The L.A. Times ran a column today describing how Biblical preaching on hell is virtually unheard of in mainstream Christianity. While noting that some polls show some 70% of Americans still believe in hell, the authors emphasize the fact we aren't hearing much or talking much about perdition.
So what do the famous preachermen have to say on the subject?
Dr. Robert Schuller:
Perhaps more than any other pastor, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is credited with inspiring the movement to supplant hell with feel-good messages.
The "Hour of Power" televangelist is founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, a forerunner of the thousands of nondenominational congregations that have popped up in recent decades to serve believers uncomfortable with the formality of old-line faiths.
Schuller is another believer in the concept of hell as an eternal separation from God. Yet he stopped preaching on the subject 40 years ago, moving on to a theology that stressed individual success in such books as "If It's Going to Be, It's Up to Me!"
"I don't ever want people to become Christian to escape hell," Schuller said.
The Pope was also mentioned, of course:
In 1999, Pope John Paul II made headlines by saying that hell should be seen not as a fiery underworld but as "the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy."
As much as that seemed like a departure from church beliefs, the pope's words weren't all that new. The Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s moved away from the view of hell as a gothic torture chamber as part of the Second Vatican Council's modernization of church teachings.
And last but not least, the Rev. Billy Grahm:
One measure of hell's continued decline can be found in the changed attitude of the Rev. Billy Graham, who came to prominence in the 1940s as a fire-and-brimstone Gospel preacher. His depiction of hell was unequivocal, an unpleasant address for unrepentant sinners.
Even Graham has reconsidered hell[~]not whether it exists, but what it is.
" ... I believe that hell is essentially separation from God. That we are separated from God, so we can have hell in this life and hell in the life to come ... ," Graham told an interviewer in 1991. "But to describe hell in vivid terms like I might have done 30 or 40 years ago, I'm not at liberty to do that because ... whether there is actually fire in hell or not, I do not know."
Billy Grahm is not at liberty to say... Hrmmmm. Didn't know those Bible verses were a Heavenly State Secret. I'm glad the authors of the column at least bothered to look up a bit of what the Bible has to say on the subject -- because they apparently won't be hearing much about it from American pulpits:
Jesus is quoted in the Bible describing hell as the "outer darkness" consumed by an "everlasting fire." The book of Revelation warned that sinners would be "thrown into the lake of fire." Matthew's Gospel offered a soundtrack: the "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
With all these preachers running around talking about being saved, one must wonder aloud "Saved ... from what?" Honest Biblical teaching?
