IS GOD PREPARING A HELL BARBECUE FOR SINNERS?!

In the Gospel, Christ used the language, expressions, and sayings that people circulated in His time and  His Jewish community, such as the phrase “hell of fire.” But when we read the Gospel, we do not find that the fire He’s talking about means the incandescent fire used in the barbecue, as the ancient people told us and inherited this idea. Jesus took this rolling expression to describe the state of human misery of those outside the glory of His eternal life, as fire. He never said that God, the Heavenly Father, would throw people into this fire, as human barbecue, because they are sinners and must be punished. On the contrary, in the Gospel of Mathew, chapter nine, verses ten till thirteen, we read that many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw that, they asked why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, He desires mercy not sacrifice and that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Unfortunately, Christian preachers have also been influenced by this inherited idea. In the New Testament, we read in the Gospels that God loved the world and gave us His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish, but that he would have eternal life, i.e., His life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” ( John 3:16).

Christians must read the Gospel well and learn from it, not from the legacies we inherited. We read In the Gospel of Mathew, chapter five, Christ Himself says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old , ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” (Mathew 5:43-45). We see this model of change He has brought to all the old commandments and ancient legacies with all its violence and hostility, which was appropriate for the times of darkness, but does not correspond to the new covenant of grace and  the light of the Gospel of love proclaimed to us by God through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

In the old, people considered natural disasters were acts of revenge and punishment from God to human beings. One of the legacies we inherited to tarnish God’s image is the flood incident in Noah’s days. They told us that God had decided to destroy all creatures on earth as He considered them sinners. While the truth is that God, because of His love, told Noah about the coming of a natural disaster, the flood,  and advised him to make an arch and call on all people to enter to be saved. But they did not hear Noah’s warning and considered him an idiot. God is a God of salvation and protection, not destructive to humanity and avenged from it as the ancient people portrayed Him. We must understand the natural disasters in their natural contexts, such as river floods and severe sea storms that have occurred in history and continue to occur! Thus, we understand that what happened to Noah, his family, and his animals was the inspiration of God's love for him for salvation, without attributing to God the violent and vengeful images depicted by the ancients. We, the Christians, must read the Old Testament with the eyes of enlightenment of the New Testament and not vice versa.

The Gospel declares that God loves man and seeks to save him from death, destruction, and desolation caused by the devil. He revealed Himself and His true light in Christ Jesus, Who was and still proclaims and endues the love of the Heavenly Father to those who respond to Him, and grants healing from diseases, internal peace, and liberty from the misery of this life to happiness and joy that extends forever.

As the New Testament tells us in St. John's First Epistle, chapter five, verse eleven, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”

In this series of lectures, we will address the distortions of the historical knowledge of the ancients, which painted a bloody picture of human history and a terrible relationship with an absent God! Until love was proclaimed when Christ faced death on the cross and annihilated him with His resurrection. And I will try to give you a practical and living experience, to discover the truth of the Gospel without the distortions of the ancient people, and to experience God's practical and realistic love in our lives, which He continues to offer and grant us through Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit. He still calls on everyone, saying, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mathew 11:28).

You are welcome to join us on this journey to discover the mystery of eternal life and the Heavenly Father’s love for all the world.