Last Sunday, during out adult faith formation time at my church, we had a session called, “Stump the Pastor.” It is something we do occasionally. Stump the pastor is simply a time when anyone can come and ask any question of me they wish to ask. I enjoy the opportunity to hear the questions asked and to respond as best I can.

I was a little surprised by the very first question asked. A person shared that they had learned something from Buddhism about meditation, about quieting the mind, but wondered if all Buddhists would go to hell. That thought seemed to bother her. It bothers me.

There is no denying that there is a long and strong history within the Christian faith tradition that would affirm that all those who do not confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, atheists, et. al. are destined for hell, for eternal punishment. I recently had occasion to visit the national web site of the Vineyard Churches and found there a statement of beliefs. Among those are that human beings need to turn to “Christ alone for salvation” and that “after Christ returns to reign, he will bring about… the final judgment and the eternal blessing of the righteous and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.” This tradition is alive and well, but is it the best interpretation of the good news of Christianity?

I am reminded of words penned by the Christian theologian Origen in On First Principles where he talks about members of the church who “while believing indeed that there is none greater than the Creator, in which they are right, yet believe such things about him as would not be believed of the most savage and unjust of men.”

Think about some of the most ruthless leaders in human history – Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. Don’t we consider them savage and ruthless for their encouragement of torture and mass killing? Yet there is a strand of Christian theology that would assign to God the role of consigning all those who do not believe in Jesus Christ to eternal conscious punishment – not just a punishment that lasts forever, but one that is felt forever. While we might consider some of those just named as deserving of something like eternal conscious punishment, would we really think that anyone who does not hold certain beliefs deserves conscious punishment that never ends? Where is a sense of proportionality? Can the God who is love also be a judge who sentences persons to torture forever?

I take seriously the biblical passages that speak of judgment, and there is certainly an eternal element to judgment. If we fail to love, to speak a word of healing, to help someone in need when we might have done so, we miss that particular opportunity and we cannot change that. Our past actions live forever, even when they are forgiven, even when we are able to reconcile ourselves with our failings. Judgment passages highlight the vital importance of our decisions, but I don’t think “eternal conscious punishment” is a necessary Christian doctrine. In fact, there is much to be said for the idea that it is less than Christian.

As a Christian, I think my primary task is to live my faith, grow in my faith, share my faith with others and listen to others as they share their faith. I need to speak and listen respectfully to those who do not share my faith in Jesus Christ. When others from other religious traditions or no religious tradition at all act in ways that further God’s kingdom, I will work with them. When they do that better than many Christians, I will hear God’ s word of judgment come through them, telling me that the church can do better, that I can do better. I am willing to do all this and trust that God will deal graciously with all humanity.

A couple of years ago, I read Marjorie Suchocki’s book Divinity and Diversity: a Christian affirmation of religious pluralism. It is just what it says, an affirmation of religious pluralism from explicitly Christian theological premises. For anyone struggling with this issue, the book is well worth reading. I close with these words from Suchocki’s book: God is calling religious peoples in particular to model new ways of friendship in today’s world. We can no longer afford our wars – if ever we could! – and we only increase the horror and shame when we name our religions as reasons for war. I believe God calls us to a “peaceable kingdom” of God’s reign in this world. That reign will be a reflection of God’s image through the emerging creation of the world as a community of many communities, where we each learn to respect one another and work with one another in friendship.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David