thanks. i am completely new to this “emergent” reality and am extremely quick to recognize that my thinking is informed not only by my previous thought (both yesterday or a decade ago) but also by the thoughts espoused around me throughout every age that has preceded me.

that said, i am quite eager to re-examine our interpretation of scripture, its history and the formation of the church. as an artist i thrive in the risk of new. however, as a 40-year “believer” i cannot always recognize where my old influences, or perhaps faulty logic lay, and am aware of the danger of isolated musing over such a communal act as the following of christ. so i am grateful for interaction.

here are some thoughts:

“If we must insist upon talking about people’s ‘final destination’”

HA! that made me laugh out loud. i myself have been quite puzzled over my seemingly sudden obsession with this, as i have never been particularly troubled by it before. but as i cannot seem to change my state, i hope you will bear with me as i wrestle what (today) seems to have me in a crisis of faith. i am curious why it seems a sort of non-issue for you. a good curious.

“I also think Andrew might have something to say about the traditional formulation of Jesus ‘descending into hell’.” 

yes i wondered about that, since - while potentially biblically supported - it is really from a creed.

Again, the emerging church’s conceptions of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ differ significantly from those of traditional evangelicalism.

here my newness shows, i am trying to comprehend this. what exactly does this emergent view hold? that hell was the judgment that jerusalem and/or rome already saw? is there no eternal then? or is this what you were refering to when talking about redefining eternity outside the modern understanding of time? i am sorry if i seem dull or unread. just trying to gather it in.

“so while your ‘universalism’ may be perfectly understandable, it may stem from an incorrect understanding of judgment talk in the new testament.”

what is this incorrect judgment talk?

i understand that there are a variety of words that have been translated into “hell.” however, i have yet to find a place - within catholic or protestant doctrine (with the exception of the universalists who seem to have been swallowed up by the unitarians - something entirely different than it was in the 1800s) who do not proclaim something like “eternal torture of souls who do not profess christ in this life.”

although i have a community of believers gathered around me, i have been outside organized “church” for quite some time. as i try to love again the bride of christ, to not scorn her, to find a place i might belong, i find a block in this “eternal torture” that causes me to stumble with god himself.

thanks for letting me in.