Someone made this comment in Bible class last night: "God is not Mr. Rogers." It struck me as funny until I heard his explanation. What he meant was: God is not a cheerful easygoing uncle, and that's true. Some Christians believe he's all Mr. Rogers (cheerful & easygoing) but that viewpoint is not supported by either the Old or the New Testament. He is our heavenly Father with all that implies: both love and discipline based on love. Consider Hebrews 12:7-11: "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Parents who don't discipline their children don't love them (regardless of their intentions). Loving parents discipline their children because they love them, and God is no different.
So we see that God loves us and because he loves us he disciplines us as well. What about those who reject his discipline and continue to do evil? God is a loving God, but he is also a just God. (Luke 18:7-8: "And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.") There are Christians who believe there is no hell and everyone is going to heaven, another belief that is not supported by the scriptures - see Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 22:13, etc. Setting aside the Bible for a minute, let's use a little common sense to refute the idea that there is no hell. If there is no hell, when we get to heaven we'll see that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc. are already there and it'll be one big happy family. Would that make sense if God is truly a just God? If a lifetime of evil could get you to heaven, then God would not be a just God, but rather a "just plain mean" God that arbitrarily perverts justice and contradicts his own word. Fortunately for us, God is not like that. He judges every man's work fairly and without partiality. That is both a comforting and a sobering truth.
