HELL (4 OF 5)
by Craig Smith
Scripture: Matthew 11:21-24, Matthew 13:41-42
This content is part of a series.
Hell (4 of 5)
Series: The Problem of God
Craig Smith
Matthew 11:21-24, 13:41-42
I. Introduction
Welcome to all of our locations, including church online. So glad you're with us today, although I'm guessing some of you looked at the message title when you got the worship card today and thought ''this would have been a good day to miss church!'' We're in our problem of God series right now, where we're tackling some of the problems that keep people from moving forward in faith and today the problem we're going to tackle is the problem of God and hell.
Hell is an uncomfortable subject for everyone. I would love to not deal with it, but I don't' think that's an option, because for a lot of people, the doctrine of hell is one of the greatest obstacles to faith. Let me read you a small part of one of the questions that we received on our text-in line. I think it's typical of how a lot of people think. ''Honestly I believe in God, just not hell. And as a result not in Jesus as God's son. I believe he existed and was a [dang] cool dude, but for him to be the Son of God fits into the narrative of God being evil.''
And that's not just how unbelievers feel. A lot of believers feel the same way. A few years ago a very popular Christian pastor named Rob Bell became famous for saying that the doctrine of hell was incompatible with the idea that God is a loving God. Here's what he said: ''if your God will punish people for all eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality... sometimes the reason people have a problem accepting ''the gospel'' is that they sense that the God lurking behind Jesus isn't safe, loving, or good.''
Ok, so it's not just skeptics and critics. Even a lot of people who consider themselves people of faith and followers of Jesus struggle with the same question, which ...
Series: The Problem of God
Craig Smith
Matthew 11:21-24, 13:41-42
I. Introduction
Welcome to all of our locations, including church online. So glad you're with us today, although I'm guessing some of you looked at the message title when you got the worship card today and thought ''this would have been a good day to miss church!'' We're in our problem of God series right now, where we're tackling some of the problems that keep people from moving forward in faith and today the problem we're going to tackle is the problem of God and hell.
Hell is an uncomfortable subject for everyone. I would love to not deal with it, but I don't' think that's an option, because for a lot of people, the doctrine of hell is one of the greatest obstacles to faith. Let me read you a small part of one of the questions that we received on our text-in line. I think it's typical of how a lot of people think. ''Honestly I believe in God, just not hell. And as a result not in Jesus as God's son. I believe he existed and was a [dang] cool dude, but for him to be the Son of God fits into the narrative of God being evil.''
And that's not just how unbelievers feel. A lot of believers feel the same way. A few years ago a very popular Christian pastor named Rob Bell became famous for saying that the doctrine of hell was incompatible with the idea that God is a loving God. Here's what he said: ''if your God will punish people for all eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality... sometimes the reason people have a problem accepting ''the gospel'' is that they sense that the God lurking behind Jesus isn't safe, loving, or good.''
Ok, so it's not just skeptics and critics. Even a lot of people who consider themselves people of faith and followers of Jesus struggle with the same question, which ...
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