In fact, a couple of researchers in the 90s created a now famous experiment just to show you how tricky your memory can be. They told the participants in the experiment that they were engaging in a study on memory. Then they gave the participants four stories of events that had occurred to them when they were kids, stories that the participants’ older relatives had supplied them. They asked them to study the stories, and then share their own memories of those same events.
Now here comes the twist. One of the stories, a story of how
they got lost in a mall when they were 5 or 6, never ever happened. Now, when
they met with the participants, they asked them to recall what they remembered
about those four events. Then after the participants did so,
they gave them the twist. They told them. One of these
memories never happened. They asked them. Can you pick which one is
false? And get this. One out of four couldn’t do
it. They believed that memory of getting lost in the
mall had actually happened. That meant too that they believe
that something that had actually happened to them had not happened at
all!
And get this, other researchers have
repeated the experiment and created false memories about even more
obscure things like taking a hot-air balloon ride or being hospitalized
overnight or being nearly drowned but rescued by a lifeguard or being the
victim of a vicious animal attack.
Crazy, huh? Boy, your
memory can be a tricky thing. And that makes sense to me because of
how many things people misremember about the Bible. Like, the Bible says there
were three wise men. Nope it doesn’t. Jonah got
swallowed by a whole. Nope – didn’t happen – big fish it says, which
is not the same as a whale at all. Or how about this great old
memory verse – “This too shall pass.” Oops, except that’s not anywhere in the
Bible.
So why am I
talking about fake memories? It’s because when I started looking
more closely at what the Bible says about hell, I realized I had a fair number
of those. What do I mean? Not one of Paul’s letters
(which are like half the books in the New Testament) ever mentions the word
hell or talks about in any direct way (judgment yes, death yes, but not
hell). When I first read that, I thought. That can’t be
true. But go figure, it is. In fact, lots of what I
thought I knew about hell from the Bible isn’t really there. And
what is there paints a far more complicated picture than I
realized. In fact, the more I looked at what the Bible
actually does tell you, the more I discovered just what a beautiful picture of
God’s love, hell can be. How can that be? Here, in these
words, God shows you the way. Let’s listen and hear what God has to
say.
1
Timothy 2:3-6, 1
Corinthians 3:11-15
How in the hell
(pun intended) can hell be a sign of God’s love? To even get at
understanding that, you need to see a truth that scripture gives you again and
again. What is that truth? It’s this. Hell isn’t the end
of the story. It’s not the end of the story for
anyone. In fact, hell exists for only one reason - to get everyone,
and I mean, everyone, ready for heaven.
Did you notice that
first passage that I read? I picked that one because well I
just like the way Paul puts it there. But I could have picked any
number of other ones like 1
Corinthians 15:22 or Romans
11:32 or Titus
2:11 or 2
Corinthians 5:19 or Colossians
1:27-28. Or if I got tired of Paul, I could go to John
12:32 or Hebrews
2:9 or John
4:42 or 2
Peter 3:9. You get the idea. When you start paying
attention, you find the same point pretty much everywhere. And what
point is that? In the end, everybody gets
saved. That’s God’s plan. God is going to bring everybody
home.
You see, that’s what
that passage from I Timothy is telling you. Paul is writing to
his student pastor, Timothy, urging him to pray for everyone, including all the
rulers and authorities. Why does Paul urge that sort of
prayer? Because Paul says: In the end, God wants them saved
too. Here’s how Paul puts exactly. Paul writes:
This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires
everyone to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the
truth.” And if you were going to look at any one of those
other scripture passages that I threw out there, you’d find the same thing
lifted up. In the end, God wants everybody to get
in. In fact, a lot of those passages get more explicit than
that. They simply say. “All will be
saved.” In other words, God desires everyone to get saved, and
what God desires, God ultimately
gets.
And when you think about
it, this makes some sense. Let’s say I’m having an interview with
God. Let me introduce my guest tonight, God, the ground of all
reality, the source of all being, the creator of time and space. So,
God, inquiring minds want to know.” Do you save
everybody? Well, I want to sue. I was even able to get a
lot of folks on board, but not everyone. How many did you miss
God? Well, to be honest, billions. They just could not
get on board with the whole God thing, couldn’t even get them to believe I
exist. So I put them over there in Hell” So, let me get
this clear, God. “You are the Lord of all time and space, source of
all reality,with infinite power?..”Yep that’s me” Except for
this area called Hell, with billions living there, who you couldn’t win
over. You wanted too, but you just could not get it
done.” Is that true, God? “Basically.” “Gotta
be honest, that’s a bit lame.” And God goes, “Well,
that’s sort of a blasphemous way to put it, but I get your
point.” Now I’m making light of it a bit. But seriously,
does that make any sense?
