Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Gates of Hell

Have you heard of a judgment house? It came up in a conversation recently, and I had to ask to be enlightened. It's a "christian" alternative to the haunted house. Visitors are treated to tableaux of the end times, with mayhem and destruction and, I presume, the unsaved marched off to the fiery depths.

Really. I'm not making it up.

Wow! What a great evangelistic tool! Not.

I started thinking of some alternative presentations. Instead of car wrecks and airplane crashes, we could have reenactments of Bergen/Belson, Darfur, Guatemala, the Spanish Inquisition. Oh, the possibilities are endless. Why do people think hell is below us or floating off in the hinterlands, when we are so good at raising hell ourselves?

We've all met people who take such delight, such sick delight in the wrath of God. Lovey dovey God just doesn't do it for them. Yes, heaven help us if our God were too loving. But, they point out that God was quite clear on that point, and I agree. God says very clearly that his wrath is kindled by those who opress or ignore the orphan and the widow. Hmm. Now, could that have any connection to the thousands of children who have to go without health insurance and health care every year? Every child has a right to get born, but who said anything about life after birth? Or how about the many widows we create with an outrageous war?

Christ said the gates of hell could not stand against us, and yet we are timidly tapping at those gates. We cry out, "Come, now, Lord Jesus." And then we slam the door in His face.

5 comments:

  1. I really think what we take away from scripture probably says more about us than it does about scripture. I mean, the Bible is a big book with lots of different kinds of material...

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  2. WTF! Pardon my French. Some people need to take away ALL the joy of life and do it in the name of God. Give me a break, Judgment House!

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  3. These are everywhere here.

    I just love you, Alice!

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  4. My older sister and brother went to one of those. My sister thought it was "okay" and my brother didn't have much to say about it. But their description of it disturbed and disgusted me. Even more disturbing was their seeming indifference to the absurdity of it all.

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