So, the question then becomes this: Can you trust/worship a being that sends my grandmother to hell, simply because she didn’t necessarily believe the right way, say the right prayer, go to the right church…and not just MY grandmother, but other grandmothers/mothers/fathers/children who didn’t believe exactly right but were good, moral, decent, loving, kind, compassionate people? Would a loving Father/Mother GOD do this to people? Would we, who only parent in a lesser way than GOD, do this to our own children? No, we would not. So how could GOD, who is the best, most loving parent in the world? Some say because he is just. Is sending grandmothers to hell just or fair? No. It isn’t. That is why GOD made a way FOR ALL PEOPLE. As I said to my friend, if there is a hell at all, it’s redemptive. It takes the worst of us and burns the bad out of us. I think of Hell as the very heart of GOD. Where the love shines so intensely, the compassion and healing are so clear, that any “sin”, any “bad”, any “wrongness” left in a person is literally burned out by the glory/light of the love of GOD. And we come out the other side, all shiny and new, healed and clean, loving and compassionate. Some of us get there in this life. Some of us are so hurt, so broken by things in the world that we don’t. For those, there is the cleansing/healing/loving heart of GOD.
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Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of Silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
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