c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Author Max Lucado looked at what he calls the “Hope Diamond” of the Bible, John 3:16, in a new book titled “3:16: The Numbers of Hope,” that will be released in September by Thomas Nelson.

Lucado announced earlier this year that he will step down from the senior pastorate of Oak Hills Church, a nondenominational congregation in San Antonio, Texas, due to a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, which gives him an irregular heartbeat.

Lucado, 52, talked about the challenges he’s facing and the well-known Bible verse, which reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Following are excerpts:

Q: You announced in March that you were going to step down as senior minister of your church. How difficult was that decision?

A: It’s been the hardest decision in my life. I love the church and I love being a pastor but I developed a heart condition and that really prompted the decision because the church is about 5,500 in size, in members, so that needs a full-time healthy senior minister.

Q: How are you feeling now?

A: I give myself a B minus. I’m not quite an A but I was a D, so I think I’m doing better.

Q: So what will your new role be at the church be when the new person arrives?

A: We’re going to call it minister of teaching and writing because I do so much writing, and the church sees it as really an extension of the church. I would like to preach somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the time, maybe as much as 50 percent, but a lot of that depends on the new senior minister, whatever he wants.

Q: Will this change in your life give you more time to write?

A: Yes. And I’ll be able to write at a more relaxed pace. … I’m very much looking forward to that.

Q: Why did you choose to write about John 3:16?

A: I love to write about a passage that people are already familiar with, like the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, and 3:16 is really the most famous verse in the New Testament.

The advantage of that is when people hear the verse, I’m not on new territory. We’re on common ground. I just love to take a passage like that and maybe go deeper and see if there’s something in there we haven’t thought of.

Q: You call it the “Hope diamond” of the Bible, but you also acknowledge that there’s nothing politically correct about its claim. It seems that you are saying that it is exclusive rather than inclusive.

A: There are couple of phrases that give 3:16 its starch. One of them is the phrase “only begotten Son.” And I dedicated quite a bit of the book to that ’cause that’s a bold claim. It comes from the Greek word “monogenes,” which means “only genetic” or “one genetic.” Jesus claims to have genetic connection with God that no one else ever claimed to have, same DNA.

Then the phrase “in him.” God so loved the world he gave his monogenetic son so that whoever believes in him. Well, that’s pretty exclusive there. It’s not my job to apologize for the exclusivity of the passage but to highlight it.

Q: So you’re saying it may be exclusive, but it’s truthful.

A: It’s truthful and it is one of those deal-make or deal-break claims of Christianity.

Q: You unpack each segment of this famous verse chapter by chaper. Which do you think is most important?

A: The word I love is “whoever” _ “whoever believes in him shall not perish.” Now there’s an inclusive word. It throws open the doors. Whoever, whatever generation, however rich you are, poor you are. Whatever ethnic background, whatever gender, whatever age.

Q: You opened one chapter with a mention of an irregular heartbeat and spoke of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross being like exchanging hearts with the reader. Does this have personal meaning for you, given your medical condition?

A: I was right in the middle of all this heart stuff when I was working on that. So that had special significance for me.

The chapter that was the most emotionally draining was studying about hell. I hope I’ve misread the Bible when it comes to understanding hell. It’s just such a heavy concept but in the end it seems to me that Jesus presents a dualistic outcome of history. Those who believe in him enjoy him forever but those who spend their life telling him to leave them alone, he honors that request.

Q: You express the notion that there is a conspiracy to minimize hell. Why do you think that is?

A: I believe there is a devil. I believe there is a spiritual force that works against God’s people and God’s will. So if I’m the devil then I’m going to try to convince people there’s no hell and I’m going to do so by getting them to minimize _ with their language _ hell.

Q: You also talk about heaven. Is there a way to crystallize what you think heaven will be like?

A: I think heaven is the resurrected Earth with resurrected people who have put their faith in Christ. And I say resurrected Earth because I really think heaven will be on this Earth and the Earth will be restored to its Garden of Eden state.

Q: So not some faraway place?

A: No.

Q: A familiar place that’s better?

A: Way to go. I should have put that in the book.

Q: As a preacher, do you preach more about heaven or hell?

A: I preach more about heaven. Is that right or wrong? I don’t know, but I love the study of heaven.

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