Now if you’re
thinking. Hold on, a second, Kennedy! What about my
freedom? Don’t I get to choose? Yes, but it gets a
bit more complicated than that. So, next Sunday, I’m going to dig
into that particular little conundrum. Right now, you just
need to understand that scripture makes it pretty clear in a lot of places,
that in the end, everybody gets in.
Ok, then, so what about
hell? Does hell exist? Of course it does. The
Bible mentions it a fair amount. But here’s the
point. If you don’t understand the end goal, you can’t see what Hell
actually means. And when you get that, then you
understand. Hell isn’t focused on punishing anyone at
all. Hell, as the Bible describes it, is focused on the
opposite. Hell is focused on healing you, on freeing you from the
worst parts of yourself. Hell exists for one reason
only. Hell exists to get you ready to experience heaven.
And that’s where that
passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth comes in, which is pretty
much the nearest allusion to Hell that Paul ever gives you. Now,
what Paul describes there doesn’t seem pleasant at all, but when you think
about it, healing never is.
As you might know, about
six weeks ago, my dad woke up, and could no longer see. Needless to
say, he was terrified. My sister, Anna, and brother-in-law,
Kenny, rushed him to the hospital. There he had the first of what would turn
out to be three surgeries. And after all those surgeries, the
doctors believe his vision will, in about six months, almost fully
return. But every week since the last surgery, my dad has had to go
in. Why? So the surgeon can stick a needle into his eye to drain out
the excess fluid. My dad has told me. That needle
in his eye, it hurts, well, it hurts like hell. But if that’s
what it takes for him to see, my dad is more than willing to face that
pain. In fact, he is grateful for this surgeon, who has been
so committed to helping him see again.
When the Bible talks
about hell, it is not talking about punishment or revenge. That
would hardly fit with a God who the Bible describes as a God of steadfast love,
abounding in mercy and loving kindness. No, hell is about
healing. Now what might this healing look like?
Every day, I make it a
practice to spend ten minutes in silence, a form of prayer called centering prayer. No
spiritual practice has brought more healing or strength into my life than this
one. But every time, every time, I do it, it is
painful. Why? Once, my mind somewhat settles, and I sense
myself opening more to the intimate presence of God, all sorts of deep, painful
emotions well up within me, grief, sadness, regret. Those
emotions, they’ve always been there. I just spent a lot of energy
avoiding them. But God’s love, in that silence, draws them out. And
why? So, I can be healed, so that God’s love can comfort and restore
me, can break me free from what I fear, from pain I too often flee or cover
up.
Maybe God’s love in hell
will draw near like that, to draw out all the brokenness and ugliness and pain,
so that everyone can be healed. Or maybe it will be a bit like
when my mom helped me run away from home.
I don’t remember what I
had become upset about, but I remember what I wanted to do about
it. I wanted to get out of that house, to leave that family behind
forever. I told my mom that, in no uncertain
terms. And my mom, to my shock, said ok. If I
remember it correctly, she even packed me a lunch to take with
me. I think I made it about ¾’s of a mile before I decided.
Maybe running away wasn’t the best option after all. And when
I came home, embarrassed, a bit humbled, even willing to admit that I might
have been wrong, my mom was there. And she forgave me and welcomed
me with open arms.
Now, let me make it
clear, I don’t want to sentimentalize this too much. The journey
that is hell, as the Bible describes it, will be one profoundly dark and
lonely, where, as Jesus puts it, there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. But in that darkness, God will find a way to bring those lost
in the darkness to the light. Or as the Bible describes hell
here, it might become like a refining fire, burning out people’s idols and
delusions, every useless thing that blinds them from the
truth. But in that fire, God will refine and free and restore
and heal.
Now, sadly, Christianity
has largely lost touch with what a good many of the early Christians saw more
clearly than we do. We have forgotten what we once
knew. But look at the scriptures for yourself or set up a time
for further conversation or pray about it, or heck do all those things. And see
if this early Christian belief makes sense to you.
And I pray that all of
us, as we reflect on these things, will grow closer to God’s heart, a God who
yearns for everyone to know God’s love, to be healed and restored, to
experience the abundant life that God intended for us all.
In fact, God desired
that so much, God gave up everything for it. One of my favorite scripture
passages comes from Hebrews 12. There it says that Jesus. “for the sake
of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its
shame.” But what was the joy set before Jesus, the joy for which he
endured the cross. You were that joy. You are that joy.
Jesus became wounded so that you could be healed. Jesus became rejected
so that you would never be. Jesus became shut out so that you might
be brought in. And Jesus died so that you might live, so that you
might become all that God dreamed for you to be. And Jesus will not stop
in that love, even if it means going to hell and beyond.
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