April 10, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“A Hellish Religion”

A front page story in the Times Free Press a week ago reported on the sad situation of the Rev. Chad Holtz, a Cleveland resident serving the Marrow’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Henderson, North Carolina. It seems that he felt compelled to resign his pastorate after a firestorm of criticism following his questioning the traditional view of hell. The young pastor, now finishing his ministerial studies at Duke, said that some members took exception to his view that there was no such place where condemned souls spend an eternity of punishment. "There was a general feeling based on other things that perhaps the image I was projecting for this particular local church was not the one they wanted portrayed."

Holtz said Christians should concentrate more "on how we live now" than to have an "obsession about what happens after we die." Life is meant to be full of peace, hope, love, and joy. It may be, opinions the pastor, that we create hell for ourselves on earth. Holtz also got in trouble because of his more liberal views on homosexuality (!). While he hopes to remain a United Methodist he wants to serve a church that more closely mirrors his beliefs. I hope he finds it.

There is an old saying that "God created man in his own image and man has been returning the compliment ever since!" Too much of religion is man-made, a projection of our own ideas about God. Too often these projections reflect the darker side of human nature. When we have been hurt or wronged, we want to see someone punished. I personally believe the God Jesus believed in and taught about was a God of love, far above our human notions of retribution.

Frankly, the kind of "God" that would condemn people to be tormented forever because they did not profess the "right" faith (whatever that might be) sounds to me more like an abusive parent than the father Jesus told us to pray to. If this is truly the one and only God that traditionalists believe in, I think I would prefer to spend eternity not with them, but with people whose love is greater than their hate. That kind of hell wouldn’t be half bad!

Love,
Pastor Dave