One of the things that struck me about Keith’s book is the boldness with which he wrote it.
I mean, let’s take the title page:
“Jesus Undefeated: Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment”.
I try to never judge a book by its cover, but once I read the subtitle. Well. I knew exactly what this book was going to be about and that it was going to challenge any old way of thinking about hell that my mind might still be holding on to.
Boldness.
That’s what I took away from Keith’s book and my conversation with him. Obviously there are many different ways to think about hell (and Keith mentions all of them in his book), but he is kindly confident in the way that he holds to his belief that a place of eternal torture cannot be justified with even a single of word of Scripture.
The Bible doesn’t teach it.
Jesus doesn’t teach it.
Paul doesn’t teach it.
Revelation doesn’t teach it.
… It’s just not there. And I say that Keith is KINDLY confident because he is - he’s confident in what he believes, but he’s kind in the way that he presents it. He’s not belligerent. He’s not cocky. He’s not arrogant. He simply presents his findings, shares his experiences, and leaves us with his conclusions.
We must be confident and bold when talking about hell.
AND.
It is possible to be kind in doing so.
My hope in this series is that you would be able to hear 8 different people share where they are in their understanding of hell - some people don’t believe hell exists at all while others believe that it exists, but that it looks drastically different than perhaps we were taught or led to believe.
And so my hope is that you can listen to these conversations and maybe adopt some of the language or ideas into your own belief system and feel more confident when you talk to people in your family or church or circle of friends about this very important and electrified topic.
We’re often told that there’s ONE way to think about hell - it’s a place where people who don’t believe in Jesus go to suffer for eternity.
Simple.
Done.
End of story.
We’re often told that you can’t look at it ANY differently.
We’re often intimidated into keeping quiet if we do think differently.
We’re often shamed when we do voice our different ideas.
And that shame and intimidation can make finding the courage to wade into the waters of these conversations seem almost impossible.
The encouragement I got after reading Keith’s book is that I don’t have to be afraid, I don’t have to feel intimidated, and I don’t have to be quiet. I can be bold in my belief that hell as a place of eternal torture doesn’t exist. I can be confident in my journey of rethinking hell and perhaps even ditching it all together. I don’t need to cower in shame. I don’t need to hide. I don’t need to sit over here by myself feeling like I’m the only one in the world who has a problem with the way the Evangelical Machine explains and teaches the doctrine of hell.
I can voice my thoughts AND I can be kind while I do it.
SO.
Go, my friends. Be bold. Be kind. And let’s put out the fires of hell together.
Much love,
Glenn
NEXT WEEK. 🧐
Next week on the podcast we talk to my friend Connie Tuttle for part SIX of our series, “To With Hell” - don’t miss it!
NEW BLOG POST. 👏🏻
The latest blog post at the What If Project is called “Filling Ancient Ideas With Radical Vision”, here’s an excerpt …
“This is what Jesus does, friends.
He takes what the church considers to be holy containers that are reserved for a select few and fills them with goodness so that everyone can drink up, get drunk on the joy and grace and love that the Divine has for the whole world, and dance into the night.
Holy Containers like ...
Narrow-minded ways of reading the Bible.
Systematic theologies.
Doctrines.
... He takes these things and through you and me and everyone else who is deconstructing and reconstructing and rethinking and evolving, he fills these ancient ideas with radical visions and dreams that aren’t radical so much because they are out of the box and nuts, but because they are bringing us back to the root, to the heart of the Christ we have pledged our allegiance to.”
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 Brandon Rice.
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)
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 30 people who have already signed up! ❤️
SUBSCRIBE. 🙋🏼♀️
Get a new issue of the What If Project AfterParty sent to your email inbox every Friday morning at 7am and go back and read all the past issues as well! 🎉🎈🎊
LEAVE A COMMENT. ✍️
Was this helpful? Drop a note, join the conversation, or be the one who gets the ball rolling!
SHARE. 🤝
Do you know someone who might find the helpful or encouraging? Tell them about the show and pass this issue of the AfterParty on to them! 🎉