Hell ?

Is there hell ? i think probably so. is it for most of us ? i don't know. possibly not. not that the other options are actually nice. i can't imagine anything worse than sitting outside in the cold, with the gate firmly shut and the sounds of the party going on inside. you don't need to invent torturers and medieval pictures.

if i didn't want to hang with him in this life, his way it seems logical that i might not get into the "do" at the end.  if i left the invitation in the unanswered post rack until dust and stains made it so grubby i put it in the bin; if i thought everything else was more important, however trivial it will look then; it seems logical that i will sit and cry and grind my teeth and kick the gates and then it will be over. i can't believe we would survive very long. and then it will be over. all over.

by that stage, if i'm aware of anything other than my own pig headed stupidity,i might see the fires whatever.  i will probably be glad that there is justice and might feel like just prison or plain extinction simply isn't good enough for what some have done. all it is is justice. i'm absolutely certain that his justice will be just - not excessive, just just.

it's the only way i can live with the world - knowing that there will be justice one day, and working to ensure that as many people as possible access mercy.

Dynamic God, dynamic world

Dynamic God, dynamic world

Some thoughts on Isaiah 45 following on from a lovely blog by Tanya Marlow 
The God who brings storms, based on verses from Isaiah 45.

 “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity.”

I was thinking about the creation. Well, plate tectonics to be more precise. Continental drift (or were they pushed?).  The fact that in order to have a world at the right temperature and with all the right ingredients the earth has like fish scales that can move against each other separately plus vents like my pressure cooker, so that the whole thing doesn't smash or explode. Part of that means that we have to cope with earthquakes and volcanoes. They allow growth of continents, rich farm land and even spit out fresh water into the atmosphere amongst other things. If we keep records (which most people's do even if it's oral ones), and take notice of them (which most peoples don't even when they're written down), most natural disasters are predictable - tho maybe not the actual precise date or magnitude. We can learn how to deal with things. We could avoid class dictated architecture - safe buildings for the rich, precarious ones for the poor; safe arable land for the rich, volcano slopes for the poor ....

How come, knowing that we have a dynamic, very dynamic God, did we let ourselves drift into the Aristotelian view of a static earth and static societies ?  We're designed to cope with comfort and adversity, both as individuals and as communities. How did we let ourselves drift into the easy peasy no more needy theologies so we can cop out of looking after each other, it's just lack of faith of course, isn't it ... ?


“Rain down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, The Lord have created it.” (Is 45:8)


I find these verses particularly exciting cos after the appalling naughtiness and ultimate expulsion from their homes of those people, (despite clear guidelines and after centuries of warnings) God is not turning his back on them. It's a parental punishment that is for correction not rejection. He's saying :

"Look folks, I still have the map even though you feel lost. I'm bigger than all this. I made it. I make it work. I send good and bad. I can still talk even though you've not got a temple. I will eventually get you out of this desert parched cracked bit of Babylonia back to your nice green hills and rain off the Med. Until then, however, know that what really waters and nourishes you is my righteousness, the green shoots I want to see are salvation. ie no more being mean to the poor and needy and foreigners, no more leeching the fields of their fallow years, no more hanging with fake deities and copying their rituals of appeasement and orgies rather than thanks and repentance."