A few years ago, I wrote (very "green") blogs and online sermons under the guise of the character Strother Lee Fiddlebear, a recovering laudanum addict from Big Spring Station, Nebraska. On April 19, 2011, Strother, filled with thoughts of eternity, posted a plea titled "Bin Laden in the Bouquet." It was a somewhat naive challenge to other Christians to pray for Osama bin Laden, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, that he would come to know Christ, and turn himself in to authorities.
Just a dozen or so days later, Osama bin Laden was killed after almost a decade of being the most wanted murderer in the world.
Across America, celebrations broke out at the news of bin Laden's death. Chants of "USA!" filled the air. The man who had devised the murders of thousands was dead. But in addition to those patriotic chants were the disgusted rebukes of some - I heard others say it was a shameful display that we would celebrate so openly for the death of an enemy. I suppose it was, in a vague way, in the same vein as Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox; when news reached the Union troops, celebratory cannon fire began, but Ulysses Grant, being the class act he was, promptly ordered it to be stopped.
I don't know what Strother Lee Fiddlebear thought of it, but at the time, I was irked by those voices. I thought of them as pseudo-intellectuals, obnoxiously struggling to find something else wrong with America.
But now, I feel those voices were right to object to the cheering and champagne. Their reason might not be mine, but the fact is this: Osama bin Laden has gone to eternal condemnation. Why should I be glad that he, or anyone, denied Christ who saves?
For a moment, let's think about what hell truly is. I'd often heard the phrase "hell was not made for humans," which puzzled me, until I realized it referred to Jesus' words about those who will be turned away from entering heaven. He describes a place "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). It's not necessarily as if God has said, "let there be a place of torment for people who don't believe in Me." But even so, there remains a hideous place of everlasting anguish to which the wicked and unbelieving will go. Those who believe in a doctrine of "universal salvation," or any belief that after death everyone goes to some happy or neutral place, might say God would never allow those He loves to go there. But, again, let's think about what hell is, and who goes to hell - it's a place where God is forever absent, and the place where evil and unbelieving people go. So, if someone lives their life denying Christ and His love, His mercy, His providence, in hell they now find themselves where all those things are true - where this is no God, none of His mercy, none of His love, none of His providence.
Hell, and heaven, are in a way extensions of how one lived their life on Earth. If I deny Christ, I go to a place where He truly is not. If I embrace Him, I continue to live in His presence and love in heaven.
As for the agony of hell, I think pain and torment are the only things that can result from God being absent. If God were to remove His presence from the entire city of Amarillo, Texas, and His Spirit from everyone in it, the city would naturally fall into a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The universalist might also argue that God's wrath fell on Jesus as He died on the cross, that He has taken the punishment for our sins, in our place. Indeed He has. This is absolutely true. But, again, a gift that is made possible must also be accepted - if a child rejects a birthday gift, it doesn't mean the gift doesn't exist. It means the child has rejected the gift and is without it and its benefits. And hell is a place where the blessings of the gift they denied are indeed not there.
Those I found to be obnoxious dilettantes in May 2011 were right. It's no laughing matter or occasion for delight that Osama bin Laden, or anyone, is in hell - if we delight in the thought of anyone in hell, we delight that they've rejected the one and only Savior. Hell is a place that, if we truly believe in God's love and the splendor of eternity with Him, we should never desire for anyone to go. And if we believe in Him and the salvation He offers, we must let His light shine through us; we must sacrifice, we must love, we must risk the breaking of our hearts to point just one more person to the bliss of His everlasting arms.
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess
"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." -Daniel 12:2
Just a dozen or so days later, Osama bin Laden was killed after almost a decade of being the most wanted murderer in the world.
Across America, celebrations broke out at the news of bin Laden's death. Chants of "USA!" filled the air. The man who had devised the murders of thousands was dead. But in addition to those patriotic chants were the disgusted rebukes of some - I heard others say it was a shameful display that we would celebrate so openly for the death of an enemy. I suppose it was, in a vague way, in the same vein as Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox; when news reached the Union troops, celebratory cannon fire began, but Ulysses Grant, being the class act he was, promptly ordered it to be stopped.
I don't know what Strother Lee Fiddlebear thought of it, but at the time, I was irked by those voices. I thought of them as pseudo-intellectuals, obnoxiously struggling to find something else wrong with America.
But now, I feel those voices were right to object to the cheering and champagne. Their reason might not be mine, but the fact is this: Osama bin Laden has gone to eternal condemnation. Why should I be glad that he, or anyone, denied Christ who saves?
Hell, and heaven, are in a way extensions of how one lived their life on Earth. If I deny Christ, I go to a place where He truly is not. If I embrace Him, I continue to live in His presence and love in heaven.
As for the agony of hell, I think pain and torment are the only things that can result from God being absent. If God were to remove His presence from the entire city of Amarillo, Texas, and His Spirit from everyone in it, the city would naturally fall into a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The universalist might also argue that God's wrath fell on Jesus as He died on the cross, that He has taken the punishment for our sins, in our place. Indeed He has. This is absolutely true. But, again, a gift that is made possible must also be accepted - if a child rejects a birthday gift, it doesn't mean the gift doesn't exist. It means the child has rejected the gift and is without it and its benefits. And hell is a place where the blessings of the gift they denied are indeed not there.
Those I found to be obnoxious dilettantes in May 2011 were right. It's no laughing matter or occasion for delight that Osama bin Laden, or anyone, is in hell - if we delight in the thought of anyone in hell, we delight that they've rejected the one and only Savior. Hell is a place that, if we truly believe in God's love and the splendor of eternity with Him, we should never desire for anyone to go. And if we believe in Him and the salvation He offers, we must let His light shine through us; we must sacrifice, we must love, we must risk the breaking of our hearts to point just one more person to the bliss of His everlasting arms.
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess
"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." -Daniel 12:2
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