"THERE ARE THREE PLACES WHERE RACIAL DIVISION STILL PERSISTS: BARS, PRISONS, AND THE AMERICAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH" - Francis Chan
The church has often focused on the unchurched as those who are going to hell. What is refreshing of Chan and Pringle's book "Erasing Hell" is the self-critique style and looking at oneself first before they consider looking at others.
They list several ways from Jesus words on why we should take a hard look in the mirror:
1. Our words can condemn us. When we call people fools and condemn others, we are not showing God's kingdom but are actually unwittingly participating in hellish ways. We either speak words of life or death. We speak words of hell that demean others or heaven which esteems others.
2. When we don't help the poor may be an indicator that we are on the road to hell. Chan and Pringle write, "Yet many hellfire preachers are overfed and overpaid, living in luxury while doing nothing for the majority of Christians who live on less than two dollars a day (p.121).
3. Jesus did not warn drunks, thieves, or adulterers about going to hell but he did warn teachers who taught God's word. Teachers of God's Word should take the teachings of hell most seriously since it particularly pertains to them.
4. The lukewarm are in danger of hell. People who confess Jesus with their lips but deny him by their actions that the Bible gives it's strongest warnings to.
As I have been reading the fifth chapter of Chan's and Pringle's book, they sum it up by saying, "Racism, greed, misplaced assurance, false teaching, misuse of wealth, and degrading words to others are the things that damn people" (p.124).
They end with these strong words, "I want to shock my enemies with Christian love."
Now that's a shock that more people could use!
The church has often focused on the unchurched as those who are going to hell. What is refreshing of Chan and Pringle's book "Erasing Hell" is the self-critique style and looking at oneself first before they consider looking at others.
They list several ways from Jesus words on why we should take a hard look in the mirror:
1. Our words can condemn us. When we call people fools and condemn others, we are not showing God's kingdom but are actually unwittingly participating in hellish ways. We either speak words of life or death. We speak words of hell that demean others or heaven which esteems others.
2. When we don't help the poor may be an indicator that we are on the road to hell. Chan and Pringle write, "Yet many hellfire preachers are overfed and overpaid, living in luxury while doing nothing for the majority of Christians who live on less than two dollars a day (p.121).
3. Jesus did not warn drunks, thieves, or adulterers about going to hell but he did warn teachers who taught God's word. Teachers of God's Word should take the teachings of hell most seriously since it particularly pertains to them.
4. The lukewarm are in danger of hell. People who confess Jesus with their lips but deny him by their actions that the Bible gives it's strongest warnings to.
As I have been reading the fifth chapter of Chan's and Pringle's book, they sum it up by saying, "Racism, greed, misplaced assurance, false teaching, misuse of wealth, and degrading words to others are the things that damn people" (p.124).
They end with these strong words, "I want to shock my enemies with Christian love."
Now that's a shock that more people could use!
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