Tom Wright on Hell

Tom Wright may not be everyone's cup of tea/flavour of the month but for me he often speaks clearly and succinctly on a subject. This three minute video below is one example.



Not everyone will agree with what he has to say (which is something along the lines of the way C S Lewis writes about Hell in the opening chapter of The Great Divorce) and I'm slightly dubious about his view that Jesus didn't say anything much on Hell. I think he's trying to find a way of fitting Hell 'in' to his views on heaven and earth coming together at the end of all things; do people who totally reject God get somehow squeezed out of the Universe (both spiritual and physical?). That's not what he says, by the way!

Whatever Hell literally is, if one can speak about such a thing as being literal, it certainly isn't a place I'd prefer to go...whether it's a case of losing the Presence of God or (merely) having to live with an eternally tedious and irritating self.

Heaven/Earth

We need to do away with any literal picture of eternal life as an irrelevant existence in a remote place. The images of harps and wings may symbolically suggest the happiness of heavenly life, but they do not set the actual scene. Although heaven is currently separated from this world, this arrangement is temporary and we must learn to distinguish between heaven now and heaven forever.... On the new earth, heaven and earth will be knit together again, as they were in the beginning.

Nathan L.K. Bierma
Bringing Heaven Down to Earth

And all I can say to this is, Amen! And check out the positive reviews for this book on Amazon. (This isn't an advertisment by the way...LOL)

Singing Together

Robert Bayley, whom I heard preach a couple of times at the Pastors' Conference in East Taieri a few months ago, puts this quote in an article called Made in God's Image that appeared in Reformed Worship:

'Bonhoeffer reflects in Life Together, "It is the voice of the Church that is heard in singing together. It is not you that sings, it is the Church that is singing, and you, as a member of the Church, may share in its song."'

This is an interesting way of thinking about communal worship, which can often be a time of frustration or boredom or difficulty (for those who struggle with singing publicly). Even though we can only sing with our own voice, that voice becomes part of a mighty song to God.

There have been times I've experienced in worship when I've had a real sense of what it will be like when all the God-believing people from all ages are joined together in an unthinkable song before God. Worship, communal worship, can be a foretaste of heaven.

The best of creation

Here's a quote some might agree with, some might dispute. I don't know that Mr Marshall is saying he's sure of this, or whether it's something he hopes for.

Our works, here and now, are not all transitory. The good that we have done will not simply disappear and be forgotten. This world is not a passing and futile phase; it will be taken up in God's new world. Our good buildings, our great inventions, our acts of healing, our best writings, our creative art, our finest clothes, our greatest treasures will not simply pass away. If they represent the finest works of God's image-bearers, they will adorn the world to come.

Paul Marshall
Heaven is Not My Home