More on Hell

What if the belief in hell is actually creating a hell; a seperation between "saved" and "unsaved" people, as well as between God and "unsaved" people?  What if the idea that some people are disposable is a pretty hellish one?  What if not seeing people the way God sees them is hell (seperation, darkness)?

Hell & Manipulation

What if the Pharasees in Jesus' day taught the idea of hell (borrowing it from other religions - Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Zoroastrian and Greek) in order to manipulate people to be good, so that the Messiah could come?  What if Christians started to do the same thing, causing a seperation between people who go to heaven and people who go to hell?  What if Jesus is all about breaking down this seperation, by hanging out with the 'sinful' people and turning the idea of hell onto the religious establishment?  What if Jesus was only ever warning religious people about hell?

Predestined to what?

What if in the New Testament being 'chosen' or 'predestined' or 'the elect' does not so much refer to holding a valid ticket to heaven, as it does to being picked out in order to be a blessing to God and to people?  What if Christianity's failure is the same as that of Israel:  We still don't get that we're chosen, not for our individual gain (personal salvation), but in order to be a blessing to the world?
What if being "a chosen people, a royal priesthood" does not seperate us from and elevate us over our neighbor?  But instead it unites us with them, as we join them in their mess, the same mess that we came from, helping them up into a loving relationship with Father?  Isn't that what Jesus did and still does?  What if he continues to come alongside people, even in the place of the dead (Hades) to which he holds the keys?  What if (his)"love never fails" and never gives up?
What if there can't be an eternal bliss for the elect in heaven (in this life and after), while people are still suffering in whatever hell they are in (in this life and after)?  What if the shepherd doesn't rest until all his sheep are safe?

OT Hell

What if there is no mention of eternal punishment in the whole of the Old Testament?  What if the word Hades (the only word sometimes translated hell in the OT) was never meant to convey the meaning of eternal punishment?  Wouldn't God, when He talked to Moses on the mountain, have told him of such a place, if such a place existed? (Something like:  Oh, by the way, if you don't keep my commandments you'll end up in a place of eternal punishment.  And the people you'll be killing on the way to the promised land, they'll end up there, too.)

The Good News

What if the Good News (the gospel) is not: "Repent, become a Christian, then your sins will be forgiven and you'll get a ticket to (assurance of) heaven."?
But: "Don't be afraid.  Your sins are forgiven.  Your Father loves you.  You don't have to try to manage your shame anymore, it's been dealt with.  Come now from death into life."?
What if differentiating between 'christian' and 'non-christian' is just putting people into a box again, playing a stupid 'us vs. them' game, that is keeping people from experiencing the Father's love?  What if that's not God's heart at all?
What if He really is the Father of all who with outstretched arms is running towards all of us?
What if His outstretched arms even reach into the place of the dead (Hades/Sheol), to which, by the way, Jesus is supposed to hold the keys?

Judgement

What if it is just not true that people have to make a decision for Jesus before they physically die here on earth, otherwise they are faced with eternal damnation?  What if the sentence in Hebrews "...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,..." doesn't mean that at all?
What if judgement (krisis in the greek) is actually a good thing?  What if this judgement, this crisis, actually will bring many, many people to their knees and ultimately into the arms of their loving father?