Benjamin Franklin said only death and taxes are certain.

The great apostle Paul wrote:

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55)

Most of us try to deflect the topic unless we are facing a medical crisis or an event on the highway. But as I get older it is a top shelf topic.

On a lighter note, I do not think of myself as old, until I look in the mirror and say, “Dad when did you get back”?

Why does DEATH have so much fear? Is it just because of the unknown, or the fear of how we will die? Last but not least, the generally accepted Christian teachings on “Hell” leave no small impact on our soul. For the first four centuries the early church had a different understanding on the subject, as did the Old Testament Hebrews.

For me there are two major questions about Hell. One is it forever and second can it be avoided.

In the seventies, David Clayton Thomas sang, “I do not believe in Heaven, but I hope there ain’t no Hell”.

I am writing this for Outliers, who know they do not have the fire insurance policy. And I am writing it for those who have lost loved ones and friends, who did not or would not “know” Jesus. For those who shrug the topic off with, “I will find out when I get there”. I suppose you will. Good luck. (*1)

The bad news is there is Hell like place, but the good news is it is not forever, as misrepresented by modern interpretation. But for the theological, legal and philosophical arguments I will refer you to vast libraries of documents. (*2) Also, one concise book, by a very humble friend, which boils down the case that the “all” references in the New Testament mean “all” God is not unjust or unloving and picking some people and trashing others.

In short, it matters not what I think or you think, rather what the record states.

I have not left my Christian faith in Jesus, in fact it has increased. It is only by the unselfish, sacrificial offering of the “Christ” coming to earth to rescue us from the darkness that we have hope.

All roads do not lead to Heaven in the short term, there is only one mediator between God and man, so do not call me an universalist. Nor dare not call me a heretic, because you are not my judge anyway. Second, if there is any heresy it lies in the Roman church’s influence on most modern theology. And even anti-Roman folk, still live in and promote stuff not supported by Scripture, OT and NT. But that is for you to discover.

I would encourage everyone to allow Jesus to provide a safe passage to next stage of your life, when you leave here, hopefully not before your best before date.

Whatever your place in spiritual awareness, atheist, agnostic, predestination, free will, the important issue is, He is there/here and He cares.

You can know, that you know, your future is in good hands. A friend calls it the joyous good news of the “VICTORIOUS GOSPEL”

More later with reference links.

In the meantime, let us learn to love each other more and more.

(*1) In the late seventies I was headed to California to hopefully do a master’s on the thesis of out of body experiences. It was in vogue at the time. I knew one person that had an out of body experience. I interviewed a doctor at a heart institute giving him IMHO the thought that when they put people on by-pass they knocked them out of their bodies, that blood gases were not causing hallucinations; I had read case studies that were mathematically impossible to be hallucinations.

Doctor Rawlings book, Beyond Death’s Door is a good read. As a non-believer he had people die on the treadmill, as he gave them a stress test, when a fellow returned after he did CPR he screamed, “pray for me” – the doctor had heard the sinner's prayer in his social walk through religion. The guy flipped out of his body a second time. And when he came back he was at peace.

Rawlings was not at peace; he went home and found a dusty Bible and as they say , “The rest is history”.