Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
Week 8: Chapter 8 — Hell: Divine Torture Chamber or Just Consequence?
Read Chapter 8 of Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers. Key passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 20:11-15.
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Hell may be the doctrine that modern people most want to eliminate — and Childers understands why. But she argues that abandoning it costs more than we realize. Come to these questions willing to sit with both the difficulty and the necessity of what Scripture teaches.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Childers surveys the range of positions on hell within progressive Christianity — from annihilationism (the wicked are destroyed rather than tormented) to universal reconciliation (everyone is eventually saved) to a complete rejection of hell as a concept. What are the primary arguments she identifies for each position? Which do you find most emotionally compelling, and which do you find most biblically compelling?
2.She notes that Jesus Himself spoke about hell more than almost any other figure in the New Testament — more than He spoke about heaven. What is the significance of that fact? How does the fact that the most loving person who ever lived also warned most urgently about hell affect your thinking about the doctrine?
3.Childers engages with the universalist argument — that a God of love will ultimately save everyone, perhaps through a process of post-mortem refinement. What is the emotional appeal of universalism? What does she argue is theologically at stake if universalism is true?
a.If everyone is saved in the end, what happens to the concept of genuine human freedom — the ability to ultimately and finally reject God?
b.Does universalism make the cross more or less necessary? Why?
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