H - E - double hockey sticks

may 2009

"ok, i'm having an issue," i casually remarked.

"hmm?" he inquisitively grunted.
he was reading some news article.
his eyes never left the page.


"well, i'm trying to prep for
this week's sunday school class,
and my topic sort of touches
on the issue of hell."

"and...what's your issue?"

"well... i just don't get it.
to subscribe to the belief of an
all-loving god that sends
people to hell... it seems like
a massive contradiction.

and, how can i possible prepare
a lesson on a subject that i'm
not even sure that i believe in.
how can i push a theory onto
young minds, that
i'm personally struggling with?"

"just do it anyway," he muttered.
"it's biblical, so don't question it."

"but, what if we're wrong?
what if we're interpreting the whole
message wrong and are missing the point?"

"just do it!"
his fist slammed on the desk
and made his stapler jump
a couple of inches.

"good god, stephen- you have to let
go of all of these foolish questions!
the bible is black and white-
there's no gray areas-
and there's no room for your despicable doubt.
jesus spoke it, and we follow his teachings.
end of discussion.
there especially isn't any room in our religion
for people like you who doubt our lord.

you're either in, or you're out.
you can either teach the lesson on hell,
from a traditional biblical standpoint,
or leave now, and don't ever
bother showing your face in this church again."

-----------------------------------------

this is a true story of a real encounter
that i had with a pastor
approximately four years ago.

and this conversation caused me to do
some serious soul searching about the topic.
i haven't really come up with an answer.
but, what if hell is just a metaphor,
and we're missing the point,
and are missing out on something great?

what if hell weren't an issue?
we'd probably love each other so much more.
what if we're horribly wrong about hell,
and god will judge us based on
our grotesque misinterpretation?