So I got to see the documentary “Hell Bound” last night. The Director, Producer, an atheist from the Centre for Enquiry and a christian who has written a book “proving” that satan doesn't exist were on a panel taking questions after the movie was finished.
Very interesting evening.
The premise of course is
. “Everyone will be saved.”
. The traditional idea of eternal torment is not Biblical.
. A loving God would never do something like that because as many, many atheists have pointed out, including the one last night, “Eternal torment for temporal sins is way out of proportion. It doesn't make sense.”
Regarding eternal punishment being out of proportion, my first thought was,
Seez who?
From our Creator's perspective rejecting Him and / or denying His existence may be so great an offence that even an eternity of torment won't begin to do it justice. From the perspective of a Creator who IS Love, perhaps the hoarding of wealth as thousands starve to death every single day is a crime worthy of eternal torment.
By the end of the evening, my head was about to explode with all the thoughts I was trying to save till I got home and could write them down. I'd gone with our Pastor who raised a very important point. I wished he had raised it at the question and answer portion of the evening. He wondered if this opposition to the concept of eternal torment is a North American phenomenon. I'm sure it is. I doubt very much if persecuted Christians in the Sudan or other parts of Africa, the Middle East and China sit around wondering if there will be Justice after death. It's exactly the same with North American atheists and Christians who struggle with a God of Love who allows suffering, loss and pain. Christians in parts of the world where there really is suffering and persecution don't waste time rejecting a God of love because life sometimes turns to crap.
Atheists, on the other hand appear hyper-allergic to pain and suffering. If you pay attention, you'll see that those who complain the most and the loudest about God allowing the suffering of humanity (atheists) are also those who most often experience the least suffering. At first glance you might mistake this wailing and moaning about the seeming injustice of life to mean that atheists actually care about people. Some do, of course, although statistically we see that if “caring about” is measured by the behaviours of “caring for,” atheists pretty much take care of number one. Yes, I know there are exceptions, and if you're an atheist you probably consider yourself to be one of them. Not because you actually do something for the suffering but because you think about doing something for the suffering.
What's more, if you listen more closely, you'll find that atheists aren't actually complaining about the suffering masses. Instead they're complaining about God allowing any suffering at all to exist.
Isn't that just like atheists? Twisting everything around so they can complain about the God they don't believe in; the God they say they never think about? Atheists sit at their computers in their temperature controlled homes, howling about the injustice and insensitivity of God.
All the while those who have never seen a computer and who sleep on a dirt floor in some hut, or who sleep on the cold damp concrete floor of their atheist jailer's cell, bask in God's love and mercy and grace. It's not amputees who screech at God. It's perfectly healthy atheists who shake their fists at God on behalf of amputees.
So whether or not you think Jesus is a liar when He speaks of the reality of Hell, life goes on – I guess.
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