{"id":7224,"date":"2021-11-02T15:46:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T22:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7224"},"modified":"2021-11-03T06:24:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T13:24:44","slug":"the-cross-conquers-hell-mark-938-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7224","title":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-size:40px\" style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\">The Cross Conquers Hell (Mark 9:38-50)<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pentecost-24.pdf\">Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<html>\n\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<meta name=Generator content=\"Microsoft Word 15 (filtered)\">\n<style>\n<!--\n \/* Font Definitions *\/\n @font-face\n\t{font-family:Wingdings;\n\tpanose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Calibri;\n\tpanose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Open Sans\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 6 3 5 4 2 2 4;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n p.MsoNoSpacing, li.MsoNoSpacing, div.MsoNoSpacing\n\t{margin:0in;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{font-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoPapDefault\n\t{margin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tline-height:107%;}\n \/* Page Definitions *\/\n @page WordSection1\n\t{size:8.5in 11.0in;\n\tmargin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n \/* List Definitions *\/\n ol\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\nul\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\n-->\n<\/style>\n\n<\/head>\n\n<body lang=EN-US style='word-wrap:break-word'>\n\n<div class=WordSection1>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>A Sermon\nfor the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The\ngospel text, Mark 9:38-50, warns of hell. Hell is mentioned three times. In the\nfootnotes it points out that two verses were omitted because they say the same\nthing. So in this gospel text five times it talks about hell. The word used\nhere is \u201c<i>Gehenna<\/i>,\u201d which is what we normally mean by \u201chell.\u201d It isn\u2019t\nthe word, \u201cHades,\u201d which can mean \u201cdeath.\u201d Moreover,<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cThe\nunquenchable fire\u201d is mentioned in Matthew 5:29-30, 13:30, 18:8-9. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cThe outer\ndarkness\u201d is mentioned in Matthew 8:12, 22:13, and 25:50. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cWeeping and\ngnashing of teeth\u201d is mentioned in Mattew 13:50, Revelation 9:2, and 21:18. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Among us\ntoday it is widely considered bad taste to talk about hell. You just don\u2019t\nmention it unless in cursing or telling jokes. It\u2019s impolite. If you do talk\nabout hell, people will say: \u201cYou\u2019re a fundamentalist. You\u2019re backward. You\u2019re superstitious.\u201d\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What\nbasically happens is that we pretend that hell, like death, is not something we\nhave to bother with. We try not to think about it. We think that if we don\u2019t\nthink about it, then it magically is not a problem, which is one way we deny\nand fool ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>There\nare religious ideas of hell elsewhere. Back in the Fourteenth Century, Dante\nwrote his epic poem, <i>The Divine Comedy. <\/i>In the first part, <i>Inferno<\/i>,\nhell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment going down to the center\nof the earth. One must go through hell in order to recognize and reject sin.\nHell is about purging sin from oneself.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In\nHinduism life is about rewards and punishments. In Hinduism if you are good, you\ngo up the ladder. If you are bad, you go down the ladder. Karma will settle the\nscore if you hurt others. The human task is to do more good than harm, even if\nthat takes more than four hundred million years to escape Karma.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In the 1993\nmovie, <i>Groundhog Day<\/i>, weatherman Phil must live the same day, Groundhog\nDay, over and over until he makes the right choices. He had to go through hell,\nso to speak. Hell is living the same nightmare day over and over again until\nyou get it right. A variation on this theme is found in a recent detective\nstory in which a woman murders someone and goes to hell. Hell is that she has\nto repeat that day for ever and ever. Just like a broken record. Meaningless\nand caught.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>For\nJehovah\u2019s Witnesses, all those outside of their kingdom, are annihilated. For\nMormons there is no hell, just degrees of heaven. It ends up that there is no\nreal hell. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Someone\nhas even said that if there is a hell, no one is in it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Today\ntolerance is everything. A few years ago someone mockingly said: God is nice,\nwe\u2019re nice, isn\u2019t that nice? Today we could transpose this into saying: God is\ntolerant, we are tolerant, isn\u2019t that tolerant?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The\nconsequence of this kind of thinking is that if everything is tolerated, there\nis no meaning. It\u2019s all a charade. It\u2019s all a show. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>This\nidea that it\u2019s all a charade isn\u2019t new. In fact, Abelard, the great Christian thinker\nwho died in 1147, said the cross itself is a charade, a show. What the cross\ndid, and that includes all that happened leading up to it and after it, is God\nthat is showing: \u201cYou thought I was against you, but I really love you.\u201d It\u2019s\njust a charade demonstrating his love, rather than his wrath. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>To say\nthat everything is a charade, a show, exposes two huge questions: 1) The\nquestion of justice. Where do we sort out all the real injustices? Do we just\nsay that nothing matters? That doesn\u2019t work. Then there is no meaning\nwhatsoever. As Karl Popper, the famous mathematician and scientist said: If\neverything is true, nothing is true. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>And 2) What\nabout forever? <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The\nbasic problem is that <b>we think<\/b> <b>we<\/b> <b>decide.<\/b> We think that we\nare smart and able to choose from the cafeteria of options the world presents\nto us. But that is breaking the first commandment, and that is original sin.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We\u2019re\nnot so different from the ancient Greek sophists. \u201cSophism\u201d means \u201cI am wise.\u201d We\nthink that, too. One of the ancient Greek sophists, Protagoras, said: \u201cMan is\nthe measure of all things.\u201d Whatever individuals deem to be true for them is\n\u201cTruth.\u201d Plato, of course, rejected Protagoras.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What do\nwe say to all this? You will not be surprised to hear: The cross is the answer.\nSin, death, and the devil are all one. Romans 6:23: \u201cFor the wages of sin is\ndeath.\u201d Hebrews 2:14: \u201c. . . he himself likewise partook of the same nature,\nthat through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is,\nthe devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to\nlifelong bondage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Death is\nnot a charade. The cross and resurrection are not a charade. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>I John\n4:10: \u201cIn this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent\nhis Son to give his life as a sacrifice for us (to be the expiation for our sins).\u201d\nThat\u2019s very serious. Or Luke 10:18: where Jesus says: \u201cI saw Satan falling like\nlightning from heaven.\u201d Satan is conquered.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Or in\nMatthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 about the temptation of Jesus by the devil:\nJesus conquers him. Jesus overcomes him. That\u2019s what is happening also in all\nthose times he heals those possessed by demons. This is a real battle; this is\nnot a charade or a show. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The same\nis true for us. As Gerhard Forde points out: <b>The cross interprets us; we\ndon\u2019t interpret the cross.<\/b> What does the cross say? <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>First, the\ncross says that the problem of sin is so serious that the only way it could be\nhandled is by God himself. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Second,\nthis is the way he handled it, and it\u2019s not something that we can interpret\naway. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Third, it\u2019s\nhandled. \u201cIt is finished\u201d (John 19:30). <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What\ndoes one say about hell? What one says about hell is that for those who are in\nChrist Jesus, hell is like death and sin. The power of the devil has been taken\ncare of. Christ did it for us. That is the great message and comfort of the\nGospel, the Good News, that in him we have freedom and life. We are in him\nforever, and that equals heaven. Amen<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>\n\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sermon for the Twenty-fourth  Sunday after Pentecost. Select <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7224\"> here<\/a> to read more or <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pentecost-24.pdf\">here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7224"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7230,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224\/revisions\/7230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}