Creating a World Where People Don't Need to Deconstruct Hell
thoughts on my convo with Connie Tuttle (episode 120)
If you haven’t read Connie’s book, you should. It’s called “A Gracious Heresy: The Queer Calling of an Unlikely Prophet” and is basically the story of her life mixed in with profound theological ideas that I found incredibly help, challenging, and liberating.
Seriously - go get it.
The thing that struck me about Connie and her story, though, is that she never believed in hell.
Isn't that interesting?
Like, she literally never believed in …
A place of eternal torture.
A place of separation from God.
A place of darkness and flames.
A place of punishment.
… Like, it was never a part of her theology and so it was never something she had to deconstruct.
And that made me think about my daughter. If you ask my daughter why Jesus died (she’s 3, mind you) she can present the Gospel to you in an eloquent and childlike way that involves not a single word about …
Hell.
Separation from God.
Sin.
Torture.
The Sinner’s Prayer.
Etc.
In fact, the other night I kissed Jordan on the forehead when I put her to bed and said, "daddy is very proud of you."
SIDE NOTE: I try to tell her that every night and as often as I can because I hope that one day when she doesn’t feel proud of herself or someone makes her feel ashamed or insignificant, I hope the first thing that comes to her mind is her daddy’s voice saying those words that we all long to hear - “I’m proud of you.”
Anyways.
I told her that I was proud of her and she said, "why? Why are you proud of me?"
"Well", I said (sensing this could be a divine moment), "you're very kind. And loving. And you're a helper. And sometimes when you're scared, you do brave things. And you help mommy cook. And you make everyone laugh. You're very much like Jesus."
She was quiet for a moment and then she explained the Gospel better than anyone ever has.
Again - she’s 3.
"Daddy, Jesus lives inside of me. When he was here he told people to be loving and kind to one another because they were being unkind and mean, but they didn't want to listen to him and so they put him on the cross. But he told them that he forgave them anyway, even though they were mean. And then he died. And then he became alive again. And that's when he came to live inside of me."
On my way out the door Spirit nudged me and said, "she's right, you know?"
Yeah.
I mean, that’s the Gospel, right? The world was full of hatred where everyone was struggling for power and gunning for power at all costs, even at the expense of the poor and oppressed.
God said, “nah, we can’t have this.”
And so Christ came to earth as Jesus to show us how to be human - how to live as people of love and grace and inclusion and all the things. He showed us how to love our enemies and to forgive our enemies, even when they torture us and crucify our bodies to a piece of wood and leave us to die.
And that love.
That grace.
That forgiveness.
Man.
It had so much power and so much strength that it pushed the rock away from the tomb and breathed life right back into Jesus.
Love brought life.
Forgiveness brought life.
The way of Jesus brings LIFE - this is the Good News. Love will change the world, not hate. Love will bring heaven to earth, not hate. Love and forgiveness and peace and grace, it all has the power to birth something new even out of the darkest moment.
That’s the Gospel, that’s the Good News, and I want to raise my daughter so that one day when she’s 38 years old like her dad she doesn’t have to worry about deconstructing hell because it was never constructed for her in the first place. I don’t want her to grow up with the nightmares I had, the fear I had, the confusion that I felt about a loving God allowing such a horrible place to exist. I don’t want her to have to wait until she’s 35 years old before she really begins to catch a glimpse of what the Good News is, I want her to be able to celebrate it even now, as a 3 year old.
Sure.
One day I will tell her about hell. I’m sure other people will to. But if I can cultivate experiences with God for her that help her understand and sense and know the Divine Love that is in her and with her always … my hope and prayer is that she’ll be able to recognize lies and false Gospel’s when she sees them.
And all of that makes me think … how can we, as a podcast community - how can WE create a world or build as world where the Gospel is proclaimed without a single mention of the lie of hell?
Is it possible?
Can it be done?
Perhaps not. Perhaps there are too many who already believe it, have already bought into it, who are afraid to let it go.
BUT.
Perhaps we can be the change we long to see. This is an important topic and so may we never, ever shy away from denouncing it for the heresy that it is.
Thousands if not millions are deconstructing hell right this very second - deconstructing a doctrine that has brought them years of sadness, shame, confusion, and trauma. I long for a future where that’s no longer the case.
Much love,
Glenn
I’m Going Into Hibernation (sort of).
This will be the last “AfterParty” email of 2020. The podcast will keep rolling on, but I’m working on a book that I want to have somewhat finished by the end of the year and so I need to dedicate all of my energy to making that happen in November and December.
All of the podcast episodes are recorded through the first 2 weeks of January 2021 and so as of Sunday, November 1 I’ll take 2 months away from …
Recording episodes.
Reading for episodes.
Writing this newsletter.
Writing Patreon posts.
Writing blog posts.
… So that I can reserve all of my creative energies for my book, “(Re)Thinking Everything”. I don’t expect for it to be a best seller or to make a lot of money with it. I don’t even know if it’ll be published.
BUT.
I’m pouring my heart into it, into what I hope will become a letter of hope to this generation and to generations to come.
Interested? Here’s the Introduction.
A Short Introduction
These days I’m known as a heretic, as someone who has gone astray. Some say I’ve lost my way, that I’ve lost my faith in God, that I’ve stopped believing in the Bible and in Jesus and that I’m headed to hell. I’ve been called a wolf who is leading the sheep to the fires, a false prophet, and a butt-hurt snowflake (whatever that means).
Judgement awaits me.
God is disappointed in me.
