[See http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/section/jc1.htm for the previous six articles].

Matthew's Last Judgment scene has the King saying to 'those on his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels"' (25:41 NRSV).

First, some of the hard questions...

A well-known radio commentator, Ormsby Wilkins, attended a Billy Graham 'crusade' in Sydney. His verdict: 'Last night Dr Graham was preaching about heaven and hell, and if I heard him right, he told us that only evangelical Christians who received Jesus as their personal Saviour are going to heaven, and the rest of us are destined for hell. He seemed to indicate that if any of us were run over by a bus before we made that commitment, it was hell for eternity, with no reprieve.

'Here's my first problem. We've just introduced legislation in this country to give us all a "cooling-off" period before we are talked into buying anything. Apparently Billy Graham's God isn't that compassionate. Someone hearing all this for the first time is done for unless they make a decision, there and then.

'Second, Dr. Graham described heaven as a sort of cosmic eternal party where Christians are having a wonderful time. Meanwhile some of their loved ones are in hell - *and they know it!* and *they can go on having their party*!!!

'If that's the best kind of heaven he's offering, I don't want to go there.

'Third, apparently if you don't repent, you'll suffer for ever, with no second chance. And let us theorize that some who go to hell have only had one chance - like last night - to decide. This approach to retributive punishment is not only inhumane and lacking compassion, but it's forever folks! That's on and on and on - and you're conscious... Would any of the fathers or mothers listening to me want their child punished forever for *one wrong decision* made in this life?'

Good questions, I reckon...

How would you respond?

-- Shalom! Rowland Croucher http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

'We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.' - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man