Posts by M Leno

1 Corinthians 13 LUV (Leno Unauthorized Version)

If I can speak words of profound wisdom, if I can inspire people to greatness, and if I can sing with a power that brings heaven to earth, but do not care about people, then I am simply a waste of oxygen and a source of noise pollution.

In 2002, Christianity Today presented one of the most troubling explanations of hell that I have ever encountered. The April 22 issue bothered me, but not because of a Jonathan Edwards style description of an angry God. That sort of argument would have been troubling enough but at least internally consistent. The CT article was, to my mind, much worse because it presented the tortures of an eternal hell as somehow consistent with the character of Jesus. In other words, hell is the creation of a loving God.

How do we understand the biblical stories involving destruction, terror, and death? Are they, as a literal reading often indicates, examples of divine wrath and retribution? And how can such horror be understood as compatible with the supposed loving character of God?

Retribution and related words, of course, can mean different things. John W. Wenham, for example speaks of “beneficent retribution,” which in The Goodness of God (InterVarsity 1974), he explains as different from revenge. In other writings, such as this article, retribution refers to some sort of pay-back, which is one way to describe revenge.

Wenham got my attention because he was one of the first conservative evangelical writers to publicly call into question the traditional doctrine of hell. Interestingly, however, he believes that God directly causes everything, including the evil things in the world. He supports this by appealing to the way the Bible treats the forces of nature and the devastation from military aggression.

This is based on a eulogy I gave at the memorial service of my maternal grandmother, Grace Hudson. I originally published it in February of 2007.  – Mike Leno

Laurence & Grace Hudson, 1945

My grandmother was blessed with the wonderful name of “Grace.” Her full name was Grace Arvilla Hudson. (I will not comment on her middle name except to say that no one is perfect!) But along with the rest of her grand kids, I called her “Mama Grace.” On December 31, 2006 she died at the age of 99. She would have been 100 the following May.

In Romans 5:20, Paul makes one of his most memorable and to some, most controversial statements. He says, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” This text assures us that nothing can outdo God’s grace. Even the opposite of grace cannot overcome it. By its nature, grace only increases with the need. And that means that no matter what happens and no matter what we do, we’ll always have grace. I learned a lot about grace from Mama Grace. And I learned it more from what she did than what she taught.

“Whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

The shame trap is deadly. It’s that moment when you realize you will betray your best self in order to maintain a friendship, avoid a divorce, keep a job, deflect criticism, keep the peace, or just get through an implicitly hostile social situation. It’s when you decide you have to abandon your own self worth and the value of your own conscience. You don’t just pretend to be someone you’re not. You also despise your real self for trying to be a person you cannot respect. If you find yourself in the shame trap, take heart. We’ve all been there. And Jesus understands.