The hell debate ignited by the publication of Rob Bell’s controversial Love Wins, does not seem to be slowing down out there in Christian land.
Francis Chan is the latest soldier to take up arms in defense of the “Truth” about hell against Bell’s “heresy” about love.
Francis Chan is writing a book to be published by David C. Cook in July. In preparation the publisher has released a 9 minute video in which Chan pleads for the prayers of his viewers as he works on Erasing Hell: What God Says About Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up.
Chan begins with an impassioned plea for humility. He then proceeds to accuse anyone who disagrees with him of lacking humility, being “heartless”, “careless”, arrogant, dishonest, and willfully and knowingly choosing to neglect obvious evidence. It is a curious demonstration of the humility Mr. Chan informs us he has pleaded to receive from God.
In addition to casting aspersions upon anyone whose understanding of Scripture may differ from his, Chan doles out liberal amounts of sarcasm. Looking intently into the camera he asks his opponents,
Do you ever even consider the possibility that maybe the Creator’s sense of justice is actually more developed than yours and that maybe his love and his mercy are perfect and that you could be the one that is flawed?
Mr. Chan, do you honestly believe there is anyone who has never considered “that maybe the Creator’s sense of justice is actually more developed than yours”? Who are you pointing a finger at when you suggest there might be a serious Christian thinker who has never considered that he or she “could be the one that is flawed”?
Strangely, Chan seems squeamish about the whole idea of having a theological discussion. He voices his concern saying,
I’ve been concerned as I’ve listened to some of the discussion about hell, and read some of these things that are written because, the tone which we use; we’ve got to be careful here. We have to guard ourselves against, first of all heartlessness. Do you understand what we’re talking about? We’re talking about real people here. We can’t just have these theological discussions about a doctrine when we’re talking about peoples’ eternal destinies here.
Is Mr. Chan proposing to publish a book about hell in which he does not have a theological discussion? Of course the subtitle of the book itself gives away Mr. Chan’s strategy. He is not going to engage in theological discussion. He is merely going to present “What God Says.” There is not much point in having a discussion if it is going to involve arguing against God.
Admittedly a 9 minute video may not be the place to engage in serious theological exploration. But, even for 9 minutes, Chan’s presentation is curiously lacking in substance. He does not offer any serious arguments. But he does find time to resort frequently to two of the most inappropriate motivations for any Christian preaching.
Throughout his presentation Chan appeals to self-interest and fear. “It is your destiny at stake.” If you do not agree with Chan’s understanding of the Bible, you risk an eternity of suffering and torment. Yet, at the outset of his presentation, Chan himself has admitted that when he studies the Bible,
some of the things I thought were so clear; they’re really not that clear in Scripture.
Mr. Chan, where does your not “so clear” Bible say that I will be condemned to an eternity of suffering because I honestly and genuinely disagree with you about a complicated theological issue? Does my eternal salvation really depend upon being right about a controversial and difficult theological construct?
Chan concludes his 9 minute video with a final challenge,
We can’t afford to be wrong on this issue.
I am pretty sure Mr. Chan does not have too many anxious moments about being “wrong on this issue.” So, he is really saying, “You can’t afford to be wrong on this issue.”
I always understood that salvation rested on trusting God. In Chan’s theology it appears that my eternal destiny actually resides in trusting Francis Chan. It all hinges on getting the right answer (Mr. Chan’s answer) about the doctrine of hell. If I am sincerely wrong, I am condemned. If I am genuinely mistaken, I am lost. If I have been innocently misled, God will assign me to hell.
How many doctrines are there on which I need to get the correct answer before I merit a place in Mr. Chan’s heaven? How smart do I need to be? Will children who have been innocently deceived into believing there might not be a terrible place called “hell” go there if they die too soon to benefit from Mr. Chan’s correction? How soon should parents start terrifying their children with the prospect of an eternity of suffering, to make sure they are spared such a terrible destiny?
God no doubt is perfect. I no doubt am flawed. But if I have to accept such a radical disconnect between my understanding of justice and love and God’s understanding, it is difficult to see how that gap will ever be bridged for most people.
This video is not good news. It is a counsel for despair for the majority of the world who will never find their way into the arms of Chan’s capricious God.
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John Shore, in an article at Huffington Post, raises an interesting pragmatic question for Christians about the relationship between the doctrine of hell and Christian attempts to evangelize the world. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-shore/how-francis-chan-and-his-_b_865681.html
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How many people are likely to be scared into heaven by focusing on a God who will condemn them to an eternity of suffering if they get their theology wrong?
How many people will be driven away from Jesus by preaching that focuses on a God who condemns any human being on this earth to eternal conscious torment simply because that poor deluded person genuinely disagrees with the vision of a God who condemns the majority of humanity to hell?
7 comments
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May 27, 2011 at 11:24 am
jaqueline
wrong on this issue? Oh dear…I am thankful that our salvation depends more on God’s love for us than on his distaste for our sin.
For goodness sake..of course God takes sin seriously..so much so that instead of making sure we all go to hell he decided to take the sin on himself…so we might be free to live and love.
Let’s focus on and believe in that shall we?
June 1, 2011 at 12:07 pm
timberwraith
Well, I found the video. (Just do a YouTube search for “Erasing Hell by Francis Chan”.)
Ish.
