Reflection and True Living

This post is my last update on the book Reason For God by Timothy Keller. I had been warned before reading it that it was a tough read, and now I understand why. Not only does the author use difficult words and confusing sentence structure often, but the topics being discussed are SO huge that it has been hard for me to read more than a page at a time!

One of the questions that stood out a lot for me as well as my book group was : "Is there a Hell?"
This question was INTENSE! When I have thought about it in the past, I have struggled with the idea of God sending his children to an eternal suffering, or people CHOOSING it for that matter! My dad always said to me "I don't believe in a God that would do something like that."
But after some discussing, our teacher joined in and brought up a very good point (in particular for myself and my confusion on the answer). He brought up the point that people can see or hear things and still choose not to believe. They don't want to believe. They are not interested in knowing the God of all things. So its not so much that they 'want' or 'choose' suffering, but that they choose a life without God.

So after the discussion I turned to the Bible and looked into this a bit more, and what God says about eternal life and eternal suffering. What I came to realize is that, not only are we asked to believe, but we are asked to ACT on what we believe. Just like a surgeon cannot earn the title until he has finished Med school, can we as christians earn the title through our actions and work.

In Luke 25:34-46 it talks about just this:

Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.  

 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?

 Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The big thing I took away from Reason For God was a new willingness to find answers for myself. I have developed a deeper interest to try and respond to the bigger questions of christianity and believe they are important to know. I'm not saying that there is an answer to everything, but I feel now an eagerness to check and see, and not just live in ignorant bliss.