Comments on: 4 Pastoral Reasons why I won’t be going to hear Brian McLaren.

By: Harvey

Harvey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:48:23 +0000

Thanks for an interesting topic… As a father of three kids I have to say that I struggle with the idea that a father (perhaps the best summation of who God is, in my perspective at least) could create a family (all of humanity in this case) and then when some of them choose to disobey him and go their own way choose to not simply discipline them or leave them to experience the ramifications of their own actions, but take them prisoner and grossly torture them for the rest of their lives (in this case in timeless eternity) with no reprieve possible. When you view it in this light it’s pretty obvious why so many people have trouble with this doctrine. It just doesn’t seem much like what a loving dad would do, to say the least. I honestly don’t know what the answer is, so I’d be interested to hear how others can reconcile the idea of a dad torturing his children forever because of their disobedience with the picture of a loving God.

Oh, and another one I don’t get – Why God would create an entire civilization (which apparently he loved) only to wipe all but 5 of them out by downing them. (oh and then torture them for eternity in hell of course). Bizarre!

By: Sam W

Sam W — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:02:46 +0000

Rick, once you start revising the Bible to suit your own opinions you’re not really on the same page any more.

With 24,000 ancient manuscript fragments, many within the generation of the autographs and the eyewitnesses, the argument over the canon of Scripture is well and truly over.

By: Rick Lannoye

Rick Lannoye — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:45:53 +0000

Actually, McLaren is on to something, especially in the way he’s explained why the doctrine of Hell is so ludicrous.

I beg to differ with your response, particularly where you claim that Jesus supported the idea of God torturing billions of people for eternity in order to satisfy a need to be avenged.

I’ve actually written an entire book on this topic–”Hell? No! Why You Can Be Certain There’s No Such Place As Hell,” (for anyone interested, you can get a free Ecopy of my book at my website: http://www.ricklannoye.com), but if I may, let me share one of the many points I make in it.

If one is willing to look, there’s substantial evidence contained in the gospels to show that Jesus opposed the idea of Hell. For example, in Luke 9:51-56, is a story about his great disappointment with his disciples when they actually suggested imploring God to rain FIRE on a village just because they had rejected him. His response: “You don’t know what spirit is inspiring this kind of talk!” Presumably, it was NOT the Holy Spirit. He went on, trying to explain how he had come to save, heal and relieve suffering, not be the CAUSE of it.

So it only stands to reason that this same Jesus, who was appalled at the very idea of burning a few people, for a few horrific minutes until they were dead, could never, ever burn BILLIONS of people for an ETERNITY!

True, there are a few statements that made their way into the gospels which place Hell on Jesus lips, but these adulterations came along many decades after his death, most likely due to the Church filling up with Greeks who imported their belief in Hades with them when they converted.