The Skeletons in God's Closet Quotes

“Do we get a second chance? The question often arises: “Can I reject God now but change my mind on the threshold of his kingdom?” To ask the question this way, however, is misleading: it reveals that we probably don’t actually want the kingdom. If we prefer freedom from God now, what makes us think we’ll change our mind when his kingdom comes? If we harden our hearts toward his presence today, why would we expect tomorrow to be different?”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“God’s purpose is not to get us out of earth and into heaven; it’s to reconcile heaven and earth.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“To ask God to redeem Jerusalem but not cast sin outside the city walls is like asking a doctor to heal your body without excising the disease. Like asking the light to arise without casting out the darkness. Like asking for restoration to come and destruction to remain. It is to ask for a contradiction. God excludes sin from his kingdom because of his goodness, not in opposition to or in spite of it.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Suddenly, I had a problem. Jesus wants to get rid of sex trafficking too, only he takes it a lot more seriously than I do. I want to get rid of sex trafficking; Jesus wants to get rid of lust. I want to prune back the wicked tree; he wants to dig out the root. And that wicked root is in me. I may not be a sex trafficker, a pedophile tourist, or a greedy madam—but I have lust. I can be one lusty animal. Jesus says if you even look lustfully at one of God’s daughters, demeaningly commodifying her as an object for your own self-centered gratification, then the power of hell has its roots in you, and when God arrives to establish his kingdom, you are in danger of being cast outside the kingdom with it.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Hell begins to look like a place God creates alongside heaven for the primary purpose of torturing sinners for eternity. But this is the wrong story. In the gospel story, heaven and earth are currently torn by sin. Our world is being ravaged by the destructive power of hell. Sin has unleashed it into God’s good world, and God is on a mission to get it out, to reconcile heaven and earth from hell’s evil influence to himself through the reconciling life of Christ. The time is coming when God’s heavenly kingdom will come down to reign on earth forever, when Jesus will cast out the corrosive powers of sin, death, and hell that have tormented his world for so long.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Where I live, being considered “good” has little to nothing to do with institutional religion. The social benchmarks for moral applause have more to do with whether one eats organic, rides his or her bike to work, and supports a humanitarian initiative in Africa. Things like these—even if good things that contribute to the flourishing of our world, in a manner similar to many traditional religious works—comprise our contemporary bars of righteousness by which one’s social capital is improved. In corporate culture, these bars may have more to do with how much money we’ve made or the size of our portfolio. In political culture, how much power we’ve attained or the heights up the ladder we’ve climbed. In popular culture, how much sex we’ve had or the number of Twitter followers who are interested in what we have to say. The cultural decline of institutional religion has simply meant the relocation, not the destruction, of social norms through which we pursue personal justification and social acceptance for our existence.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Good behavior is often a means of keeping God at bay. Obedience and obligation can erect as much a barrier to life with God as lawless rebellion and wanton destruction. Duty and debauchery have more in common than we might expect. Selfishness and self-righteousness just might be twins separated at birth. Both good and evil hang from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the problem is that they are on the wrong tree.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“As Solzhenitsyn famously observed, the line separating good and evil passes not between countries, nor between classes, nor between political parties, but right through the middle of every human heart.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Jesus contrasts who blesses and curses. The sheep are blessed “by my Father.” We might assume, then, that the goats are inversely cursed by the Father; but no such thing is said. Jesus simply says they are cursed. Like the rich man clutching his greed in the rubble of his riches while heaven calls him “son.” Like the wedding crasher refusing wedding clothes while the King calls him “friend.” Like the older brother weeping and gnashing his teeth in the backyard while the Father invites him inside to join the prodigal’s party. God blesses; we curse. The Father is good; we want to be left alone. The Light shines brightly; we prefer darkness. Ultimately, we are judged not for our failure to successfully wrap our hands around God’s arm, but rather for our stubborn refusal to be grasped by him, our incessant prying of his fingers from our recalcitrant hearts. God redeems his world; our destructive power is cast outside. God’s kingdom is established; the wildfire is banished. God brings an end to the bondage of creation.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Hell is cruel. Yet to blame the cruelty of hell on God is like an alcoholic blaming sobriety for the pain of his addiction. Sobriety is the cure the alcoholic needs, not the disease that afflicts him. His enslavement arises not from sobriety but from those forces that exist outside sobriety's realm. His problem is rooted in the fact that he ultimately craves sobriety's absence more than its presence; the cruelty is in the craving and its consequence.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“This confronts our popular cartoons, where little red devils poke you with pitchforks and laugh at you on into eternity. Jesus tells us this is not a place where Satan reigns; it is a place where he meets his destruction. Where his agenda is contained. Where sin’s wildfire is bound with the arsonist who first lit the match.