Aaron Rogers, who used to be known as a Christian, recently said, “I’ve had some good friendships along the way that helped me figure out what exactly I wanted to believe in and ultimately it was that rules and regulations and binary systems don’t really resonate with me…I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet…to a fiery hell. What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn most of his beautiful creation to a fiery hell at the end of all this?”
Whoever said that God WANTS to condemn most of the planet to hell? Not God, who sent His only Son to die for us so we wouldn’t have to. Faith in Christ isn’t ultimately about rules and regulations and “binary systems” (right and wrong?). It’s about having a growing and eternal relationship of love with our Creator who is the source of all Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Yes, hell is real, but would we really want a universe without it, given all the evil we see in God’s beautiful creation?
Clearly, Aaron had a deficient understanding of the Christian faith in his earlier years … or else he is using these thoughts as rationalizations so that he can live his life without God. I would tell Aaron that God is not at all like the caricature he presents and that his life–which seems so full now–will ultimately leave him empty. Only Jesus Christ can fill his spiritual hunger and quench his spiritual thirst.
