Can we preach the Gospel if we don't preach an eternal hell?
This question along with a few others were raised in Fr Aidan Kimel's post "Accept Hell? Hell No!"
This question raises a few additional ones concerning our missiological presuppositions:
For example, is Orthodox missiology about getting as many people into heaven and avoiding hellfire? Is the preaching of the Gospel dependent on negative incentives and motivations based on fear?
What about mercy and acts of mercy? Do we do missions or acts of mercy to be obedient to the Law? Do we evangelize in order to conquer the world for Christ? Do we do so to increase Christian Marketshare? Do we do so because such mercy contributes or merits our personal salvation? Do we encounter missions absent of the persons we say we serve, claiming to love Christ in them, but not actually loving them? Do we live our missiological call because of authentic love of the saints who desire that all might know and abide in the Divine Life of the Holy Trinity?
Some might argue that preaching an eternal hell is necessary for the preaching of the Gospel, that without the danger of hellfire or seperation there is no incentive to become Christian.
But what of death? Is not all of what we say is life today, if apart from Christ, not in fact dead? Can mercy be understood as more than just 'works' but rather life eternal, participation in the Divine Life? Can mercy be understood at Theosis?
During the night of Pascha, there is a procession, the Church is shrouded in darkness, in the symbol of death, hades, hell.
But then Christ has decended into hades, has already begun the harrowing, His preaching can be heard, the gates have been shattered. And the Church processes around the Church, standing before the gates of the Church which has been also transformed into hades, such a strange paradox!
And Christ knocks at the door, the Church His Bride knocks, and asks to enter. From the depths, from the heights, a voice cries out asking, who goes there?
And the Gates open, the place of death is now the place of Christ. O Death Where is Thy Sting? Christ is Risen from the dead. Hades is overcome, the Savior has become Sin, has become even unto death, He is ever present...Even if we go to the lowest part of the earth, You O Lord are there!
What does this say about our missiology? What does this say about our Eschatology and Sotierology? What does this say to us who preach a mere pietism or a mechanical moral life? What does this say about our encounter with death?
Lots of Questions and perhaps all we can say is Je Nai Nan, Lord have mercy.
This question along with a few others were raised in Fr Aidan Kimel's post "Accept Hell? Hell No!"
This question raises a few additional ones concerning our missiological presuppositions:
For example, is Orthodox missiology about getting as many people into heaven and avoiding hellfire? Is the preaching of the Gospel dependent on negative incentives and motivations based on fear?
What about mercy and acts of mercy? Do we do missions or acts of mercy to be obedient to the Law? Do we evangelize in order to conquer the world for Christ? Do we do so to increase Christian Marketshare? Do we do so because such mercy contributes or merits our personal salvation? Do we encounter missions absent of the persons we say we serve, claiming to love Christ in them, but not actually loving them? Do we live our missiological call because of authentic love of the saints who desire that all might know and abide in the Divine Life of the Holy Trinity?
Some might argue that preaching an eternal hell is necessary for the preaching of the Gospel, that without the danger of hellfire or seperation there is no incentive to become Christian.
But what of death? Is not all of what we say is life today, if apart from Christ, not in fact dead? Can mercy be understood as more than just 'works' but rather life eternal, participation in the Divine Life? Can mercy be understood at Theosis?
During the night of Pascha, there is a procession, the Church is shrouded in darkness, in the symbol of death, hades, hell.
But then Christ has decended into hades, has already begun the harrowing, His preaching can be heard, the gates have been shattered. And the Church processes around the Church, standing before the gates of the Church which has been also transformed into hades, such a strange paradox!
And Christ knocks at the door, the Church His Bride knocks, and asks to enter. From the depths, from the heights, a voice cries out asking, who goes there?
Christ the King of Glory!
And the Gates open, the place of death is now the place of Christ. O Death Where is Thy Sting? Christ is Risen from the dead. Hades is overcome, the Savior has become Sin, has become even unto death, He is ever present...Even if we go to the lowest part of the earth, You O Lord are there!
What does this say about our missiology? What does this say about our Eschatology and Sotierology? What does this say to us who preach a mere pietism or a mechanical moral life? What does this say about our encounter with death?
Lots of Questions and perhaps all we can say is Je Nai Nan, Lord have mercy.
"Keep thy mind in hell and despair not" + St Silouan
"For if he were not looking for the resurrection of those fallen, it would have been utterly foolish to pray for the departed. But since he was looking to the reward of splendor laid up for those who repose in godliness, it was a holy and godly purpose. Thus he made atonement for the fallen, so as to set them free from their transgression." + 2 Maccabes 12:44-45
Accept Hell? Hell No!
http://afkimel.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/accept-hell-hell-no/
“We must accept hell and we must accept that many go there,” declares Fr Dwight Longenecker.
When I first read Fr Longenecker’s two blog articles I was focusing on his pessimism and its relationship to the Latin teaching on efficacious grace. But a few moments ago I re-read the above words, and my heart cried out, NO! We must never accept hell! We must never accept the eternal destruction and punishment of our fellow human beings. NO!
Perhaps Roman Catholics ultimately need to accept this. Given magisterial teaching that the eternal destiny of the soul is established at the moment of death, it’s difficult to entertain the possibility of universal salvation. Wickedness and unbelief seem to reign in the world, as observed by Fr Longenecker. Surely damnation is the just reward for most of us.
But as an Orthodox Christian, I do not accept an eternal hell, will not accept an eternal hell. Every fibre in my being cries out against perdition. The God of Pascha will not allow hell to stand everlastingly. God will be all in all.
Why do Christians so easily accept hell? Why do we need hell? Is it a concern for orthodoxy or spiritual disease that drives us? We read the New Testament, and we are so damned sure we know what the words mean, must mean. How can we believe the gospel if we do not also believe in an eternal hell? How can we preach the gospel, if we do not also preach an eternal hell?
Have you ever loved another? Can you accept the possibility that that person may be condemned to eternal torment and suffering? If you can, then I humbly suggest that you do not yet love as God loves. Olivier Clement once asked Elder Sophrony what would happen if a person does not agree to open his or her heart and accept the love of God. Sophrony replied, “You may be certain that as long as someone is in hell, Christ will remain there with him.”
St Catherine of Siena prayed to her Bridegroom: “How could I ever reconcile myself, Lord, to the prospect that a single one of those whom, like me, you have created in your image and likeness should become lost and slip from your hand.”
The Lord replied: “Love cannot be contained in hell; it would totally annihilate hell; one could more easily do away with hell than allow love to reside in it.”
St Catherine then responded: “If only your truth and your justice were to reveal themselves, then I would desire that there no longer be a hell, or at least that no soul would go there. If I could remain united with you in love while, at the same time, placing myself before the entrance to hell and blocking it off in such a way that no one could enter again, then that would be the greatest of joys for me, for all those whom I love would then be saved.”
