Scot McKnight on Heaven and Hell

"I believe in heaven. I believe in heaven because Jesus did and I hope to believe in heaven as Jesus did. I believe in heaven because I believe in justice, in peace, and in love. I believe in heaven, in part, because of the apostles and the saints and the Reformers and Harriet Beecher Stowe and C.S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers and Mother Teresa and the children in Rwanda.

I don’t, however, believe “heaven” is forever and ever. I believe that what is forever and ever is called the New Heavens and the New Earth, the time and place where heaven comes down to earth. The New Heavens and New Earth will be the fullness of flourishing.

But belief in the New Heavens and the New Earth also means I believe in hell. I believe in hell because Jesus did. And I hope to believe in hell as Jesus believed in hell. I believe in hell because I believe in justice, in peace, and in love.

But I don’t believe hell is a gassy furnace where humans are scorched forever and ever and ever and ever, and I’ll make my case below. I don’t believe in Dante’s hell or in God as the grand torturer. Hell will be the end of flourishing."

- Scot McKnight One.Life