I am going to be upfront about my beliefs. I am a Christian. I believe in Christianity because I believe
that it is the best explanation of the world we see at large, the nature of the
universe, and because I believe it is true.
I believe that Jesus is the Messiah; that He died on a cross and rose
again from the dead. I believe that God
loves His creation and wants to be in relationship with us.
I also believe in hell.
Hell has been…well…a rather unpopular concept in the last
few years. Noted pastor and theologian
Rob Bell argued against hell in his popular book, Love Wins. Academic
theologians have argued against hell and have tried to replace hell with a
concept called “annihilationism,” a concept that advocates that God destroys
wicked souls rather than leave them to the torment of hell for eternity.
And unfortunately, hell has been an “all too” popular
concept in many Christian circles.
Pastors gleefully announce that “sinners” will burn in hell. Picketers with signs declare all sorts of
categories of people who will burn in hell. Others suggest that only those who say the ‘sinner’s
prayer’ will be spared from the fires of hell.
I believe in hell because Jesus believes in hell. He talks about hell…quite a bit
actually. But I think we ought to take a
note from Jesus and not dwell too much on it.
Jesus teaches that there is a place of eternal punishment.
- · Luke 10:15, “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.”
- · Matthew 25:30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- · Matthew 5:22, “whoever says, ‘you fool shall be liable to the hell of fire.”
It should be noted that while Jesus teaches that hell is
real…he really doesn’t describe it in detail.
Nor does any other place in the New Testament. 2 Peter 3 talks about
fire and people melting, but there is nothing definitive to be found there. Revelation talks about a “Lake of Fire,” but
we should be wary about trying to extrapolate too much from a book made
entirely of word pictures.
The
Old Testament is even more vague about hell…or rather everything about the
afterlife. One of the few people to make
an appearance from beyond the Grave, Samuel only hints that he is being “disturbed”
(1 Sam 28:15). Ecclesiastes seems to
suggest that everybody’s fate is the same, righteous or unrighteous (Ecc 7:15).
What is of note is the old picture of the devil with a
pitchfork running around a fiery inferno is difficult to maintain biblically. Jesus’ conception of hell has more to do with
the Kidron Valley, where the people in Jerusalem threw their trash to be burned
rather than a pro-active description of hell.
Hell is a place of God’s absence. C.S. Lewis probably had one of the best
descriptions of hell in his book The
Great Divorce, albeit by way of contrast.
In the book, people from hell go on a bus trip to heaven and they are
offered a chance to stay in heaven. All
but one person decide to get back on the bus to hell. The reason for this is that they have grown
accustomed to their lives in hell, and they
prefer it to heaven. In the end God
gives these people what they want, in a perfect tribute to Paul’s opening to
Romans, “God gave them over...” There is
a profound truth in Lewis’ work, that most people who find themselves in hell
will not only have actively chosen it, but will prefer to be there.
As a Christian, I don’t believe that God wants people to go
to hell. I don’t think He is up there in
heaven, scheming of new ways he can trick us into choosing hell. I also don’t think there should be celebrating
or cheering that people are “going to hell.”
I believe that is the wrong attitude to have. If hell is real, then it pains God to send
people there. We should never rejoice in
that which causes God pain. We should
never rejoice in that which causes anyone pain.
The longer I live the Christian life, the more I am aware
that I am not worthy of God’s love. I
have done nothing that commends me to God, and I continue to walk in sinful
patterns and selfish ways. I continue to
get angry with people about mundane and pointless reasons. I hoard the gifts that God has given me for
myself. I am no better than anyone else…in
fact I am worse than a good portion of people.
I can truly say that I do not want anybody to go to
Hell. In my anger, I will say things, “I
hope he’s burning” or “I can’t wait til they get to judgment.” But then I catch
myself and I realize that I too am deserving of hell. It is only the grace of
God that keeps any one of us out of the peril of hell.
For as much as I disagree with him, Rob Bell was on to something. Our focus in the Christian Church has been
too much focused on those who will be punished.
Rather we should be focusing on the positive aspect that in the gospel, Love Wins. God’s love was meant to break down barriers
between social and economic and racial classes.
God’s love was meant to prod us on to ministering to those in need among
us. God’s love was meant to spur us on
to actions that would help more people choose life with God. Rather, we have chosen to be like the older
brother in the parable of the prodigal, angry and mean spirited to those we
deem as unworthy. We want to keep the
fatted calf for ourselves and hope that our delinquent brother stays in the pig
stys of hell. This is not what Jesus
meant when he preached on hell. He
wanted us to see the ends of death, so we may choose the path of life and not
delight in the destruction of others.
Charles Spurgeon once said that we need to preach as “dying
men to dying men”. The doctrine of hell was never meant to invoke glee in
anyone. It was never meant to make
people guess as to was going to hell and who wasn’t. It was always meant as a sobering realization
and a way for us to better understand the love of God.
So yes, as a Christian, I believe in hell. I do not dwell on this question or spend too
much time trying to figure out who might need to go there. As a preacher, I want to spur us all on to
the paths of life. So while I may
believe in hell, I don’t want you to go there.
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