GIVING UP BAD THEOLOGY 4 Monday Study

In our Monday study on March 9, we talk about hell. Yeah… fun…. If – as we learned last Sunday - the devil does not exist as a literal, red-horned figure with a pitchfork, what does that mean for hell? Is hell a real place somewhere “down there”? Or has our imagination been shaped more by medieval paintings, horror movies, and cartoon devils than by Scripture itself? When we hear the word hell, what rises up in us? Fear? Anger? A sense of justice? Or maybe confusion?

For many Christians, hell has been the emotional engine of faith, the thing that keeps us in line. The unspoken background music of religion: Believe the right thing… or else. But what kind of faith grows best in fear? And what kind of God do we imagine when fear is at the center? If God is love — not occasionally loving, but love itself — how do we hold that together with images of eternal torment? And if our theology produces more anxiety than hope, more terror than transformation, is it possible that something needs to be reexamined? During this Lenten season, we are giving up bad theology. Not giving up God. Not giving up faith. But letting go of ideas that distort the heart of the Gospel. Today we dare to ask: What if “giving up hell” is not about denying Scripture but about rediscovering the depth of God’s mercy? Let us open our hearts. Not in fear. But in trust.