*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***

Lead:

What’s at stake with the doctrine of hell? Well, a few things of which you should be aware to be ready for conversation.

Intro:

Weeping and gnashing of teeth — how’s that for a set of Bible words that we don’t hear in broader culture? But it was Jesus who said them, and today you’re going to hear more of Jesus gettin' in some people’s business.

Our Thinking & Reflecting Segment today is going to cover a different aspect of hell than you may have heard. Yes, I believe there is a hell. But in apologetics — rationally defending the Christian worldview — there is a certain tone and logic that is addressed. So today’s not going to be a theology of hell, per se.

Here are the opening words from Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics:

Of all the doctrines in Chirstianity, Hell is probably the most difficult to defend, the most burdensome to believe and the first to be abandoned. The critic’s case against it seems very strong, and the believer’s duty to believe it seems unbearable.
The relatively large amount of space devoted to hell in this book does not reflect the relative importance of this doctrine in Christianity. Heaven is far more important than hell, we know much more about it, and it is meant to occupy our mind much more centrally.
But in battle an army must rush to defend that part of the line which is most attacked or which seems the weakest. Though other doctrines are more important than this one, this one is not unimportant or dispensable. In fact, it is important enough to make a tremendous difference. This is the first point we must prove to justify a whole chapter on hell. (1)

So with that, let’s start as we always do with the Bible, and then we’ll look at how they provide an answer to even addressing the topic of hell.

Sponsor:

Today’s sponsor and provider of background music is Pip Craighead’s The Dandelion Project, and the new track is Night School.

Bible segment (read along with The Bible Project):

Passage: Matthew 23-24
Translation: HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 90
Words: ~1903

Thinking/reflection segment:

Three destructive presuppositions:

William James rightly reminds us that the first question we should ask about any idea is whether it is important, that is, whether it makes a difference. If not, he refuses to call it “true” in any practical sense of the word. So why is hell important? What difference does it make? What happens if we drop it?
Obviously, the difference between heaven and hell is by definition infinite. And the difference between a world in which there is no heaven or hell, and a world in which there is, is enormous. But what is the difference between a world in which there is only a heaven but no hell, and a world in which there is also a hell?
Disbelief in hell involves three presuppositions and entails seven consequences that destroy the whole Christian faith. In other words, removing hell is not like removing one stone from a pile and leaving all the others untouched. It is like removing a vital organ from a body; all the others are affected and eventually killed.
First, the three totally destructive presuppositions.
1. To believe there is no hell presupposes that both Scripture and the church lie, for both clearly teach the reality of hell. They are our authorities, our reasons, our premises for believing in hell. If they are wrong about hell, they could be wrong about anything and everything else.
2. If Scripture and the church do not lie about what Jesus said about hell, then it presupposes that Jesus is the liar. For he was far more explicit and adamant about hell than anyone else in Scripture. If there is no hell, the fundamental reason why Christians believe anything—the authority of Christ—is denied.
3. If we drop hell because it is unbearable to us, that presupposes the principle that we can change whatever doctrines we find unbearable or unacceptable; in other words, that doctrine is negotiable. Christianity then becomes a human ideology, not a divine revelation; a set of humanly chosen ideas and ideals rather than propositional data. There is then nothing new or surprising to learn. Doctrine becomes a nose of wax to be twisted into any shape we choose. Try this principle out in any other branch of knowledge and see whether it makes a difference.(2)

Wisdom segment:

Passage:
Translation:
Verses:
Words:

Love you!

-R

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

(1) Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1994), 282.

(2) Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, 282.

#872: Matthew 23-24 | Hell, apologetics-style, part 1