Opportunities to answer with others or in your journal:
Here is the meaning I find in the stories of John the Baptist, the virgin birth, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, the ancestor lists, the coming of the Magi, and Jesus in the temple at age 12…
Here is why Jesus’ parables, miracles, and teaching about hell are important to me…
Here is how I respond to Jesus’ care for the multitudes and Jesus’ attitudes toward Caesar…
Here is my understanding of the Kingdom of God…
I believe in Jesus. I have confidence in Jesus. Here is what that means to me…
What does baptism mean to you? If you have not been baptized, would you like to be?
One thing I appreciate the most about the teaching about hell that Jesus gives, is the clarity with which he has dealt with a topic that had been kicked around through all kinds of belief systems. He gives it clarity. There is judgment. And as we discussed 2/10 -- God is intent to get the hell out of people and the hell out of earth, as well. There is judgment because God is good, but God does not want anyone to choose the path of rejecting Him.
On 2/10 we shared the CS Lewis quote from The Great Divorce: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock, it is opened.” I love that quote. I love the character of God I meet within it.
As I have dealt with many, many people who have been subjected to evil of all kinds, it helps immensely to know God will judge people who have lost touch with what it can mean to be human and have used their power for evil. God will repay. We can count on that. Therefore, we need not carry their wrongs, but can forgive. God will take care of judgment.