters on doctrine and five on application. The emphasis should be clear.

Though I do not agree with his philosophy of pragmatism, one insight of William James has practical importance for our teaching of doctrine. James says for any idea we should always ask, “What difference does it make?” If it makes no existential difference to the way we live whether it is true or false, then according to James, we should not bother with it. When teaching doctrine we should be regularly asking, “So what?” How does belief in the Trinity affect my relationship to myself, to others, and to God? How does belief in the sovereignty of God influence my view of the future? How does the incarnation affect my self-image? Much of the problem today is not with doctrine per se, but with our failure to connect doctrine to real life.

THE DOCTRINE DIFFERENCE
Numerous national studies conducted by pollsters such as The Gallup Organization, the Barna Group, and the Josh McDowell Ministry have revealed that the lives of Christians are largely indistinguishable from non-Christians. When it comes to divorce, materialism, and cohabitation, Christians differ only slightly from non-Christians (if at all). Fortunately, this is not the entire story.

George Barna makes a distinction between “Born-again Christians without a biblical worldview” and “Born-again Christians with a biblical worldview.” Those without a biblical worldview have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is important to their life and believe they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus as Savior.

The criterion for Christians with a biblical worldview, on the other hand, is much more stringent. In addition to the aforementioned beliefs, they also hold that the Bible is the moral standard of absolute truth that is completely accurate in all its teachings and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who still rules the universe. Barna has found that only 9 percent of born-again adults and 2 percent of born-again youth have a biblical worldview.

For those who question the importance of doctrine, it may come as a surprise that Christians with a biblical worldview live radically different than the world. Forty-nine percent volunteered more than an hour to an organization serving the poor, whereas only 29 percent of born-again Christians without a biblical worldview and 22 percent of non-born-again Christians have done so. They are nine times more likely than all others to avoid “adult only” material on the Internet. They are twice as likely not to watch a movie specifically because it contained objectionable material and four times as likely to boycott objectionable products and companies.

In The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, Ron Sider relates the importance of these findings to correct doctrine: “Barna’s findings on the different behavior of Christians with a biblical worldview underline the importance of theology. Biblical orthodoxy does matter. One important way to end the scandal of contemporary Christian behavior is to work and pray fervently for the growth of orthodox theological belief in our churches.”

ISN’T DOCTRINE DIVISIVE?
In previous articles for the Christian Research Journal, Norman Geisler distinguished between essential and non-essential doctrines of the Christian faith. In terms of making salvation possible, essential doctrines include: (1) human depravity, (2) Christ’s virgin birth, (3) Christ’s sinlessness, (4) Christ’s deity, (5) Christ’s humanity, (6) God’s unity, (7) God’s triunity, (8) the necessity of God’s grace, (9) the necessity of faith, (10) Christ’s atoning death, (11) Christ’s bodily resurrection, (12) Christ’s bodily ascension, (13) Christ’s present high priestly service, (14) Christ’s second coming, final judgment (Heaven and Hell), and reign. Geisler makes three critical observations relevant to our discussion. First, the essential doctrines are the foundation for our unity. Second, the essential doctrines distinguish true Christianity from cultic spin-offs. Third, the only truths Christians should divide over are non-essential doctrines. The third point is most important for our purposes: the essential doctrines are non-negotiable for followers of Christ and are matters of which we should divide.

There is a trend in the church today to elevate unity above truth. Many are willing to set aside essential doctrines for the sake of harmony. While unity is a prime virtue for the body of Christ, it should not come at the expense of truth. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did emphasize the importance of peace-making, but he was not afraid to criticize false teaching—calling his followers to “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves“(Matthew 7:15). Jesus saw the value in dividing over essential doctrine, because it saves people from the consequences of false teaching.

I find it quite ironic that some churches today have divided over the matter of whether churches should divide over doctrine! With further irony, the claim that Christians should not divide over doctrine is itself a doctrine. There is no way for a shared community to avoid having doctrinal beliefs. Community requires a shared set of ideas taken as authoritative. Even those who claim that doctrine should not be emphasized have their own authority claims that rule their particular communities.

True unity comes not when we sacrifice sound doctrine, but when we focus on the core truths of the gospel. Thus, the real question is not if we teach doctrine but what doctrines do we teach, how do we teach them, and do we live them out in relationships. For the sake of our youth and the vitality of the church, we must not cave into the pressure to stop teaching doctrine. The proper response to the attack on doctrine is not retreat, but to march forward with even greater resolve, unity, and love.

—Sean McDowell