Stuck

What do you do when a non-believer asks you what Jesus says about hell, and you tell him what the Bible has to say about it, and he feels condemned and angry for saying what it's saying? Anger is the right response...if the person didn't feel condemned and judged then I would think that there is something wrong. But dang it if there was an easier way, if the truth were easier...but truth is never easy. It's not easy to look into your heart and acknowledge all of the sin that is there. I'm having a really hard time sharing the gospel with my neighbor. If we were peers then it might be easier, but he is a father, very intellectual, giving, kind, and very critical of Jesus and my beliefs. I feel small and inadequate, naive about the world and not sure of what I can do to help or make a difference. When he asks me about what Jesus says about hell, what else can I do but give an account of what I believe? There is no sugar-coating hell, though sometimes I wish there were. In his blog, Michael C Patton off of the GospelCoalition says it well:

"I have gone on record saying that I hate the doctrine of Hell. If there is anything in my theology that I could discard—if there was a theological “burn card”—it would be the doctrine of eternal punishment. It causes me great anxiety and disillusionment. I am sorry if that makes some of you uncomfortable, but that is just the way it is. That is me.

That is why I am somewhat jealous of people who can find their way out of this doctrine. That is why, in one sense, I am envious of those who have found ways to adjust or deny the existence of the eternal punishment of the unredeemed. Would that I could follow them, but my conscience will not yield to my emotions and allow me to."

So God give me faith to stand firm in my faith while speaking in compassion and love. Show me my own sin to convict me further of the great depravity of human nature, and that truly "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and that by grace alone we are saved. Help me to only be satisfied with pleasing Christ, not man, and to pursue truth in every circumstance. Give me wisdom and insight beyond my years to be able to speak your truth, and if I am hated for it then so be it.

I pray that I can claim the promise written in Romans 5:2-4, "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope for the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."