Here Comes the Judge!

He (Jesus) will come again to judge the living and the dead. (The Apostles Creed)

That sounds ominous!

And for many, it is.

Because our view of judges, especially for those of us living in the US, is that of public officials, sitting behind high desks, wearing intimidating robes, banging gavels, passing sentences and pronouncing punishments on wrongdoers.

As a result, our view of judgment is filtered through a punitive or punishment-driven filter.

In essence, punitive justice is punishment that fits the crime; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.

And that’s often what comes to mind when we confess that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead: One day we will all stand before the high court of God, with Jesus on the bench, dressed in a stark robe, passing sentence on those who rejected him, punishing them by sending them to hell, and welcoming those who received him into heaven.

The case for a punitive Judge Jesus goes something like this:

Question: How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?

Answer: It is precisely because God is good that he sends people to hell. God is a fair judge who punishes evil and rewards righteousness.

God is good, so he must be just.

• Goodness and justice are inseparable.

God is just, so he must punish.

• God is a righteous judge who will not ignore evil. Hell is the expression of his just punishment against sin.

• Hell is fair.

In his goodness, God has provided a way to escape hell at great cost to himself.

• Jesus took our punishment (God’s anger) onto himself so that we don’t have to suffer God’s justice.

This view of God assumes that justice is punitive. And since God is just, God must punish.

The starting point for God’s character, then, is God’s anger and wrath. God is hell-bent on punishing our sin so he takes it out on Jesus. Sin must be punished.

Because the foundation of justice is punitive.

Or is it?

What if there is another way to speak of Judge Jesus? What if his justice is not fair? After all, who will stand a chance if Jesus is fair? What if his justice is recklessly unfair (or fair in that it’s recklessly unfair to everyone!), built on the foundation of grace rather than punishment?

Theologian Jurgen Moltmann (In the End—the Beginning: The Life of Hope) raises some challenging questions around our punitive view of God’s justice:

If the judging God is at the centre, no one knows how righteous he or she has to be. Everyone is delivered over to the unknown judgement of God.

If the responsible human being is at the centre, no one knows what future he or she will arrive at, because voluntary human decisions can vacillate.

If the God of wrath is at the centre of judgement, we must despair of God; if the freely deciding human being is at the centre, each of us must despair of him- or herself.

According to both ideas, human beings are really the masters of their own fate, or their own executioners. In both cases the role of God is reduced to that of executor or accomplice of the human being’s free choice. Heaven and hell become religious images which endorse human free will.

The view of a punitive God is a view devoid of hope and good news. It puts all of the pressure onto us, and we simply can’t stand under it. It lacks Gospel.

Thankfully, the Gospel is Good News. Good News about a God who is for us. A God who runs to us in our brokenness and sin and puts us back together. A God who through Jesus uses restorative justice—a justice that puts to rights what we put to wrong. A justice immersed in grace, not anger or condemnation.

In other words, a justice that is radically and recklessly unfair in that we are not treated as we deserve! And that is great news!

You can reach me at Tim@TimWrightMinistries.org

How Can You Believe in a God Who Sends People to Hell?

I want to start off with a question of my own as we jump into this big, tough issue:

Why is a belief in hell—an eternity of horrendous torture mandated by God—the litmus test for true Christianity?

I was born into and raised in the Church. And like the overwhelming majority of Christians, I believed in heaven and hell: That those who believe in Jesus, no matter what kind of people they are, will go to heaven; and that those who reject Jesus, no matter what kind of people they are, will fry in hell.

Admittedly, it seemed to make sense. God, in Jesus, has made it possible for us to live in relationship with God. That relationship is one of grace and forgiveness. If we choose to reject that overture of love we’ll live with the consequences—forever.

But as I began to wrestle with my understanding of the character of God, I realized that my starting point was wrong. I recognized that the starting point for God’s character is not that of an angry judge but that of a radically gracious parent. And if that’s the true character of God, the issue of hell becomes increasingly problematic. If God truly is lavishly and recklessly gracious, then how can that same God be capable of creating such a horrific eternity for those who might reject that grace?

For a while I tried to say that hell is, in essence, an act of love. Love forced is not love but abuse. A loving God will not force God’s self on us. If we chose to reject God’s act of love in Jesus, God will love us enough to respect that choice. God, out of love, would not want to force us to spend eternity with him.

But still… it didn’t answer all the questions:

• Is my rejection of God’s love stronger than God’s love for me?

• Does my free will usurp God’s grace?

• Will the God who goes to the cross for us finally give up on us?

• Is God’s grace bound by human time and space?

Or, as my friend, the late BJ Thomas, put it in one of his songs: I wonder why the pure in heart… they have to have a judgment day. I wonder what the Lord has made… that he plans to throw away.

 One blog post will not solve the problem of hell.

 But I want to suggest a starting point by going back to the story of the Prodigal Son which I referred to in another post.

 The Context: Jesus is caught red handed in the act of eating with the wrong kinds of people: sinners and tax collectors—those the religious leaders had written off because they believed God had written them off. No self-respecting Jewish Rabbi would debase himself in such a way. By eating with these people Jesus was in essence treating them as friends and equals. And in the process, ceremonially defiling himself. In response to criticism from the religious elite, Jesus tells the story of a father of radical, reckless grace.

 A quick summary:

1)    The younger son asks for his father for his inheritance early bringing shame onto the father, his family, and his village. Strike one.

2)    The younger son takes his money to a non-Jewish (unclean) land and wastes it all there on wild living. Strike two.

3)    The younger son ends up feeding pigs (unclean animals) for a gentile (an unclean person) in order to survive. Strike three.

Culturally, this younger son has gone beyond the point of no return. He is now considered dead to the village and his family with no way of redemption. Story over!

A major point: When the son decides to head home, he does not go home, as we often assume, repentant. He goes home defiant. He goes home with a scheme in place to manipulate his dad. He wants his dad to hire him in the hope that he can work off his debt, weasel himself back into the family, and receive his inheritance all over again when dad dies. This young man is still dead! He still rejects his dad’s love.

What does this have to do with hell?

Should the villagers catch the son walking into the village they will beat him up and banish him (to hell) from the community once and for all.

But notice what the dad does. And remember, this son is defiant. This son still rejects his father’s love!

The father (representing God) runs to this son who deserves only punishment and condemnation—and rescues him with grace.

• He throws his arms around his son to protect him from the mob.

• He puts the family robe around his shoulders.

• He puts the ring of sonship on his finger.

• He puts shoes on his feet.

• Then he throws a party for him!

All this for a son who, to that point, has rejected his father’s love!

As the father says to the older brother later: This son of mine was lost, but I found him. He was dead. But I made him alive again.

The grace of the father proved stronger than the rejection by his son.

The picture Jesus paints of God in this story is not one of a God who condemns people to hell but who runs to hell-condemned people and graces them with life. God runs to dead people—people who can neither reject or accept love—and raises them to life!

Theologian Jurgen Moltmann says it this way: According to this Christian view, neither God nor human beings decide about hell, but Christ alone: ‘I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and hell’ (Rev. 1:18). What is Christ going to do with ‘the keys of hell’? ‘Christ hath burst the gates of hell,’ says Charles Wesley in his Easter hymn. So all its gates are open. Hell is no longer inescapable…  (In the End, the Beginning—the Life of Hope. 2004)

Or as John says it in his Gospel: For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16)

Does God send people to hell?

The Cross says:  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

The Cross says:

You were lost but God found you.

You were dead but God through Christ raised you to life.

You are the one clothed in the robes of grace.

You are the one wearing the ring of sonship/daughterhood.

You are the one wearing the shoes of forgiveness.

Because God’s grace will always have the final word…

And that word is life.

More next time.

You can reach me at Tim@TimWrightMinistries.org