oh HELL!

Hell
Sheol
Hades
and in the Greek
γέεννα
Gehenna.

Descriptions of
separation from God
some more drastic
than others.

Sheol is
grayness and
void.

Gehenna
a literal dump yard
in the valley near the city
where fires continually burn
and dogs come
gnashing their teeth on rotting food.

Our modern day
images of Hell
trump them all...
fire,
pots of boiling folks,
torture,
pain,
and the insistence
that it all is eternal.

I don't know about you
but the fear monger
tactics of
hell preachers
have never done much for me.

And Lord have mercy
in the woods of East Texas
they
were plentiful.

They don't scare me.
They don't motivate me.

They are
a nagging
nuisance.

Oh, hell!
It doesn't do much
for me.

I love God
and God loves me
and hell
will not stand in the way
of
forgiveness
grace
love
life.

Don't get me wrong,
I've been to hell
already.

Many people have
already
been to hell...
and some of them at the hands of the church.

Hell is
where fear and grief,
anger and anxiety overwhelm
to the point of
hopelessness.

Denial
Addiction
Prejudice
Abuse
Hate
Bullying...

all
Hell.

You don't need to dangle
threats of hell.

Hell
has already done
it's thing
and will do it's thing.

Hell has the power to
break open denial
and punish wretchedness.

BUT....
and this is a big BUT...
and when a person uses the word "but"
it intentionally negates the previous
statement....
which is exactly what
grace is all about!

BUT
hell
did not
and will not have the last word.

If God is sovereign...
hell
nor our choice
will trump
God's power
or grace.

Oh go ahead...
start your engines.

What about
Free will!
Sin!

Grace does not
exclude the reality of
free will
but it doesn't promise
sovereign choice either.

Grace does not
cover up the reality of sin
but it does have the last word.

Grace that is a free for all is cheap.
Grace that is given at the condition
of work or choice is cheap.

God does not
promise cheap grace!

Grace
to be realized
and received is the
result of sitting in hell
powerless, hopeless, alone
and waking up,
standing up
with new life...

only
because of God's
work of mercy

only
because of God's
choice of love.

Hell is here.
Hell is there.
But Hell does not have the last word.
Hell is always at the mercy and power of
God's love.

Hell ends
with repentance, forgiveness, redemption
at God's hands
with God's heart.

Repentance is God's gift.
Forgiveness is God's gift.
Redemption is God's gift.

And
God
has the last word.
It's called grace.

I'm just thinking
these things out loud.