I know that his video was targeted toward Christians, but to a non-believer, his video only serves as an argument against the religion. He lists many of the stories of divine cruelty that atheists list among their reasons for rejecting the bible and Christianity. His video reminds me of precisely the reasons why I stopped being a Christian so long ago.
I know that you are hearing nothing new from me.
I think that if Christianity truly wants to portray itself as a religion of love and compassion, it needs to promote more voices like the Rob Bells and John Shelby Spongs of the world. It seems that too often, these voices are marginalized in the larger discussion because of exactly what you have addressed, Christopher: fear. Fear can motivate the masses but collective fear rarely provides a space for love.
I think that Francis Chan is using a variation of Pascal’s Wager on other Christians. Essentially, he is saying, “Believe as I do. You have everything to gain if you do. If you choose to believe in another way, you potentially choose eternal suffering.” My response to people like this is always the same. “Really? You know, there are 40 or so religions on the planet and many, many more that have disappeared into the memory hole of history. Each of those religions has hundreds, perhaps thousands of sects and denominations. How do you know that you believe in the correct religion and the correct sect/denomination? What if you’ve been lead astray and you wind up suffering in someone else’s version of eternal damnation? What then?”
So, why is this guy’s take on divinity the only one that should receive people’s attention? Because his notion of divinity carries a bigger stick and can beat everyone up? Because his notion of divinity shouldn’t be questioned because he claims that his version of divinity is the supreme authority? Sez who? Lot’s of people make false arguments by appealing to authority. That’s nothing new. There are billions of other people who don’t share the same notions of divinity as Mr. Chan. What about them?
June 28, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Yirmiyahu
I have seen nothing here to refute Francis Chan’s theological views on Hell; only attacks on his character. Make sure to pull the chunk out of your own eye so you can see more clearly what you criticize him for.
You can cry day and night about scaring people with “Hellfire”, but God will speak in any way He sees fit and if you think the fear of Hell can’t bring a person to a loving relationship with Jesus that reflects love onto others, than you are very arrogant indeed. In my personal case, I needed to see the troubling reality of Hell before I could see the vastness of God’s beauty and love.
If you don’t believe that the Bible is a library of God’s truth then there is no point in discussing what the Bible says about Hell. Otherwise please consider just one of many passages…
“Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28
Francis Chan may not always be the warmest speaker, but neither are you. I wonder how Jesus’ listeners felt about Him? I wonder if He ever offended anyone in the pursuit of warning people to repent? I wonder how the people in the land of Egypt felt about God when the first born not under the blood of a lamb were destroyed?
Are you so very sure that there is not the harshest judgment available to those who aren’t under the Lamb’s Blood? Honestly, I’m not certain about how ‘everything works’, I do not have ‘all my theology worked out’, my doctrine of Hell may differ from Chan’s, but I do fear the Lord and I won’t gamble…
“However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.” – Ezekiel 33:6
Accuse me of being religious and accuse me of using Scripture to make any point I see fit, but I won’t be held accountable for the blood of another. I use love and discernment in discussing any matter with people, but I won’t shy away from the truth of Hell that I’ve seen in the Bible and have been shown through experience.
December 7, 2011 at 10:44 am
Dave
Unfortunatley Mr. Chan is 100% WRONG in his BASIC.FEAR.GOD video.
To understand what King David wrote when he said ” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge” We must first look at WHO wrote the book of Psalms and in what language it was writen.
It was writen in ancient Hebrew, not English.
In the Old Testament Psalms, the Hebrew word used for this fear is yirah, which denotes piety and reverence rather than abject terror. This is why some modern translations say “revere the Lord” rather than “fear the Lord”.
The other Hebrew word for fear is pachad, mentioned in Isaiah 2:10, 19 and 21, it is the abject terror of an unrepentant sinner before the justice of God.
The second use of the word FEAR is what Mr. Chan is using in his speach unfortunatley for him it is 100% wrong of him to change the meaning of what was originally intended by the Author.
Sorry to burst your Chan Bubble. But I have been studying the Original ancient hebrew texts of the Bible for several years mainly becuse of the missuse of Gods word by Preachers and Teachers like Mr. Chan.
Dont get me wrong, Mr. Chan DOES have some incredible insight into Christianity and has been blessed with a ministry that has brought many to Christ. But unfotunatley his passion soemtimes gets in the way of TRUTH.
Blessings to all.
July 6, 2011 at 9:44 am
John Corbitt
Well said Yirmiyahu.
As far as the Huffington writer’s pragmatic point goes, that all Christians are saved whether they believe in a literal Hell or not, I say ridiculous. Someone who claims to be saved yet rejects Christ’s many teachings on a literal Hell rejects Him as Lord. You cannot know Christ as Lord without yielding to Him. And if you do not know Him as Lord, you do not know Him as savior because the two are both sides of the same coin.
But it goes further than that in that anyone who in pride (“I won’t believe this, even though Christ teaches it, because I don’t like it”) rejects a clear doctrine from God’s word becomes a false teacher when teaching that doctrine is wrong and that YOU, a sinful man or woman, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, has the correct teaching. Shameful arrogance.
May 12, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Jason Nelson
Wow…..reading some of the comments, I must have been watching a different 9min Chan video. He’s not a fear monger at all. The point is that the truth has no agenda and people with agendas try to block it out.
June 3, 2012 at 4:57 pm
KnowTheTruthToday
The truth must be told. The fact that sometimes it may be distasteful is beside the point. To sugar coat what God says will not serve a purpose in converting anyone.