"I Cannot possibly be Wrong, because I'm always Right."

I question any human institution that believes it is right on the basis that it is always above critique. Why is it that people put themselves into this category when they're on the outside looking into religion? They cannot accept criticism. They like to investigate the idea of a higher power, but get tweaked if they find themselves at odds against God. By the way, even many churches will constructively criticize themselves based on scripture. But what do most nonreligious use? They can't possibly be wrong because they're always right. They can't bear religion or else they'd have to admit their whole life is going the wrong way.

A lot of religions have been made to validate man's sins. When you find a god that doesn't challenge or humble you, perhaps you have fashioned your own god out of your own image. Or you have simply made a god out of yourself? I guess that is just two ways of saying the same thing. But I think this is exemplified in the common confession, "I am spiritual but not religious." Isn't this just another way of saying, "I believe in a higher truth but there isn't any standard of truth, except for myself?"

Where do people get these ideas? It's like this secret knowledge or gnosticism. Nobody wants to stand for truth or else they might offend someone. If you want to find truth, prepare to be offended. The world is bigger than yourself. Furthermore, God is bigger than yourself. So get over yourself.

End rant.

Of course this is a gross over generalization. But I find it true in many circumstances, even within myself. Sometimes you just gotta call people on it.

Some Initial Thoughts on Hell.

Hell is a tragic place. Nobody likes to talk about it. I don't even much less like to write about it. However, Hell isn't just an opinion.

It's much easier to accept the existence of a heaven than a hell. And perhaps that might be a good starting place with people who are not Christians: When God creates a new heaven and a new earth. That is what redemption is about. However, there is a difficulty that the Bible doesn't give much of a description of Heaven. But on the flip side, Heaven concerns itself with who is there, and life, and joy.

Our experience here on earth is between final and ultimate judgment. And sure, many religions may not claim a final and ultimate judgment. But regardless, if anyone is honestly investigating religion, death is going to be a serious issue to consider. Death comes to us all.

In the beginning, in the garden of Eden, when God commanded Adam and Eve "you must not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" he added the law "that when you eat of it you shall surely die." But what happened? Adam and Eve were still there walking around trying to justify themselves. Did they not die?

When the body dies, it doesn't disappear. It breaks down and begins to putrefy. It stinks. The same is with the soul. The soul doesn't cease to exist. It breaks down. It stinks in your mouth, in your filthy language, lies, deceit and corrupts you. It begins to putrefy. Sure you might be civilly good (for the most part). But when it comes down to it, your whole life and person is decaying. You are dead.

God has created us as eternal creatures. If we remain in sin, we continue to break down, even after physical death, and into the garbage heap of the "after life" which is called Hell. This stench isn't merely a reality of the after life. Today, you are dead in sin, and the corruption of body and soul ultimately gets worse. Death is gross and it plagues you now.

So what do you do? Drop dead to yourself. Stop walking around trying to justify yourself.

Dropping dead is repentance. It's letting go of your works to justify yourself and letting God redeem you in Christ Jesus. You have nothing, God is everything. So let go of yourself and let Christ be your all.

Religion that is man made refuses to repent. It has all these man made philosophies, ideologies and isms that excuse you to remain in sin. Repentance is unnatural to us. We want to cling to whatever life we have with our own strength and will. We want to do what we want, when we want. But in reality you are hanging on to your own rotting death. Repentance is what we need. Repentance is seeing yourself with the eyes of God and turning to him in his life.

Man made religion thinks we can repent on our own and stop sinning on our own. Liberal religion thinks we don't need to repent. Yet all man made religions either want you to continue as you are, or think you just need to repent a little. Either way, you still continue as you are in sin. Hell shows that we need to repent every bit. Every bit is corrupted.

