Comments on: Hell is Intersecting Earth: A Sermon on Hell

By: Jordan

Jordan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:31:36 +0000

Really enjoyed this, Nathan! I honestly didn’t know (or really consider) the variation and meanings of terms in the Bible that were translated to mean ‘hell’ as we understand the term. The Gehena one was especially interesting to me. All that lake of fire business we hear so much about so often. I always wondered myself if our traditional Christian view of hell as an eternal punishment (demons with pokers) was in some small way influenced by mythology…that is to say, mythological, pagan views imposed on scripture throughout time (sheol translated to ‘hades’ brought bout many a mythological understanding of the reality of hell, I’d assume. Unfortunately, it seems to have morphed into a model we actually accept!). Seems to me that it’s more of a stew of mental images from flawed translations, power plays by religious authority, and plain old ignorance. Definitely has gotten me thinking.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:43:51 +0000

Hey, your post on hell is longer than my post on hell I just made this week: http://jonjourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-scripture-say-hell-is-eternal.html

I’m pretty sure we’ve broken some blogging rules here… not sure what eternal blogging punishment we’ll receive yet.

I repent for my lengthy post… and I repent I didn’t read all of your’s… it looked like a good read tho.

I’ll check out some of your other posts next… from Canada too eh?

By: elnellis

elnellis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:30:41 +0000

thanks for posting this nathan. it was a well-researched sermon that stimulated my heart and mind. i definitly feel moved to keep thinking and learning more so that i can unlearn so much of what i have been taught and assumed to be true about hell.
your community is blessed to have you teaching.

By: Brian Buckley

Brian Buckley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:19:36 +0000

I especially like the section about those that buy into the cycle of ongoing retribution – if you buy into it, you must not believe in a God that will put everything right. Great post.

By: Nathan Colquhoun

Nathan Colquhoun — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:23:46 +0000

Danny, thanks for the comment.

When I say God was willing to die so we didn’t have to I mean he suffered the penalty and the inevitable end to our sin. He accomplished a specific role that I cannot accomplish through my death. This in no way is insinuating that we still don’t have to die to ourselves daily. We follow Christ to his death.

By: Danny Kam

Danny Kam — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:18:37 +0000

Thank you for posting this. It is very difficult to find even-handed remarks on hell using scripture. The last quote form Maundet summarizes it very well. We are often looking for one black and white answer (to the point where we will ignore other biblical voices that disagree with us).

The only thing I disliked was this line, “We serve a God that was willing to die so we didn’t have to.” I don’t think this correlates with what you talked about, and I also think that Christ died in such a way that we would also die. Christ’s death, his giving up his life, is always and will always be a model for the Christian. He died so that we can also die.

I really liked your commentary on surpassing the righteousness of the pharisees. It was quite good and quite on point. Thanks so much for sharing this.