A Mending Shift

a bird sings, not because if has an answer to give, but because it has a song to sing … this is my song

Why Do We Lose Jesus if We Lose Hell?


Why are Jesus and our traditional notion of Hell so intertwined? Why is it that if we lose Hell, Jesus becomes terribly pointless and ceases to matter? I mean after all, without Hell, what is the point of Jesus coming? What is the point of his life and teachings? What is the point of the cross and the resurrection? What is the point of Jesus, without Hell?

I seem to be reading these questions and statements a lot lately. And they are important questions because I think they help shed light onto something pretty substantial. Namely, that Jesus’ value and worth seems to be dependent on Hell. (I’ll pause to let you reread that last statement). I hear very often something like this, “Without hell you make a mockery of Jesus and the cross…why even have Jesus?”

It’s not just that the two (hell and Jesus) are inseparable, but that one is dependent on the other. And who is the dependent? Jesus. Because in traditional theology you can remove Jesus and Hell remains just fine, it still has all its power. But if you remove Hell, Jesus suddenly becomes limp, pointless, and powerless. His life on Earth ceases to matter. Which sheds light onto something: This makes hell more important and more powerful than Jesus. Now no one would say this, but this is exactly what the theology says because Jesus’ main purpose was to save people from spending their eternal afterlife in Hell. His life/work is dependent on it. Remove hell, and you might as well remove Jesus.

This is the key, I think, to this reaction we are seeing nationwide against losing Hell. Lose Hell and you lose Jesus. See the connection? It’s not losing hell, for some, that’s the big deal, it is the fact that in doing so you also lose Jesus (according to their theology).

So for us who feel that Jesus did NOT come to save souls from an eternal hell, to lose Hell just means we lose Hell. Period. Jesus’ work on the cross, his life, his purpose, his power, his resurrection are still alive and well.

To be honest, though, when I first began revisiting the notion of Hell and realized that Jesus’ words were not pointing to a literal place but that he was using the Israelite’s hellish words (that they used as a club against other “sinners”) against THEM to make a shock-and-awe point, it shook me up because now I had to revisit why Jesus came. Because for me back then, Jesus and Hell were like intertwined vines. It took time to mentally separate the two vines. As I did, the Bible, Jesus, God, love and justice took on a whole new level of gloriousness (a new word). It honestly caused me to celebrate, thinking, as my good friend Dave put it, “I always knew this God existed but never believed it.”

I celebrated the loss of Hell because it opened up a far more powerful, loving, gracious, just, righteous, and awe-provoking God.

If we were all honest, I don’t think the traditional notion of an eternal, conscious, tormenting hell sits well with most of us. Perhaps because it is one of Satan lies to cause us to be terrified of God or reject God for God’s evil heart that would do that to God’s creation. And what a great strategy to intertwine Jesus’ purpose with Hell, right? … You can’t lose Hell without losing Jesus. So yes, I said it, I believe that the traditional notion of Hell does not originate from God, but from God’s enemy.

Jesus’ death and resurrection has far great cosmic ripples in scope and purpose than we can even begin to grasp or imagine. That it simply did not make a way for potential restoration and forgiveness for some who happen to find it, but indeed declared love, restoration and forgiveness for all. Karl Barth said that the cross was God’s NO! to sin and death and His YES! to all of creation. That is something to ponder for a lifetime…with or without Hell.

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This entry was posted by on Friday, April 15th, 2011 at 9:31 am and is filed under Christianity, Church Re-Formed, freedom, God, grace, Hell, Jesus, justice, Kingdom of God, love, theology, truth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Jeromy Johnson
I live in Folsom, CA, with my wife, Jennifer, and three kids. I am surrounded by and cared for deeply by some great friends. Their love for me is truly a moonlit reflection of Papa's love, and for that, I am deeply blessed and grateful.

Comments

  • Josh Mueller

    Very insightful post, thanks! I think for many it’s not just the connection in their minds about Jesus and hell. It’s the entire understanding of sin as a moral transgression against God’s law that renders us unacceptable to God, and of divine justice as God’s condemnation based on that unacceptability. Once Scripture is read and understood solely through that lense, our own mental capacity to grasp and accept this concept of depravity and atonement becomes the actual and only means of salvation from that same condemnation. And anyone questioning this lense becomes a dangerous heretic because he or she leads people astray into (what they perceive as) believing in a constructed idol instead of the holy wrathful God who cannot tolerate sin. It never enters their mind that God’s wrath against sin is based on His love which sees the horrible destructive effects in our lives – both as victims and perpetrators. And it actually makes them join the pharisees in accusing Jesus (who is God in the flesh!) for having fellowship with unclean sinners which just didn’t fit with their reading of Scripture.

  • http://jeromyj.com/mendingshift/ Jeromy Johnson

    Good point. It is almost like sin is to God what kryptonite is to Superman, or water is to the wicked witch. If so, how did God spend 33 years on this sinful, deprived planet? Much less EAT with sinners! How come his holy wrath wasn’t poured out on us then since he cannot be in our presence while we have kryptonite, I mean, water, oops, I mean sin in us?

  • http://sacredbe.blogspot.com/ rain

    the great delusion….

    the traditionally accepted evangelical view of hell essentially deifies it by, as you stated so clearly, making Jesus ‘depend’ on it. this makes hell more powerful. is hell, whatever it is, defeated, period? or is the reality of it only defeated for those who place their faith in Christ?

  • Greg Dill

    I’ve began wondering what Jesus truly saved us from. For all of my Christian life I believed He only saved us from hell. But, does the Scripture ever say that? The Bible only alludes to being saved from perishing, but never does it say hell. In fact, the Scripture is very clear as to what He truly did save us from. He saved us from our sins.

    She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

    The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

  • http://jeromyj.com/mendingshift/ Jeromy Johnson

    Great point, Greg. I love John 1:29…which takes away the sin of the world. It is singular…sin…not sins. The whole fell swoop of sin was taken away.

  • http://www.facebook.com/steveferwerda Steve Ferwerda

    Some good points Jeromy and Greg. Christ came to save us from sin which leads to death. But because Christ conquered death, we too will be resurrected with Him someday and be reconciled to God.

    Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all
    people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for
    all people. Romans 5:18

    For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Cor 15:22

    It is about bringing life to people who are dead in their sins, not about hell.

    If I can put in a plug, my wife’s new book, Raising Hell, has a good discussion about this very topic. Jeromy has read it and written a review on Amazon.

    The concept of hell really was popularized by the Latin church because they needed a way to get people to give indulgences to save their souls and the souls of their relatives. It was really all about the money. Ironic, that the protestant church tries to distance itself from the Latin church and yet it retains many of the same traditions and doctrines.

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