I’ve strayed from the truth.
I’ve wandered away.
Sigh.
None of these things are true, though. I haven’t walked away from God or Jesus or the Bible or my faith, but have instead experienced multiple seasons where I’ve deconstructed some of these things.
Deconstruction – it’s a word that carries a lot of baggage and is sort of a buzz word these days. Whether Gordon Ramsay is challenging his contestants to create deconstructed tacos or some new big name pastor is accused of deconstructing his faith, the word “deconstruction” gets tossed around in various kinds of ways by various kinds of people.
BUT.
Here’s the thing: deconstruction doesn’t mean destruction.
Right?
After all, when Gordon Ramsay challenges his contestants to create deconstructed dishes you better believe that he demands perfection – he wants the deconstructed dish to look, taste, and be 10,000 times better than the regularly constructed meal ever could.
The same is true, I think, when it comes to a deconstructed faith. Sure, sometimes people can deconstruct things so much so that it’s beyond recognizable and nothing but trash, but that’s not really deconstruction … it’s destruction.
Deconstruction, I think, is something much different and much more beautiful:
It’s about taking apart a belief and wondering if it fits you anymore.
It’s about realizing that who you were is no longer who you are and, therefore, some of the things you used to believe and hold on to might need to be tweaked, updated, expanded, and given permission to evolve and change.
It’s about loosening your grip on the things you once held tightly to.
It’s about realizing that God or the Divine or the Spirit or whatever is much bigger than the systematic box you thought he/she/they fit into.
It’s about pulling apart long held ideas, doctrines, and theologies.
Like a surgeon in an operating room who is doing open heart surgery on a patient, it’s about taking necessary pieces of a belief system out of your heart, carefully laying them on the table, studying the chest cavity, assessing what’s necessary, trying to figure out what’s causing the problems or doesn’t fit or shouldn’t be there, and then putting everything back together in a way that will hopefully create a better life for yourself and the world around you.
It’s a process.
It’s a journey.
It requires patience.
It requires care.
It requires determination.
AND.
It’s ongoing. It’s not a once and done type of thing, but a joyously painful thing that happens again and again and again over the course of a lifetime. The surgery happens once and then as life changes and growth happens more surgery and tweaking and deconstructing is needed. Sometimes it’s just you in the operating room sorting through what feels like a wreckage of long-held beliefs and other times there will be friends and mentors and loved ones there to hold you as you all tearfully do the surgery together.
That’s what the last 15-ish years have been like for me, anyways.
I grew up in the Evangelical world – 8 years of Christian School, 4 years of Bible College, 4 years of seminary, 4 years of pastoring a church, 3 more years of seminary – and was the posterchild for all things Evangelicalism.
I knew my Bible.
I knew my theology.
I knew all the right answers.
I knew how to lead someone down the Roman Road (if you don’t know what that means, don’t ask).
I had the End Times and Apocalypse plotted out on a chart.
But then, I don’t know. Life happened, I guess, and I ended up throwing myself onto the operating table once, twice, three times (I’ve lost count by now) to examine some things about my faith that didn’t feel like they fit anymore.
For about 12 years I did the surgery in silence, somewhat by myself with the companionship of a faithful stack of books; and for the last 2 years I’ve done the surgery out loud and in the open where it’s not only drawn fire, critique, anger, and disappointment from a lot of people who used to hang on my every Evangelical word, but it’s also brought me into beautiful relationships with new friends who are on the same kind of joyously painful journey.
It’s been a process of (re)thinking everything about my life and my faith and my thoughts about …
God.
Jesus.
The Cross.
Salvation.
The Bible.
Hell.
LGBTQ.
… And more.
The (re), I should note, is in parentheses because although sometimes it feels like I’m rethinking everything I’ve ever known, sometimes the deconstruction makes all of those things feel so fresh and so different that it feels like these ideas are new and that I’m actually thinking about all of them for the first time ever.
And so this book is my attempt to share with you some of my journey and a little bit of how my faith and thoughts about God and Christianity have evolved and shifted over the years. My hope is that as I share these things with you that perhaps you’ll feel more at peace with your own faith evolution and more comfortable diving in to do some open heart surgery of your own.
OR.
Maybe it’ll help you better understand the person in your life who is in the process of their own surgery, but doesn’t yet have the words to help you understand what they’re doing or why.
Either way, much love to you on the journey,
- The Heretic
WANT TO BE A GUEST BLOGGER? 👊🏻
Do you have something to say? Have you been mulling over something regarding God and faith and spirituality and the Bible and all the things that is different than what your traditions have handed you? Have you ever asked,“WHAT IF this is true?” I’m taking submissions for guest blog posts - write it up, send it my way at gsiepert@me.com, and we’ll talk about getting it on WhatIfProject.net.
Here’s the most recent post from my friend Robert Gregory.
SUPPORT THE SHOW. 🎉
We have 31 people supporting the show on Patreon, will you be number 32? Patreon is a place where you can support the What If Project financially by choosing a monthly giving tier ranging from $3/month to $20/month and every tier gets a reward. Go check it out and thanks to the 31 people who have already signed up! ❤️
MERCH. 👕
Enjoying the “To Hell With Hell” series? Pick up the HELL IS EMPTY TEE at the Heretic Shop today!
(** Available in MEN’S and WOMEN’S sizes)
Thank you.
Thanks for believing in the What If Project. Keep listening to the show and expect the next issue of “The AfterParty” sometime in mid-January.
Much love to you. ❤️🙏🏻