{"id":1070,"date":"2012-06-01T18:44:01","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T01:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/?page_id=1070"},"modified":"2013-05-20T21:06:37","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T04:06:37","slug":"peter-hietts-pastoral-concerns","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/peter-hiett\/peter-hietts-pastoral-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Hiett’s Pastoral Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a list of reasons why one Reformed evangelical pastor has embraced the doctrine of the reconciliation of all creation. \u00a0Peter Hiett, former Evangelical Presbyterian pastor in Lookout Mountain, Colorado and currently pastor of\u00a0The Sanctuary<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0in Denver gives us his pastoral concerns and reasons for teaching the redemption of all to his congregation.<\/p>\n

After he could no longer in good conscience confess two particular points of the Westminster Confession of Faith that limited God’s love and grace Peter was “defrocked” from his denomination nearly five years ago.<\/p>\n

Here are a list of what he calls his “Pastoral Concerns”:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some have wondered why I have bothered to raise these issues and speak on them\u00a0publicly in the position of pastor. Here are a few…<\/p>\n

1. I want us to live to the praise of God\u2019s Glory revealed in Christ Jesus.<\/strong> I think we\u00a0have underestimated the sufficiency and power of Christ\u2019s work of redemption on the\u00a0cross. In American Evangelicalism we do this in the name of \u201cfree will,\u201d which I believe\u00a0then diminishes the sovereign and gracious choice of God. In this way we claim merit for\u00a0our own redemption. We thus \u201cserve\u201d God out of a carnal sense of \u201cresponsibility\u201d\u00a0(which is to not serve God), rather than serving him as an act of worship, which is the\u00a0\u201cchief end of man.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. I want us to not idolize ourselves and our \u201cfree will.\u201d<\/strong> I am concerned that we\u00a0American believers have come to view life as a great competition. We say that we are\u00a0saved by grace, but what we mean is that we are saved by our \u201cgood choices\u201d or the\u00a0quality of our will. I don\u2019t believe that we have \u201cfree will\u201d until God grants us \u201cfree will\u201d\u00a0through his grace.<\/p>\n

3. I want us to stop competing with each other and the world.<\/strong> When we view life as a\u00a0competition and judgment as the finish line, when we compare ourselves to each other\u00a0and measure ourselves against each other, when we judge each other and ourselves,\u00a0when we suspect that God grades on a curve, we need losers so that we can feel like\u00a0winners. We need failures to define ourselves as successful. We need scapegoats. We\u00a0already have a scapegoat. One has lost that we all might win. If I have any emotional\u00a0stake in any other human being suffering in \u201cHell\u201d other than Jesus, I probably do not\u00a0understand the Gospel.<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> I want us to preach biblically.<\/strong> I am concerned that we no longer wrestle with the\u00a0biblical text and therefore end up preaching societal convention. My understanding is that\u00a0we are to be \u201creformed and always reforming\u201d as the living Word leads us in expositing\u00a0the written word. Expository preaching has forced me to wrestle with numerous texts that\u00a0I would have otherwise dismissed.<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> I want us to be honest.<\/strong> I have faith that the Truth sets us free and that we can only\u00a0arrive at the truth by being truthful. I do not believe I serve the Kingdom by hiding my\u00a0questions, but by being honest. I also believe in the \u201cPriesthood of all believers.\u201d All\u00a0believers are called to wrestle with The Word. I do not need to protect the church from The Word.<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> I don\u2019t want people to go to Hell.<\/strong> By \u201cHell\u201d I mean both Hades and Gehenna (where\u00a0the rebellious are consumed by the eternal punishment and Fire). I know that no one\u2019s\u00a0salvation is dependent on me, yet I believe that God has called me to participate in the\u00a0proclamation and plan of his redemption. In the Gospels it becomes very clear that those\u00a0who are most in danger of being cast into outer darkness are the \u201cSons of the Kingdom,\u201d\u00a0those who struggle with the extent of God\u2019s Mercy in Christ. I don\u2019t want anyone to be\u00a0cast into the outer darkness whether for three days or several million years. Furthermore,\u00a0I do not want them to be devoured by Fire on the Day of Judgment. I want all people to\u00a0see the glory of God in Christ Jesus NOW, no matter how long \u201cforever\u201d is.<\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> I want us to serve God out of Love rather than Fear.<\/strong> I am to preach the gospel as an\u00a0act of worship, not because I arrogantly think that God needs me. I am to obey him out of\u00a0Love, not because I\u2019m afraid that He might torture me in Hell. To serve God out of\u00a0dreadful fear is to serve God out of faithlessness. Whatever does not proceed from faith is\u00a0sin. Fear is the beginning of wisdom, but perfect love casts out fear. I want us to be\u00a0perfected in love.<\/p>\n

8. I want us to love our enemies.<\/strong> This is immensely hard, yet it appears that we only\u00a0love Jesus as much as we love \u201cthe least of these.\u201d By asking the question \u201cWhat if they\u00a0all are saved?\u201d we are forced to examine our hearts. I\u2019m concerned that for some,\u00a0possible redemption for all is viewed as terrible news, rather than gospel\u2014great news.\u00a0Are we hanging on to resentment, hatred, and un-forgiveness? Jesus said, \u201cIf you do not\u00a0forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses\u00a0(Matt. 6:15).\u201d<\/p>\n

9.<\/strong> I want us to trust the heart of our Heavenly Father.<\/strong> \u201cJesus from the bosom of the\u00a0Father, he has made him known.\u201d If someone were to tell one of my children that I had\u00a0other children that I planned to torture in unspeakable torment forever and ever without\u00a0end, it would create some serious doubt about my character in the heart of my child. It\u00a0would also fill me with intense wrath for the person that said such a thing. However, if\u00a0someone told my child that I had other children that I disciplined in Love (even severely),\u00a0it would create an entirely different response in me, and my child. If scripture is not\u00a0exceedingly clear about \u201cunending conscious torment with the wrath of God,\u201d we better\u00a0not say such things. I know that it may be a way to \u201cwin\u201d converts at evangelistic rallies,\u00a0but I can think of nothing else that would infuriate me more as a father than to be\u00a0misrepresented in such a way. Obviously, God is not determined by my anthropomorphic\u00a0views of fatherhood; however, He calls himself \u201cFather\u201d for a reason. Perhaps \u201cHell\u201d is\u00a0not retributive, but remedial. That makes sense to a Father\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

10. I want others to trust the heart of our Heavenly Father.<\/strong> I want them to trust Jesus.\u00a0If I were to ask most unbelievers why they did not WANT to believe in the \u201cChristian\u00a0God,\u201d I think the first answer given would probably be something like: \u201cI can\u2019t believe in\u00a0a god that would eternally torture a junior high kid who died in a bicycle accident just\u00a0because he didn\u2019t say the sinner\u2019s prayer or believe that God had forgiven him.\u201d I\u2019ve\u00a0always explained God\u2019s prerogative to do so in the way we evangelicals have been\u00a0trained, but maybe we\u2019ve been defending a picture of God that is not honoring to God\u00a0and deceptive to unbelievers. God is a consuming fire. Yes, he will discipline us severely\u00a0at times. But Yes, He is always Love. And He always loves you more than you are even\u00a0able to love yourself.<\/p>\n

Believe the Gospel!<\/p>\n

Peter Hiett<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a list of reasons why one Reformed evangelical pastor has embraced the doctrine of the reconciliation of all creation. \u00a0Peter Hiett, former Evangelical Presbyterian pastor in Lookout…<\/p>\n

Read MorePeter Hiett’s Pastoral Concerns<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1066,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1070","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1076,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1070\/revisions\/1076"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}