The Bible is the truth, except the parts that aren't palatable to me, which I try to explain away or make more acceptable.
The Reality
God doesn't need us to apologize for Him. He needs us to approach His word with humility and honesty, even (or especially?) the parts that we don't find as agreeable as the "love your neighbor" stuff.
I'm a pretty big fan of Francis Chan. I admire him in this video for taking an extremely transparent and uncommonly honest approach to the discussion of Hell, and his faith in general.
Why It Matters
God doesn't need us to make Him more presentable or acceptable. He needs us to recognize our subservience to Him, and accept the fact that we only see a small part of the picture. And, as Francis says, there are certain things that we can not afford to get wrong.
I haven't read the book yet, but I plan on reading it in the near future. For anyone concerned that this video is just a commerical for Francis Chan's book, with the intent of making him rich, consider this:
"Chan gives away about 90 percent of his income ... Chan doesn't take a salary from his church, and he has donated all of his book royalties, which total about $500,000 to various charities. Much of it goes to organizations which rescue sex slaves in foreign countries." - Christianity Today, October 2009
I admire Francis Chan, and I completely agree with his general position in this video. I've said very similar things myself, and I would still say them.
ReplyDeleteBut when I ask questions about eternal torment, I'm not questioning God. I'm questioning whether what I've been told about God is true. I'm questioning whether I've understood the Bible correctly.
Of course, that adds more questions. You know my love of history, so it matters to me what the apostles' churches of the 2nd century said about eternal torment. It would be a big deal to me to disagree with them on eternal torment because I suspect they knew not only the Scriptures but apostolic preaching as well.
The point, though, is that as I ask those questions, I am not questioning God. I am questioning whether I have understood God and his words correctly.
Yeah, I don't think he's saying not to ask questions about it... in fact, I'm pretty sure he's saying the opposite. I think what he's saying is that we need to make sure we figure out what God is actually saying, and that once we know what He is saying, we shouldn't question Him. If God is saying something harsh, then we shouldn't try to make it sound like He's saying something gentle, nor try to explain it away.
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