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Then I read the sermon. The shocker hit when I realized that Edwards’s audience was the church! He spoke not from the street corner but from the pulpit. Not to the passersby outside but to the parishioners inside. The sinners in the hands of an angry God were the people who bore his name! This was judgment for God’s people, directed at a church filled with idolatry, apathy, and sin. I began to realize that God’s coming judgment is not so much an evangelistic tool used to frighten outsiders into the kingdom as it is a housecleaning tool used to weed out hypocrisy and call insiders back to the faith they proclaim. It starts at home. I love Edwards’s sermon now. There are a few parts I disagree with, that conflict with aspects of the biblical story we’ve observed in this book (though brilliant as all get out, he couldn’t be right all the time).4 But in the bigger picture, Edwards’s sermon is a reminder to me that I cannot slide by on the coattails of calling myself a Christian.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Hell is the absence of God, found in the presence of our own autonomy.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“God is not the author of evil; we are. G. K. Chesterton was invited by a London paper in the early 1900s to submit an essay in response to the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” He humorously, and wisely, responded with a simple four-word essay: “Dear sirs, I am.”10 One of the problems with the ways we tend to talk about the power of hell is that we shift the blame for the cruelty that is ours in the world away from ourselves and toward the heart of the God who is good. Our problem is not that we are good and God is evil. The gospel flips this illusion on its head: God is good and we are evil. Our healing begins with our repentant acknowledgment of this fact; then we can fall into the arms of mercy that are waiting to receive us. But what if we will not repentantly acknowledge this truth? What if we will not fall into mercy? What if we will not receive and be healed?”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“God wants people in his city: he tears down the walls to let everyone inside. But God’s very presence is a fire that protects the city. Like a father protecting his children from the bullies on the prowl. Like a chief protecting his village from hostile invasion. Like a husband protecting his wife from a would-be rapist. God protects his kingdom from the tyrannous onslaught that wants inside. God fights “fire with fire.” He does not need cannons or jets or armies to protect his city: it is protected by the very strength of his presence, indwelling in glory with all who would receive him. God’s holy love is experienced inside the city as redemptive glory. But to those ill-intentioned powers that want to invade, God’s holy love is experienced as protective fire.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Pol Pot (the architect of the Cambodian genocide) and my sweet grandmother (who wouldn’t hurt a fly) stand together before the Great Physician, and his question is not, “Which one of you was better?” but rather, “Will you let me heal you?” In leveling the playing field, Jesus makes way for grace.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“God’s will is not currently done on earth as in heaven, implying a distance in heaven and earth’s relationship. The earth exists in a state of exile and alienation from its intended home with God.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Faith is not a work that gives us mastery over Jesus. Faith is that work in which we are mastered by Jesus. There is nothing we can use to lay claim upon God except his claim upon us. God accepts us in Christ; our obstacle is found in our rejection of God’s acceptance in Christ. Faith levels the playing field, because it is no longer our righteousness as upstanding citizens that makes us worthy of the kingdom, and it is no longer our lawlessness as criminals that makes us unworthy. It is Jesus’ grace that makes both worthy—if we are willing to receive it.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“If your roots are in Jesus, your fruit will be love. Fruit takes time to grow; it doesn’t appear overnight. We don’t have to beat ourselves up for not being perfect Jesus-followers the day after we’ve started walking in his dust. It took the disciples a long time too. But the longer we’re planted in God’s garden, the deeper our roots grow in his goodness, and the more generosity, joy, and selflessness begin to spring forth from our branches.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“I have come to believe that our culture’s popular understanding of these difficult doctrines is often a caricature of what the Bible actually teaches and what mature Christian theology has historically proclaimed. To Laugh At, To Live By What do I mean by a caricature? A caricature is a cartoonlike drawing of a real person, place, or thing. You’ve probably seen them at street fairs, drawings of popular figures like President Obama, Marilyn Monroe, or your aunt Cindy. Caricatures exaggerate some features, distort some features, and oversimplify some features. The result is a humorous cartoon. In one sense, a caricature bears a striking resemblance to the real thing. That picture really does look like President Obama, Marilyn Monroe, or your aunt Cindy. Features unique to the real person are included and even emphasized, so you can tell it’s a cartoon of that person and not someone else. But in another sense, the caricature looks nothing like the real thing. Salient features have been distorted, oversimplified, or blown way out of proportion. President Obama’s ears are way too big. Aunt Cindy’s grin is way too wide. And Marilyn Monroe . . . well, you get the picture. A caricature would never pass for a photograph. If you were to take your driver’s license, remove the photo, and replace it with a caricature, the police officer pulling you over would either laugh . . . or arrest you. Placed next to a photograph, a caricature looks like a humorous, or even hideous, distortion of the real thing. Similarly, our popular caricatures of these tough doctrines do include features of the original. One doesn’t have to look too far in the biblical story to find that hell has