Since we're discussing chapters six and seven of Tim Keller's The Reason for God tonight, I figured I'd better hurry up and post what we discussed three weeks ago.
Chapter Five: "How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?" This was a tough chapter and we ended up spending the whole discussion on it instead of the planned two chapters. There are so many good points in this chapter that I can't even begin to discuss them all.
Keller describes a common view of hell: God gives us time, but if we haven't made the right choices... he casts our souls into hell for all eternity. As the poor souls fall through space, they cry out for mercy, but God says "Too late! You had your chance! Now you will suffer!" This caricature misunderstands the very nature of evil. The Biblical picture is that sin separates us from the presence of God, which is the source of all joy and indeed all love, wisdom, or good things of any sot... if we were to lose his presence totally, that would be hell - the loss of our capability for giving or receiving joy.
He also points out that those in hell aren't wishing for God's eternal presence. Just like Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16), the condemned souls never ask to get out of hell but instead proceed in blame-shifting and denial. "Hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity... All God does in the end with people is give them what they want most, including freedom from himself." (emphasis added)
Keller quotes Becky Piper in explaining God's wrath with our sinfulness. "Anger isn't the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference." If God didn't really love his own creation, he wouldn't become (rightfully) angry with us for our depravity. Through this, he is able to restore us to him and we can have the peace of the knowledge that when others wrong us, it will be made right. Because God is a loving and just god, not only will he restore his chosen people unto himself, but he will also right all wrongs.
This chapter hit me especially hard because I've really struggled in the past with the question "Why would God create people that he knows will end up in Hell?" And even though I can't fully answer that question, I am strengthened by the fact that 1. Just because I don't understand His reasoning doesn't mean that it isn't right and that He doesn't have a good reason (this goes back to the arguments discussed in previous chapters) 2. Who am I to say what He does with his own creation? ("Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" - Romans 9:21) 3. We are ALL deserving of death and it is only by His infinite grace and mercy that a few are saved.
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