Hell is a controversial subject, and with good reason. There is something troubling about holding to the idea that God is love, but that God’s own laws of justice require you to be tortured forever if you don’t respond positively to God’s love. In this version of Christianity, God sounds like an abuser rather than the God of loving kindness and forgiveness that we see embodied in the story of Jesus.

But what’s the alternative? Does that mean that it doesn’t matter what we do? Does it mean that there are no consequences for the violent terrorist or the abusive husband, or the maniacal dictator. Does it mean that Hitler gets a free pass? What do we do with ideas of judgement, hell and love and reconciliation? How does this all come together and what do the sacred texts of the Christian tradition offer us in the conversation?