Sir, I'd Be Willing for this Whole Presbytery to go to Hell for the Glory of God!

Dr. Bill Carl, the President of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, shares the following story.

I remember when I was going through seminary and then was a candidate for ministry, we used to be examined extensively on the floor of our presbytery. Now, when a candidate is examined before a presbytery, that candidate may get a couple of questions and then gets passed through for ordination. But back in the day, a long time ago, when we used to go for sometimes two or three hours, they could ask you any question they wanted to. They could ask about theology or church history or Bible - anything from the Bible, Hebrew, Greek, philosophy, it didn't matter. Systematic theology, philosophical theology - they could ask you any question they wanted from the floor.

At the end of one of these three-hour exams, when a student was just totally exhausted, an elder stood up on the back row and said to him, "Young man, I have one more question: Would you be willing to go to hell for the glory of God?"

The young man answered, "Sir, I'd be willing for this whole presbytery to go to hell for the glory of God."