flames, holy war has fighting, and judgment brings us face-to-face with God. But in the caricatures, these features are severely exaggerated, distorted, and oversimplified, resulting in a not-so-humorous cartoon that looks nothing like the original. All we have to do is start asking questions: Where do the flames come from, and what are they doing? Who is doing the fighting, and how are they winning? Why does God judge the world, and what basis does he use for judgment? Questions like these help us quickly realize that our popular caricatures of tough biblical doctrines are like cartoons: good for us to laugh at, but not to live by. But the caricature does help us with something important: it draws our attention to parts of God’s story where our understanding is off. If the caricature makes God look like a sadistic torturer, a coldhearted judge, or a greedy génocidaire, it probably means there are details we need to take a closer look at. The caricatures can alert us to parts of the picture where our vision is distorted.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“What sin does, in essence, is pull our gaze from God and others and turns it in upon ourselves, so that we become “curved inward,” valuing ourselves over and against God, first and foremost, and the others God has given us to love.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Evil is a parasite that wants to tear creation apart from the inside out. In the same way that a healthy body does not require cancer to exist, God’s creation does not require evil to exist. But the inverse is not true. Cancer does require a living, breathing body to sustain its existence, and evil similarly requires God’s good creation to sustain its own existence.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“The heart is our problem too. The power of hell resides in our hearts and makes its way into the world through us. Our distorted worship is the root that sprouts the wicked tree. Our corrupted affections are the spark that threatens to set the world aflame. Our vice is the tool that builds Babylon. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“This New Jerusalem imagery illustrates the same point the Guide is making: the Landlord contains the blackness in the black hole so it will no longer be allowed to infringe upon the flourishing of his good world. God contains evil so that it will not be allowed to do violence to the peace of his new creation. When God’s kingdom is established, no longer will any evil aggressor be allowed to bring bloodshed to God’s planet. Hell is not a place God creates to torture people, but a power that God contains to protect the overflowing life of his new creation.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Yet in his encounter with Jesus, something dramatic happens: he humbles himself before Jesus, recognizes Jesus’ authority as greater than his own and asks Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus responds with amazement, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”5 This must have come as quite a shock to Jesus’ audience. Within the people of God, the community that carried God’s name in the world, Jesus has not found such great faith as he has found here in this outsider—a Roman centurion identified with the powers and structures of Gentile imperial domination that God has vowed to demolish. Jesus finds faith in unexpected places.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Jesus’ warning to Revelation’s churches—and to ours—is that if we do not repent, he will remove us from God’s presence, fight us with a sword, cause us to suffer intensely, and spit us out of his mouth.7 No small words. Jesus is prepping for a fight—and it’s with his own people. Like the prophets of old, God’s words of judgment are directed first and foremost at the “insiders,” not at the outsiders.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“The extinction of desire stands in stark contrast to the redemption of desire.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“God is on a mission, as we have seen throughout this book, to reconcile the world. That is, to reconcile heaven and earth: what we might call the vertical dimension of God and humanity, transcendence and immanence, all of creation. God is on a mission to reconcile east and west: the horizontal dimension of the human community, the nations of the world, the global social body. He is on a mission to reconcile good folks and bad folks: the ethical dimension of moralists and murderers, Pharisees and philanderers, the legalist and the lawless. God is on a mission to reconcile weak and strong: the power dimension of kings and slaves, the bullies and the battered, the president and the powerless.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“Both good and evil hang from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the problem is that they are on the wrong tree. But there is good news. There is another tree: the tree of life. Where life is received from God, rather than sought independently from him. Where all is given, nothing is earned. At the tree of life, the moralist needs the mercy of God as much as the murderer, the Pharisee as much as the philanderer, the legalist as much as the lawless. Being a good, upstanding citizen who follows all the community’s rules and earns the respect of one’s peers is not the criterion by which one enters life with God. God’s mercy is. Jesus’ cross is the life-giving tree. It is the place where our sin, rebellion, and destruction are absorbed and mercy made the basis for entrance into the life of God. Jesus invites us to let go of our independence and be bound in union with him, to stop eating off the tree of good and evil and start feasting on the tree of life: his life.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“One of the problems with the ways we tend to talk about the power of hell is that we shift the blame for the cruelty that is ours in the world away from ourselves and toward the heart of the God who is good. Our problem is not that we are good and God is evil. The gospel flips this illusion on its head: God is good and we are evil. Our healing begins with our repentant acknowledgment of this fact; then we can fall into the arms of mercy that are waiting to receive us.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War