Gates: Why I Don’t Believe in Hell… But I Believe in Hell

No, I don’t believe in hell as an eternal place of torment where God sends some people after they die. I don’t think Jesus believed in that hell either. But so many of us in this community have experienced hell—separation from everything meaningful, worse than death itself. We can choose heaven; we can choose hell—right here, right now. Thank God there’s a way out: “Recovery didn’t open the gates of heaven and let me in. Recovery opened the gates of hell and let me out.” God always invites us into the question: which gate are you going to walk through?

Austin Browning will join me as our Guest Storyteller. Each time Austin left rehab, he’d swear he was going to stay clean & sober…but within a few days he’d be locked & loaded in hotel room burning his finger tips on a crack pipe. He was stuck in the hell of chronic relapse. Austin finally realized if he didn’t let God in, he’d remain living in this hell. Today Austin is 15 months clean & sober…he’s now walking through a different gate.