Is Hell Real?

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That’s a very good question, and one we are going to wrestle with together today as we wrap up our teaching series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions. A significant percentage of the country believes in Heaven. A significant percentage of the country, on the other hand, don’t believe in Hell. They can’t imagine that they’ve done anything sufficiently wrong to warrant their being set on fire and burned for all eternity. Yet while the imagery of Hell we find in the Scriptures is certainly uncomfortable, uncomfortable language doesn’t make the doctrine itself false. Let’s struggle through this question and see how the existence of Hell, far from making God a tyrant, actually elevates His love and justice even further.

Is Hell Real?

Almost 20 years ago, former Vice President Al Gore released a documentary movie about climate change whose title introduced a phrase into the public lexicon that has never left since. The film was called, An Inconvenient Truth. The idea was that Gore was presenting the public with a whole bunch of information about the state of the climate that was true even if we didn’t want it to be. Whether you happen to agree with anything he said or not, the movie undeniably made a huge impact on western culture. (It also made Gore exceedingly wealthy.) Also, whether you happen to agree with his position on that particular issue or not, it is nonetheless the case that there are some things that are true whether or not we want them to be true. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 5:8

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“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(CSB – Read the chapter)

I occasionally get things wrong. Okay, let’s be more honest than that. Occasionally I blow it. Okay, fine, scratch that “occasionally.” I screw up a lot. Sometimes this happens in ways that are small and insignificant. Others are big and bold. Some of these are public where anyone can see them. A whole lot more are things known only to my heart and mind and borne by my soul alone. No matter what form or fashion these happen to take, though, one thing is consistent throughout: God’s love never changes or wavers. Today, I am grateful for this unbelievable truth.

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Morning Musing: Proverbs 18:22

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“A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
— ‭‭(CSB – Read the chapter)

My bride and I have been watching a show lately about living in Alaska. It came out several years ago when shows featuring all things Alaskan were so popular. This one chronicles the lives and lifestyles of a collection of people who live near or north of the Arctic Circle. At least two of the ones who get the most attention are single. One is a woman who lives entirely on her own. The other is a guy who lives with only his dogsledding dogs. From the editing, they pretty much do everything for and by themselves. Watching it is a good reminder of another thing I’m thankful on this Thanksgiving day. Today I am thankful for not doing life alone.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 8:26

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“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our weather yesterday was gross most of the day. Today’s not promising to be much better. It wasn’t particularly cold, which was nice, but it was rainy and windy and overcast all day. Then, yesterday afternoon it got foggy out of nowhere. It was the kind of thick pea soup fog you usually only see in the morning except it was at 3:00 in the afternoon. Driving toward on particular intersection, I couldn’t see the traffic signal until I was almost through the intersection itself. It reminded me of another thing in thankful for. Today I’m thankful for not being able to see tragic signals.

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Morning Musing: Acts 2:46

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“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s that time of year again. We are now fully into Thanksgiving week. My guess is that you are already planning your third or fourth trip to the grocery store. You’ve spent most of one paycheck on just the necessities and are working on a second. You’re busy, harried, and tried. And you’re doing all of that for the chance to sit and enjoy some time with family you might want to see…or maybe not. But you do it because tradition – not to mention nostalgia – demands it. Yet lost in the hustle and bustle of this week is often what the day is supposed to be about. Wise leaders of the past called on the country and even established this particular day as one to be set aside for giving our attention to matters of gratitude. That gratitude was specifically intended to be directed toward God, and it will perhaps come as no surprise that I think that’s the best direction for it, but gratitude of any kind is good for the soul. So, this week, instead of our regularly scheduled programming, we’re going to take a bit of time each day to do just that. And today, to get us started, I’m thankful for a noisy room.

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