Theology in Country Music: The Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ”   
—      C.S. Lewis      (The Great Divorce)

Johnny Paycheck sings a great classic  song”The Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised”.  It is a song about a man who dismisses the advice his mom gives him on living a righteous life.  Because he spurns her advice, his life takes a wrong turn, and he ends up in prison.  He turns out to be the only hell his momma ever raised.  The chorus laments about a time  he wishes he could go back to.  He regrets he did not listen  to his mom’s  advice,  and turned his life over to Jesus.

Life in this country is much the same.  God puts many roadblocks in your life to prevent you from wasting your life and going to hell.  If you run through the roadblocks of the church, your praying family, the Bible, and many other Godly influences then you will spend eternity in hell.

The good news is John 3:16-18

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

The choice is yours, raise hell and go there, or accept Christ and enjoy the blessings of God’s salvation.

until next time

God bless

pastor greg t.