Obstacles. Things to overcome. Difficult subjects to deal with. Questions that seem to have no solution. All of these are realities of life. In school, there is always the bully or drama or unsolicited ridicule. In marriage, there is always another argument that could be brewing or disagreement on how to fold the laundry. In parenting, there are the sleepless nights, emotional heartaches, and worry sessions.

Life is full of difficult situations and obstacles. This is also true of any worldview or belief system one may hold to. As a Christian, two of the most common obstacles I interact with people concerning the Christian faith are 1) suffering and evil and 2) the doctrine of hell. While there has been plenty written on both, I want to point to an article on the second.

The obstacle typically sounds something like this, “I know some fine people who are Muslim, Jewish or agnostic. I cannot believe they are going to hell just because they don’t believe in Jesus. In fact, I cannot reconcile the very idea of hell with a loving God” How does one reconcile two seemingly opposing ideas: a loving God and an eternal punishment called hell?

Tim Keller steps in to help us work through this obstacle to understanding and hopefully believing the Christian faith, most importantly the Savior Jesus Christ. Dr. Keller addresses this issue in his article “Preaching Hell in a Tolerant Age“. Two points he makes in the article are worth noting, “hell is less exclusive than so-called tolerance and there is no love without wrath”.

Enjoy the article, be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day and I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Photo by Pau Casals on Unsplash