Sin isn't merely a bunch of isolated, singular things we do. It is a symptom of who we are by nature of the heart. Our whole life is of sin. Sin is a condition of our attitude and orientation to God. Plural sins are merely outward manifestations of the sin diseased heart. You cannot fight the disease by fending off the symptoms. It can't be cured by stopping them or trying to cover them up. So stop walking around trying to justify yourself. Sin is fatal.

This is what redemption is all about. Saving us from sin, death, and the devil who would ultimately want us to corrupt eternally in Hell. Redemption brings us back to God. This is what true religion is about, true redemption, true repentance, being born again with new hearts, saying "thanks be to God, who gave us Christ, declared us dead in his death, and raises us alive with his life."

Repenting in Christ is letting Christ be our life. We look forward to the day when there will be no sin amongst us, and when we have new bodies. But when we do sin, we confess it is dealt with in Christ. This is why the devil doesn't mind preaching straight up morality. No one can morally purify themselves, and we are still left in sin. But Christ takes them away in his atoning sacrifice. It is not about self-help, but about help from above. Repentance isn't necessarily about never sinning again. But it is about seeing sin for what it is, seeing ourselves and thinking, Why do I keep doing that? Am I an idiot? And thereby clinging to Christ in faith in his grace. Romans 7.

Hell, is an important topic in the scheme of salvation. And I think as Christians we often short change unbelievers when we dance around it. But when you include everything in context it is much more compelling.

To paraphrase GK Chesterton: "Church and Tradition is the truest democracy."

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father. I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea. We will have the dead at our councils. The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross."

Scoffing at the Ancients

To scoff at ideas merely as "ancient" doesn't deal with the idea itself. Neither does it exercise any intellect. It supposes that because we are further down the corridors of time that we are inherently smarter. This is nothing other than "chronological snobbery" as C.S. Lewis has coined the term. Really, it is no argument at all.

BTW, I wonder if Lewis was piggy backing on Chesterton.

Luther Quote:

"I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self."

Interpreting Scripture.

Interpreting scripture can sometimes be hard. Especially since we still deal with our sinful nature, and it likes to take hold of the words and make it say what it wants to say. Our sinful nature never wants deal with repentance. But living in the Spirit, the Scriptures keep us in check. At times the devil wants to tempt us, did God really say? Did God really mean it? It worked on Eve, and it works on us.

Whenever I use to come across a hard passage in scripture, I didn't want to believe it. I'd pray about it, then try to think of every possible way to make the Bible say the opposite. Sometimes I'd feel really good when I thought I made an insightful discovery. Aren't I so clever? I thought that feeling must be the Holy Spirit. In fact, I must be right, because it feels so assuring!

However, my method turns scripture into play dough. I build with it what I want to build. Feelings are great when I truly see the scriptures for what they are, and I come to conclusions legitimately. But feelings themselves don't make an interpretation legitimate. If I have philosophical explanations and rational deductions as the content of the message then I am dodging the words. I have put myself as a master over scripture. Does the Bible really need my help? Am I smarter than the Bible?

"That's impossible," is never a viable excuse to ignore scripture. Do I use my reason or God's reason? Who am I to say what is impossible with God, especially when the issue is with God's word? The matter is one of exegesis or eisegesis. Am I drawing out God's truth from the text, or am I reading my own ideas into it? Sometimes "damage control" ends up causing more damage. If I violate the perspicuity of scripture, I am only muddying something that is intended to be clear. Just some things to remind myself when answering the question, Did God really say?

If at times it doesn't appear to be clear, what do I do?

Well, what does the Church teach? Ideally, the Church has all the right teaching. But in reality, churches can and do err. But at the same time, scripture and the church go together. The Church is way older than me, and has way more people than just me. The Bible is a community book. That is the best start. Two heads are better than one. I don't have to reinvent the wheel all by myself.

Easy

It's easy to doubt. It's especially easy to doubt if you tell it to yourself long enough. It's also easier to believe God when he repeats himself. I'm glad God is always speaking to me in the Bible, Church and friends. It helps me shut up.