Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Fires of Hell
At lunch with a colleague yesterday, we chatted about sermons as fires raged in the mountains just a few miles away. "What are you preaching about this Sunday?" I benignly asked. "The Fires of Hell..." he quickly replied. Like RUCC, the congregation he serves is open, affirming, loving, compassionate, looking for the best rather than expecting the worst in others. Such a sermon title is better suited to preacher Jonathan Edwards than to a couple of UCC pastors! Yet, as I drove home to the mountains last night, watching flames lapping up the timber to the north of the highway, I wondered how many days it will be until some religious nut accuses some group or other of having sinned to the point that God's anger is imagined as erupting in this fiery hell? Is that the kind of God who made the beautiful timber and provided homes for the wildlife in the first place? I think not...how about you?
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2 comments:
Sharon, I know this post is a little old, however since I am new to the church and church blog, I will go ahead and post my comment. My aunt and uncle are Jehovah Witnesses. I am not sure if it is the view of their faith or of their specific church, or just their own however they do believe that "we" as a planet have sinned so much that these types of natural disasters are our "punishment." This is quite a disturbing view of God, is it not?! I certainly don't see the God I know and love punishing us for our sins in this way. However, it is a difficult point to argue seeing as how there is no real answer for why such horrible things happen other than mother nature. It makes me sad that some people out there think of God in this way - seems as if they must spend more time being afraid of the spirit rather than finding comfort in it during these times.
Wow, Beth, so sorry I didn't see your blog a year ago ;-) (I was reminded by our webmaster just today that our blog comments are woefully old...he is correct!)
Yes, I agree with you that people who choose to live in fear of a vengeful God are really missing out on a lot of joy. We humans have a natural inclination to want to know why something happens--whether it is earthquake, fire, etc. And, like you have noted, we are much more comfortable blaming a deity than taking responsibility ourselves...i.e. global warming, building into the forest land, etc.
So, as we enter another fire season here on the mountain, I still ponder where God is in all this...and I have to confess that, for me, God is seen in the living and not in the blaming.
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