Raising Hell Quotes

“Contrary to popular teaching, if you study carefully the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” from a Hebrew perspective, it is not hell or eternal torment, but a place “on the outside looking in,” for a time of the necessary inner reflection that leads to longing and transformation. Outer darkness is a figurative description of living outside the light of the city—the New Jerusalem—away from the felt or experiential presence of the Lamb.”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“Millions have been taught that if they don’t believe, if they don’t accept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the Gospel does, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A loving heavenly Father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die? That kind of God is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We can’t bear it. No one can. And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: they don’t love God. They can’t, because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable. And so there are conferences about how churches can be more “relevant” and “missional” and “welcoming,” and there are vast resources, many, many books and films, for those who want to “reach out” and “connect” and “build relationships” with people who aren’t part of the church. And that can be helpful. But at the heart of it, we have to ask: Just what kind of God is behind all this? Because if something is wrong with your God, if your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.[32]”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“Wouldn’t it be totally wrong and irresponsible of someone like the Apostle John, and especially the Apostle Paul, not to include any mention of hell or eternal torment in their books? And even moreso in the book of Acts, where the Good News is being proclaimed to Jew and Gentile alike?”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“the opposite of a sinful condition is a state of reconciliation.[23]”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“If God is love, and if there is no fear in love, how has the primary doctrine of the most widespread religion on our planet become all about fear? How could such a fearful place as hell truly exist?”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“The “chosen people,” have always been about a few being chosen ahead of the rest to assist in bringing God’s plan of salvation to all. Who”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire

“Beloved of the Potter, do not be discouraged with His loving work of wisdom and do not fret. Trust Him implicitly. Patiently wait upon Him as He does His life-long work on you. You are His workmanship, and He alone is responsible. He is absolutely skillful and faithful and He will accomplish His work—you—to supreme perfection! His work is larger and grander than we can see from the vantage of the spinning wheel. You are who you are because God has made you that way. He is steadily and devotedly working, making you the vessel of His own choosing.”
― Julie Ferwerda, Raising Hell: Christianity's Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire