A Fresh Perspective

Martha Sterne, in her little book, Earthly Good: Reflections of Life and God , tells about the time an old friend morphed into an unacceptable person. Mrs. Caldwell, who Martha knew was a teacher somewhere, lived a few doors down. She would stop by their house from time to time with treats. She taught her little songs, how to play canasta, and took a wonderful picture of her and her cat. Mrs. Caldwell, says Martha, had fat sausage curls all over her head, just like Aunt Pitty-Pat in Gone with the Wind . And on each cheek was a small, bubblegum-pink, perfectly round circle of rouge. Martha says that she knew Mrs. Caldwell was very beautiful because she loved her and showed it. Well, the years went by. They moved to a new neighborhood. Martha says she worked very hard in junior high to become cool and achieved a kind of fragile success. Then on the first day of her sophomore year in fourth period class guess who turns out to be her algebra teacher? Mrs. Caldwell – complete with saus...

The real tragedy in this story (Luke 16:19-31) is not simply that the rich man finds himself in misery. We all find ourselves in misery at some stage or at various stages in our lives.    I don’t believe hell is one particular place. I think it is many places, conditions, and experiences that we all have to live through in order to grow, to learn, to become more than what we are. We all have our “hells” to live through. As the Apostles Creed says, Jesus “descended into hell.” We all descend into hell. What is more tragic is living through these “hells” and failing to learn and grow. Now that is tragic. This story talks about a chasm that is fixed, where one can’t pass from one sphere to the other, but one can see across it. It’s important to see where we are, where we have been, and where we are going. Taking a good honest look at our past, our present, and where we are headed into the future is very important to real transformation and moral development.  ...

Growing up I often heard the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 preached in revival services, usually on pack-the-pew night. The late Ken Chafin, well known in Baptist circles, told about a friend in college who use to preach a lot at small country churches. Chafin received cards from his friend saying something like: 35 saved in Rival at the Mossy Bottom Baptist Church . Chafin thought that was pretty good since they only had about 25 members. It ignited his curiosity, so he decided to go hear him preach. It was a Friday night and his friend’s sermon that evening was on the Great White Throne Judgment (the text coming out of the book of Revelation). The preacher was decked out in white: white suit, white tie, white shirt, white belt, and even white shoes. He thundered from the pulpit that if you didn’t become white as snow through the blood of the lamb you will find yourself literally in one hell of a predicament, a hell of fire and brimstone. Chafin said that h...