How can a loving God send somebody to Hell?

The problem of Hell is one of the most emotional issues for Christians sharing their faith.
This is a very unpleasant thing that many people do not want to hear, but sometimes the most loving thing is to tell a person something unpleasant so that they can avoid it. It is unpleasant for a physician to tell his patient that he has cancer; but it is the most loving thing to be honest and tell the patient that he has cancer, so that his cancer can be treated and possibly cured. Likewise, a person may not want to hear about Hell, but the most loving thing is not to avoid the subject but to honestly answer it.
Several times I have seen Larry King interview Christians, and ask them, “Do you believe that a person who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ is going to Hell?” Being asked that question almost feels like being asked, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” Any simple answer will make you sound bad, and many ministers have squirmed under that question. Joel Osteen answered it very poorly.
Here is a portion of the transcript interview between Larry King and Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas, which aired June 20, 2005, on CNN...

[Read the rest of this sermon in the first comment below:]

What Darwinism cannot explain

Over 600 doctoral scientists have signed a statment called "Dissent from Darwinism" which reads: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

Why do a growing number of scientists doubt Darwin?

There are five things Darwinism cannot explain:

1. The "first cause" of the universe.

2. The origin of life.

3. Human consciousness and reasoning.

4. The "Cambrian explosion" when most of the known phyla of the animal kingdom show up in the fossil record in a relatively brief period of history.

5. The complexity of the simplest life forms, such as bacterial flagellum and DNA.

Read more in the first comment below.

How to pray for Virginia Tech

After the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I looked up the email address of the Baptist campus minister, Darrell Cook, and contacted him to let him know I was praying for him as he sought to minister in this crisis.

Today he replied with these prayer requests:

- Pray for the students now that names have been released and the reality of connections and relationships bring the grief to another level. Pray for grace and healing for them in the deep hurt. [Bob's note: See the Virginia Tech Memorium site for a list of the names of victims and information.]
- Pray for the family of Brian, a grad student in our ministry who was killed Monday. Pray for our alumni and students that were close to Brian as well.
- Praise for a gathering of 300 plus students at our BCM Center Monday night to pray and begin to walk through the grief process. We have had our “normal” student-led events on Tuesday and Wednesday and our leaders have seemed mature beyond their years in showing concern for others right now.
- Pray for wisdom for our staff (Susan, Mark, Leah, Laura, and myself) and student leaders in all the opportunities that will come through relationships on campus in the weeks to come.

Darrell Cook
Baptist Collegiate Ministries at VT
Virginia Baptist Mission Board

Article in Baptist Press about Baptist students killed, Brian Bluhm and Rachael Hill.

Article in Baptist Press about a third Baptist student killed, Nicole White.

NOTE TO FIRST BAPTIST RINCON READERS: Our college & career department has made a maroon poster with an orange ribbon (Virginia Tech's colors) with a picture of Brian Bluhm, a Baptist student mentioned above who was killed. They will have it on display at the church for people to sign messages, and then we will mail it to the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at VT.

The problem of evil

Three recent dates bring back painful memories: September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck America; December 26, 2004, when a tsunami destroyed many coastal peoples in the Indian Ocean; and August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
This evil and suffering raises a question: where is God? If God is all-powerful and good, why didn’t He stop these things from happening? How can I believe in God when there is evil and suffering in the world?
The most helpful answer is to understand that God created human beings with freedom of will, and those humans chose to disobey God and sin. Because of sin, there is evil and suffering in the world. Peter Kreeft uses the analogy of a magnet holding up three iron rings. The magnet symbolizes God; the first ring represents the soul, the second ring represents the body, and the third ring represents nature. As long as the soul stays in touch with God, the magnetic life flows through soul, body and all of God’s creation. But when the soul freely declares its independence from God, the result is that the whole chain of rings are demagnetized and it all falls apart. (Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, p. 135.)
God could have made humans to be like robots with no freedom of will, and then there would have been no evil, but here’s the flipside: with no freedom of will, there could also be no love.
C. S. Lewis wrote a book about this called The Problem of Pain. Lewis pointed out that the existence of evil should make us believe all the more in God, rather than believe in God less. Lewis asked, how is it that we know some things to be evil? Where did we get the idea that evil is wrong? Where did we get the idea that things ought to be good? Doesn’t our desire for good tell us that there must be a good God?
Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil?” (Matthew 6:13)
Some answers like this are helpful, but when we look for answers to the problem of evil in the Bible, we do not find many answers. Books like Job deal with evil and suffering, but they don’t give easy answers to the problem. No, what we find in the Bible is not so much answers to the problem of evil as actions for the problem of evil. What I mean is that the Bible doesn’t spend much time telling us what God says about evil, but it does spend a lot of time telling us what God does about evil. From this, we can learn three responses to the problem of evil and suffering.

[Keep reading this post by clicking on the comments and reading the first comment.]

I think he should have stayed for the sermon

You've heard of dumb criminal stories, but here's one with a strange church twist. Howard Morgan of Savannah visited Asbury United Methodist Church for Easter services yesterday, but instead of staying for the sermon, he stole a member's car keys, left church and drove away in the car, running into five other cards in the parking lot as he left. Police had no problem finding him, since he had filled out visitor information in the church's guest book and had given them his correct name and address. I think he should have stayed for the sermon. He told the police that "the devil made him do it." Read the story from WTOC-TV in Savannah here and the report in the Savannah Morning News here.

The problem of miracles and the resurrection of Jesus

Most people who deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ do not actually discuss the evidence for the resurrection. Instead, their objection goes like this: the resurrection is a miracle; science shows that miracles don’t happen, so Jesus could not have risen from the dead. So instead of dealing with the evidence, they simply deny that it is possible, and anybody who believes such things is ignorant or stupid.
The contemporary atheist author, Richard Dawkins, put it this way: “The virgin birth, the Resurrection, the raising of Lazarus, even the Old Testament miracles, all are freely used for religious propaganda, and they are very effective with an audience of unsophisticates and children.” (Richard Dawkins, “Snake Oil and HolyWater.” Available November 19, 1999 on the Internet at www.forbes.com/asap/99/1004/235.htm cited in Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, p. 57)
How do Christians reply to this claim that miracles contradict science?

1. A person who denies the possibility of miracles is closed-minded, unwilling to consider all possibilities.

2. If an all-powerful Creator God exists, miracles are possible.

3. Miracles do not violate any "laws of nature," they merely interrupt them.

4. Miracles do not contradict science; they are merely outside the field of science.

Read all four explanations in detail by clicking on the first comment below:

Circle of Celebration

On Sunday, April 1, First Baptist Church of Rincon celebrated the final payment on the debt for our new worship center, by going outside, circling the building, joining hands and singing "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow." There were about 1,000 people in the circle.

This picture was taken by Jennifer Spence from a firetruck ladder. Thanks, Jennifer, for "going out on a limb" to record an historical day in the life of our church!

Florida wins National Championship again

The Florida Gators made history by winning the national championship in men's college basketball, after winning the national championship in football earlier this year.