We were at the home of St. Paul's folk recently for a pleasant evening and while we were chatting the husband pulled out a ticket given to him by a neighbour. It was for a presentation at their church over the Easter weekend including Easter evening. As you can see, it is an invitation to avoid hell and attain heaven, presumably through the grace of Christ.
Just to be clear, I believe in the redeeming grace of Christ, and I believe in a resurrection life beyond this life. I can't say there is no hell, although I certainly don't dwell on the possibility of it's existence or live in fear. I shake my head, though, at making a presentation on Easter Sunday that looks more like a horror flick with bad production values. The trailer which one can find online actually warns against allowing children to see it because of the frightening content. I find the ticket to be fascinating in that it is equally divided between heaven and hell and hell is bolder and easier to see!
Is this really the gospel of Jesus Christ? Of course the danger of liberal churches is to turn Christianity into a service club with a halo, but long ago I decided to give up on "ooga booga" religion that tried to literally scare the hell out of me. We can do better.
The Jesus of the gospels invites us into radical discipleship and abundant life. The gospels themselves all include the startling revelation of an empty tomb and a risen Christ. Sign me up for this message and hold the hell, at least as a scare tactic to get me to choose heaven.
Has anyone else been invited to this presentation? What are your thoughts?
3 comments:
I think you can thank Dante for there being a more fleshed-out picture of hell for people to consider. All of that imagery can be traced back to the Inferno, I'd say.
No didn't get invited...(perhaps because of my good behaviour...haha)can't imagine spending Easter in that space.
Running toward Jesus seems much more rewarding than runnng away from Satan.
Running, with gratitude, towards the love of God, is always much more inviting than having the hell scared out of me ! We need to think about why being a follower of Jesus is the best way....and why we want to share this way with others... if we can ever get past the attractions of the life around us and see a bit more deeply into what is really essential and necessary. Living in love is the best answer...and Jesus shows me the Way.
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