Freedom and the Good News of Hell

From Pastor Michael Skilbeck, Port Campbell Baptist Church Newsletter April 2010

It has been suggested to me at times that I don’t ‘lay down the law’ enough in my preaching by telling people that if they don’t believe in Jesus they are condemned to an eternity of damnation and gnashing of teeth.

Sorry, but I am not a ‘fire and brimstone’ preacher. I tend to focus on the real message of the gospel – the love, grace and mercy of God. Responding to God out of love rather than terror has always seemed a more healthy approach to me!

That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in hell. When we are free to do good, we are also free to do evil. When we can say ‘yes’ to God’s love, the possibility of saying ‘no’ also exists. It seems to logically follow, then, that when there is heaven there must also be a hell.

The choices we have tell us that God wants to be loved by us in freedom. As weird as it may sound, this makes the idea of hell good news. Human beings are not robots or puppets who have no choices and who, whatever they do in life, end up in God’s eternal kingdom.

God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how often we obey or disobey. Hatred, desire for revenge or pleasure in seeing us punished is not in God’s character. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, embrace and show us endless mercy.

God wants this so much that he allowed his own Son to be killed to achieve it and He’s let the world continue on for another 2,000 years to allow us as many people as possible to respond to this good news!

The reality is God does give us the freedom to refuse His love, even at the risk of destroying ourselves. Love cannot be forced; it has to be freely given.

What is hell about? None of us fully know. But the upshot for me is that hell is not God’s choice. It is ours. Isn’t scripture saying that we choose hell when we refuse to choose God’s love? Now there’s some brimstone to smell this Easter season while you munch on those eggs of capitalism.

14Apr10