Tuesday, June 24, 2008

If hell is real, how can God be loving?

As I was watching ABC News online today, the story about George Carlin's death came up. They "tried" to play some of his less blasphemous work. The final sketch was of him joking about why religion is such a farce. He said, "How can there be a man in the sky watching everything I do. He watches and says, 'Keep these 10 rules!' If you don't he says, 'You will go to a burning hell forever!' Then he says, 'But wait, I love you.'"
The next shot is Melissa Vargas laughing right along. I just shook my head in sadness.

So what is the answer? Is the answer that God is not loving? Is the answer that there is no real eternal hell? No. Neither of these answers are Biblical. The answer is that God's love is not George Carlin-centered. God's love is gloriously God-centered.

Listen to John Piper answer here.

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