The Everyday Club

6/6/11 Damien, Davee 19,17
In our American church culture that too often believes in cheap grace, how do we make the possibility of hell real to people? At a park where our church was holding it's softball league, I had met Damien and Davee - two teenage brothers who had grown up in a mixed church background and now reject religion - and as a result of our conversation they had agreed they would be found guilty on judgment day, but they still weren't concerned, clinging to a belief that God would just forgive them. Damion said "So everyone is guilty then, but I know God won't send everyone to hell." I could see his point, that a God who would create mankind only to condemn us all to hell does seem too unbelieveable to take seriously. I'm starting to think that just as the good news of God's grace doesn't make sense without the bad news of the just punishment we deserve for our sin, the reverse is also true:- the bad news doesn't make sense without the good news. The idea of hell sounded crazy to Damion and Devee, because their trust is in a different god who will simply give cheap grace and forgiveness to anyone who asks. I had felt they weren't ready for the gospel since they hadn't taken their own guilt seriously, but then I found myself telling them about Jesus and the cross for that same reason; because the cross reminds us that there is grace but in no way is it cheap.