Four Lies About Hell

Share

Doing away with Hell is in vogue today. Our increasingly fuzzy evangelicalism is determined to not just water it down, but make it go away. After all, we say, God is a loving God and would never be so cruel as to punish people for eternity. For him to do so would be morbid, heinous, and on par with all that is wicked. Indeed, there would be something sadistic about a deity who would do that. And so, we want to believe God simply won’t. But this is an abhorrent violation of the story of God as revealed in the Bible. The reality of Hell is found throughout the Scriptures, and to do away with it is to do away with biblical authority. The reality is that ever sense Adam raised his fist toward God, as recorded in Genesis 3:1 and following, every human being is on a trajectory toward Hell.

At least four lies about Hell abound. One of them tell us that God sends people to Hell. But the reality is that we send ourselves to Hell. It is our rebellion against the Holy God that merits for us eternal damnation. In America, where we are such excellent victims, it is seemingly required that we place the blame of our rebellion and damnation upon God. But as 2 Peter 3:9 makes clear, God desires something radically different for us.

Another lie is that if there’s a Hell then God must be unloving. But we need not look to Hell to gauge the love of God. We need to look to Calvary at which place the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed so that sinners might have redemption. Romans 5:8 is clear! God demonstrates his love for us through the death of his only-begotton son.

Yet another lie about Hell is that everyone in Hell is an equal. The idea is that Adolf Hitler and your non-believing grandmother are on the same damnable plane. Certainly Satan wants you to believe this. He wants you to question God’s sense of justice, wants you to believe that God is arbitrary and subjective. But just as we see with Jesus’ condemnation of the rebellious cities of old (see Luke 10:13 and following), there will be degrees of some kind in Hell, wherein judgment is proportional to the unique nature of the individual.

And perhaps the most popular lie about Hell today is the idea that those not believing in Jesus will be annihilated. They simply won’t exist anymore. Such thinking is the new boutique believism of evangelicals. And yet passages like Matthew 25:46 do not allow us this option at all. In Matthew 25:46 we see Jesus setting in apposition one to the other the realities of Life and Punishment. They are set togther, in tandem; the grammar suggesting that to have one the other must absolutely exist, the word “eternal” tying them together as two dimensions that coexist. They are equal in reality, though markedly different in substance. Yet we would never suggest that “life” doesn’t exist for eternity. For us “life” is comfortable; acceptable. It’s the inconvenience of “punishment” that motivates us to wish it away. But intellectual (and grammatical) honesty will not allow us to do so.

Doing away with Hell is in vogue today. It’s all the rage. But in the end we must remember that to do away with Hell is to reduce God to a cosmic wuss whose holiness is meaningless and whose sense of justice is terribly skewed. [Tweet “Let us not ever forget that the scope of Hell is proportional to the magnitude of God.”] We wonder why it is that finite beings should be held accountable for our rebellion. But being held accountable is not because we are finite, but because the Most High God is infinite. He is holy and just and pure and righteous and wise. And so much more. The reality of Hell is proportional to the magnitude of his character. And that alone ought to give us pause.

[fblike]

Comments

  1. Alan Finch says:

    I would like to share God’s promise to us, His creation.

    The “GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST” can best be summed up in the words of JESUS when He made the “GREATEST PROMISE EVER,” which is that He will draw ALL people unto Himself. (John 12:32)

    My name is Alan Finch. JESUS became my Lord and Saviour in April of 1976.

    I spent several years diligently searching the Scriptures to uncover what really made Biblical sense in regards to God’s true message to us of what really is “The Good News of the Gospel of Christ” which I did not properly understand for most of my many years as a Christian.

    My 1st 38 years as a Christian, I believed the unscriptural teaching about that there is going to be eternal torment for multitudes and multitudes of people. I then began to seriously question that teaching. I then decided to do an in-depth study of the Bible concerning this issue, and the Scriptures revealed to me that I had believed a horrible lie for all those years.

    The Lake of Fire is not a physical Lake of Fire, but is a metaphor for a Spiritual Lake of Fire from God’s Spirit for the purpose of “RESTORATION.” God is a God of “ETERNAL RESTORATION,” not a God of “eternal destruction.”

    In Acts 3:21 God promises that there shall be a “RESTORATION” of ALL things! What is there not to understand about this wonderful promise that God has made to us?

    The overall theme of the Bible is that God’s ultimate plan for ALL mankind is to restore, not destroy in an eternal Lake of Fire or eternal annihilation!

    In John 12:32 JESUS clearly states that He is going to draw ALL people to Himself! Not a portion of mankind, but ALL of mankind.

    In John 6:44 JESUS clearly states that nobody can come to Him except the Father draws that person to Him. For those who are true Christians, WE MUST NOT KID OURSELVES IN THE FACT THAT WE ONLY CAME TO JESUS BECAUSE GOD’S SPIRIT DREW US TO JESUS!

    In the present time, and in the future, God has His own timing when He will draw each individual to Himself.

    Addressing the issue of the belief in eternal annihilation, the Lord clearly tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that He has planted eternity in our hearts. God has made us living Spirits. It is impossible for our Spirit to be destroyed.

    GOD HAS NOT FAILED IN HIS ORIGINAL PLAN FOR ALL OF MANKIND WHICH DOES NOT INCLUDE ETERNAL TORMENT OR ETERNAL ANNIHILATION. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO FAIL IN ANYTHING!

    God worked out His plan in past Ages, God is working out His plan in the present Age that we are now living in, and God will work out His plan in future Ages to come.

    I have spent the last several years in Biblically expounding in a 32 page document that I have put together on the truth of there being no eternal suffering in a Lake of Fire for anyone. I have just explained the real LOVE of God that today’s Church just simply does not seem to grasp.

    After spending several years of diving deep into the Scriptures to uncover the Biblical truth on this subject, I would like to share these Biblical truths with others so that they can experience the same joy that I experienced which set me free from what I had previously believed for most of my life.

    If anyone would be interested in a copy of my document, email me at: (candy33alan@aol.com), and I will email you a copy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *