These are interesting religious times in America. As I officiated a funeral yesterday, communicating hope and comfort to a roomful of people unacquainted with God, I was reminded of the peculiar era we find ourselves in as a country. If there ever was a time where we needed churches thinking differently, courageously and contextually it is now.

What are your thoughts?

Are you concerned?

It is old news?

How should we respond appropriately?

Last night we had a great time at doubt :: night. We wanted to provide some intention to the evening – but little structure (we were more interested in creating space for conversation rather than host a program) and the evening seemed to flow well. It was so energizing. I love being around courageous questioners…

Last night, almost 40 people showed up at the bar that we had rented for an intentional, but laid-back conversation regarding our doubts and questions about life, faith, Jesus, church, God and the Bible. It was a great group of people – and a comfortable size group, too. Lots of good, healthy discussion. There were about ten people who showed up that I did not know and/or who were not professing followers of Christ.

My friend Brian, who I met several months ago at a Starbucks and who has a New Age worldview showed up. He emailed me today and told me that he loved it, he wants to come back and to “keep up the good work.”

It was a healthy mix of people – men and women, 40-somethings and college students. Believers. Doubters. Christian Universalists. New Agers. Agnostics.

We got several great questions. Some raised their hands and shared, others wished to remain anonymous and write them out on index cards and turn them in. We didn’t get through all the questions (we didn’t expect to) but we had some good ones:

• Who determines where truth resides when comparing the Bible to the Koran?
• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• What about the non-Christians I know who live better moral lives than other Christians? Why should Christians go to heaven if others are more kind, compassionate and loving?
  
• How could a good God send people to hell?
• How do we know that there is a heaven and a hell?
• Today’s research seems to prove certain events in the Bible didn’t happen as described. Is that a problem for the belief in the credibility of the Bible?
• Where is God?
• Are our choices predetermined ahead of time?
  
• Who determines who goes to heaven?
• What about homosexuals?
• Can I consider myself a Christian if I question most things about it?
• How do we get to the point of having faith in the first place?
• Why are church leaders of all denominations choosing parts of the Bible to take literally and not others (example: women preaching, homosexuals, etc)?

Great, great questions that are worth the time and thought and energy to wrestle with.

At the end of the evening I asked people if this was worth doing again and if so, how often. Once a year? Once a quarter? Once every other month? Once a month? I was surprised by the amount of people who strongly desired to see doubt :: night occur once a month. So, it looks like we’ll be hosting another event some time in March. Stay tuned.

Before we started I met a guy named Dominick – a self described Italian ex-Catholic nihilist. I invited him to the event, telling him it would start in about twenty minutes in the side room if he wanted to join us. He told us that we wouldn’t want someone like him because he doubts that God exists. I told him that doubt :: night was hosted for people like him. He said that I didn’t understand him: he actually tries to convince people to doubt God and the Bible. And I said, all the more reason for him to join us for the event!

He didn’t join us, but he caught me afterward and asked how it went and what questions were asked. He told me he was intoxicated. For the next 45 minutes he talked my ear off about philosophy, religion and nihilism – the belief that there really isn’t anything to live for. You just die and that’s it. “Kinda like television,” he said. “When you turn it off, its done.” He told me he had read the Bible from cover to cover, as well as the Satanic Bible – and he highly recommended that I read the Satanic Bible because it had some interesting insights in it! He told me this is the first time that he had talked to a Christian about his nihilistic worldview without being judged and was interested in talking some more. We swapped numbers and will be hanging out some time in the near future.

Being around skeptics and questioners, doubters and cynics is something that excites me. It was refreshing to have a roomful of people admit their doubts and want to wrestle with them like Jacob did with God on the banks of the Jabbock River in Genesis. The entire evening I was reminded of a few characters in Scripture who doubted God. Job, who was obedient but doubted often. David, who wrote many of the Psalms. Some praising God for his goodness…and oftentimes the next psalm wondering where God is and if He even cares. (This being a man that God said was after His own heart!) The father in the book of Mark who had a sick son who asked Jesus to heal him and said to Jesus: “I believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

I hope and pray that we learn to be more courageous with our questions and we continue to build relationships with the doubters and the skeptics and the cynics who are intrigued by Jesus, but turned off by what they have seen in other Christians and churches.

I remember a time a few years ago in Colorado Springs when I saw a "Christian" who was picketing, holding a sign that said, Burn in Hell
Sinners as he yelled venomous messages of hatred to passersby on the
street, justifying it by saying that the prophets of old spoke of
destruction and ruin and so should we.
"Aren't we to call people to repentance?" he shot back at me when I had asked him why he was doing this and if he thought it was effective.
"Hell is about repentance!" he said confidently.
This is why the world knows more about what Christianity is against than what it is for.

Ever done a study on the word "hell" in the Scriptures? The past few weeks I've been doing a word study on it.

I'm not sure why I have never done a word study on hell before. Maybe its because I've always believed in the fact that there is a hell – ultimately believing that it is eternal separation from the presence of God Almighty. But I've also been embarrassed by the ways that Christians have abused, misinterpreted and misrepresented hell.

As I was doing this study I had the image of this picketer in my mind's eye.
What I found during this study surprised me.
Here's what I found…

Euphemism for Hell: Sometimes when Jesus taught he used a euphemism for hell, which he
described as a place where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Jesus used that euphemism six times in Matthew (8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13;
24:51 and 25:30) and one time in Luke (13:28). Each of those times were
when he was telling stories – and almost entirely when speaking to his
disciples.

One of the biblical words for hell is gahenna, which refers to the
Hinnom Valley just outside of the city walls in Jerusalem. When I
studied for a semester in Israel I spent many an afternoon running
around barefoot in the lush grass playing Ultimate Frisbee with other
students.It's a beautiful park today, but thousands of years ago it was an awful place. Absolutely awful.

The Hinnom Valley was said to be a place where trash and refuse was
taken outside of the city and where there were fires burning at all
times. It was also at this place where pagans went and sacrificed their
infant children in this valley to the gods, specfically the god Molech
as an act of worship – a detestable place! Shouts and screams and
shrieks would come from this valley, as one would only imagine in
seeing and hearing infants sacrificed and thrown into fire by their own
parents!Historians recorded that wild animals would wander around eating the remains. It was said that these wild animals would gnash their teeth together as they would wander around looking for food.

A place of fire…where there is weeping…and gnashing of teeth. The Valley of (ben) Hinnom. Check out these references to the Hinnom Valley in the Old Testament. When Jesus used the phrase "weeping and gnashing of teeth" it would have drudged up horrific images in the minds of those Jewish listeners who knew exactly what he was referring to… Jesus intended to make a graphic, detestable point that turned the stomachs of those who were in earshot.

Other words for hell: In addition to the Hinnom Valley or gahenna, there are other words that have been used for hell. One is the Old Testament word sheol (translated in the Revised Version as "lowest pit," "pit" or "grave" and found many times in Genesis, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy and the Psalms). Another word used for hell has been hades.

Explicit mention of hell in the New Testament: Explicitly, hell is mentioned only fourteen times in the Bible [twelve times by Jesus in the gospels - Matthew (7), Mark (3), Luke (2) - and once in both James and 2 Peter].

Here is the context around each of those fourteen references of hell:

Reflections on the explicit mention of hell: Here are some conclusions that can be drawn from the passages I just listed.

-when Jesus spoke about hell he used it mostly to teach and instruct (nine times he used it to teach as a rabbi to his disciples) not to rebuke or call people to repentance.
-he uses it in story format when talking to the religious experts
-He was most emotional around the religious. The only time he talks about hell when ripping on people was with the most religious people in the land – the Pharisees.
And finally – catch this – Jesus never mentions hell to those who are irreligious.
Not once. Yeah, seriously. Look it up.

Not to the women caught in adultery, nor the woman at the well. Not the lepers. Not to Zacchaeus nor the other oppressive tax collectors eating at his house. Not to the man who cut himself, lived in a cave and was demon-possessed. Jesus spoke about hell only around those who are religious; those who thought they had their act together, who were striving to have all of their religious ducks in a row, who dotted their spiritual i's, who carefully minded their moral p's and q's.

Which has some seriously implications for those of us who are attempting to follow in the ways – and The Way – of Jesus and raises many questions regarding how we speak of hell to those who are far from God.

Makes me want to say to the picketing guy on the street who thinks he is doing something that honors God: put your sign away.

All this makes me believe that we might need to rethink our approach to hell.
Do I believe there is a hell?

Of course.

Do I think we need to be soft on repentance or we need to shy away from it because its politically incorrect?

No, but I do think that we need to understand our context and communicate the message of Jesus that gives a clear and accurate portrayal of who he was – with compassion and truthfulness.

But do I believe that as Christians that we need to rethink our approach to this topic?

Hell yes.

Give Me A Story
you want a statement to sum up the mission of God
go ahead
find your statement
make one up to help you
feel secure inside your safety cage of words
belted in by cords of cliches
locked up by logos lifted from sunday school memories

but give me a story
give my friends a story
so that they are not sentenced to meaningless lives

dont give me a story that I can easily believe in
give me a script that I struggle to understand
that stretches my faith,
that demands life insurance
give me a story that will rip me from my career
and pummel me into a quest beyond my capabilities
i need something worth dying for
i have most of my life left to give
but I need a story worthy of my investment

give me a story that I can touch
and smell
a story with real people
a story with a face.
a story with my face
my role
my place
my script
because I am
preselected to be a player
in this story that rolls its plot out in front of me
likearunawaycarpetunravellingfasterthanicanrun
in more directions than I can predict
in more colors than I can comprehend
a story that woos out my potential
and calls me
out of myself
to be who I really am

give me A story
give me THE story
give me MY story

tell me that God is bigger than you
BIGGER than your statements of ink
BIGGER than your powerpoint animations
than your projections of numbers
that make you impressed
but that make God stoop

give me a story that
makes me gloriously
a l i v e
to the purpose of God
makes me run without breath to keep up with His spirit
and at the same time
inviting me to
dance slowly
erotically
with
God
in an
end
les
s

m
o
m
e
n
t

of warm passion
nesting me in peace
and safety

tell me the story in new words
so that I dont trip over lame phrases of impotence
so that my mind does not vanillarize
over trivial expressions
used mindlessly by millions
who use words to steal mystery
from a transcendent God
who speaks freshly
with new mercies every morning
!surprises!
that awaken me from sleep mode
that spark in me new thoughts
dreams of impossible feats
daring adventures
miracles of the Almighty
performed by the hands
and prayers
of backstreet
backstage
people
in goodwill rags

you want a statement?

go ahead
i dare ya
double-dare ya
to box up The Omnipotent
to catch the Spirit of God
to nail the Son
on a cross-word puzzle

go ahead and try
but I wont hold my breath
and you wont hold the mission of God on a bumper sticker

I'll post some personal highlights in a little while (stay tuned), but check out this post on the Renew site as we look back on 2008 with gratitude before we look ahead to 2009 with great excitement.

God has been so good.
soli deo gloria.

We now enter into our final week of our Advent preparation. Continue to read along with us as we prepare our hearts for Christ coming to earth!

Monday 12/22: John 1:19-23; Phil 4:4-7
Tuesday 12/23: John 3:27-30; Isaiah 40:9-11
Wednesday 12/24: John 5:36-39
Thursday 12/25: Isaiah 51:3-5
Friday 12/26: Psalm 2:1-9
Saturday 12/27: Isaiah 9:2-3, 6

I carried my (poorly) wrapped box in the mosque (gift-wrapping is one of my spiritual un-gifts) and went into his office. He was very appreciative when he opened it.
Then he said, "What is this for?"

I told him it was a Christmas gift.

He put down the gift down and said, "Can you tell me what Christmas is? Is Christmas a religious holiday in America? What is it about?"

For a second I thought, Is he pulling my leg? I mean, I know he's Muslim but who doesn't know what Christmas is in America??

But he was dead serious.

I told him about Christ's birth, the greatest gift God gave the world and how we give gifts to each other as a reminder of the gift of Jesus that was given to us. I told him its a big deal for Christians, but its been perverted and skewed to become a secular commercial holiday for many people. But it is a very significant time of remembrance and celebration for followers of Jesus.

I said that Christmas is the bookend to Easter – one we celebrate his birth, the other his death.
He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.

"What do you mean that you celebrate Jesus' death?" he asked.

Then I asked him: "Do you know what Easter is?"
Nope.

"Do you know what the cross is?"
Nope.

"Do you know what the Resurrection is?"
Nope.

"Do you know what grace is?"
Nope.

"Have you ever heard of the word 'gospel'?"
Nope.

So, for the next ten minutes I shared the gospel story with Mohammed and he told me he had never heard anything like that before.
He, of course, had heard about the prophet Jesus, but didn't know his story.

I'm sitting there thinking, I live about one mile from Mohammed and this guy didn't know the story of the gospel, or what Christmas was about or the significance of Easter!

I am reminded – and amazed – at how much the world needs to hear the story of the Gospel this Christmas. The opportunities are out there, if we have eyes to see them.

We enter into Week 3 of Advent in preparation of the coming of the Christ child.

Monday 12/15: Matthew 11:7-10
Tuesday 12/16: 1 Cor 4:1-5
Wednesday 12/17: Matthew 11:11-15
Thursday 12/18: 2 Peter 1:19-21; Luke 3:2-6
Friday 12/19: 1 Peter 1:8-11,13
Saturday 12/20: Psalm 50:1-6

As we participate in selected Advent readings together here are the passages for this week:

Monday 12/8: Luke 21:25-28; Psalm 40:1-5
Tuesday 12/9: Romans 15:4, 13
Wednesday 12/10: Luke 12:35-40
Thursday 12/11: Hebrews 10:37-39
Friday 12/12: Luke 17:20-25
Saturday 12/13: James 5:7-10