Monday, December 19, 2005
To Hell Or Not
Overheard on This American Life yesterday: this segment entitled "Heretics." In sum:
The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson (pictured), an evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His church, Higher Dimensions, was once one of the biggest in the city, drawing crowds of 5,000 people every Sunday. But several years ago, scandal engulfed the Reverend, he was denounced by almost all his former supporters, and today his congregation is just a few hundred people. He didn't have an affair. He didn't embezzle lots of money. His sin was something that to a lot of people is far worse ... he stopped believing in hell.
I caught the first fifteen minutes or so of this story, up to the point of his, um, conversion, if you will. From what I did hear, he questions the reality of hell as a punishment place created by God. Instead, people create their own hell. They wail and gnash teeth in the consequences of their own choices. Food for thought for the Sola Roma Catholica approach, too. 
