Eric's thoughts

It seems that a huge stumbling block for many when it comes to Christianity, as I talk to people, and read many blogs, is how could a loving God be so judgmental and send people to hell? And while the answer, "people send themselves to hell" might work in some cases, it really feels like a cop out answer and appears to be giving God (and us)an easy out, after all if one could easily say, "Why would a loving God allow somebody to send themselves to hell?"

Maybe posing a different question is better. Timothy Keller writes in his book The Reason for God of a conversation he with a woman after a church service. He writes, '"Why are you not offended by the idea of a forgiving God?" She looked puzzled. I continued, I respectfully urge you to consider your cultural location when you find the Christian teaching about hell offensive.” I went on to point out that secular Westerners get upset by the Christian doctrines of hell, but they find Biblical teaching about turning the other check and forgiving enemies appealing. I then asked her to consider how someone from a very different culture sees Christianity. In traditional societies the teaching about “turning the other cheek” makes absolutely no sense. It offends people’s deepest instincts about what is right. For them the doctrine of a God of judgment, however, is no problem at all. That society is repulsed by aspects of Christianity that Western people enjoy, and are attracted by the aspects that secular Westerners can’t stand.

Why, I concluded, should Western cultural sensibilities be the final court in which to judge whether Christianity is valid? I asked the woman gently whether she thought her culture superior to non-Western ones. She immediately answered “no”. “Well then,” I asked, “why should your culture’s objections to Christianity trump theirs?”'

To think that our Western culture has cornered the market on what is right and good is ludacris. The fact is that Christianity offends every culture at some point or another. It would have to, because culture is ever changing, and God is not.