First issue, is there a hell? Yes, there is. Why do I believe this? Because God tells us this. There are many referances throughought the Bible to hell, such as one in Matthew 10:28 where Jesus tells us "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell". This verse is very clear, there is a hell, and both our body and soul will be destroyed in hell. So then this begs the question:
What is hell like?? Obviously no one living can know the answer fully to this question, but I am going to try my best to biblically show what hell is going to be like. The verse I am going to be using is from Mark 9:47b-48, Jesus quotes Isaiah, he says "to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched". This gives us a clear picture of one of the torments of hell, a worm that does not die, something eating at you, meaning a constant pain, the worm eats from inside, thus I believe it means something eating at your soul. And a fire that is not quenched, a burning searing pain to your person, it might not be literal fire, but the picture is intense pain at all times. But to me, the scariest thing the eternal separation from God we would endure in hell, let me explain exactly what this would mean; everything good thing we see or experience in this world is from God. Every time we enjoy the simplest things like how a flower looks or smells, every time we feel joy or pleasure, every time we laugh, every time anything good happens to us, its from God, its the small glimpse of heaven we will see on this earth. It is why this is a true saying, "for those who do not have Jesus as their Lord and savior, earth is the closest thing to heaven they will experience". So in hell, where we would experience eternal separation from God, we lose all of this. The parts of our personality that can feel any pleasure or joy would fade away. We could not enjoy anyones company, we would despise everyone, including ourselves. We would hate everything and everyone. We would have no good thoughts, they would all be evil and of despair, we would want every second of every day to be able to die and end this torment, but it would end. This separation from God would last for all eternity. We would spend the rest of our eternity, miserable, incapable of any enjoyment and pleasure. And this, scares me. This is why, if we are followers of Christ, we should be taking Gods word to everyone we can, because we should have a passion for them, a desire to be used by God to keep as many people as we can out of hell.
So what is heaven like then?? Heaven is the exact opposite of hell, we will spend eternity with God, doing exactly what God made us to do, living in perfect harmony with God. To spend eternity with God doing exactly what we were created for will give us perfect peace, happiness and comfort. No more sorrows, no more suffering, only joy and peace with our God for all eternity. This is why the saying "the earth is the closest thing believers will ever experience to hell". Again, if we care about others, we should be bringing Christ, preaching Christ and Christ crucified to them so that we can be used by God to help bring them to heaven.
Another commonly asked question, why would a loving God send anyone to hell? The answer is simple, God is a loving God, but he is also just. We all sin, none of us are perfect, so the better question would be, how could a just God send anyone to heaven? In Romans 1, Paul tells us of the true depravity of man, how we knew God but we turned our backs on Him. We have all turned our backs on God at points in our lives. We all sin against Him, far to many times to even put a number on. Thus, since God is a just, righteous God, then He has to send us to hell, or He would not be just. How would it be if a judge just started letting guilty men go free all the time? Well God is a perfect judge, He makes no mistakes, he cannot let guilty men go free, He has to send us to hell. But then comes His incredible love for us. He sent His son, Jesus Christ to earth, Jesus lived a perfect life, no sin at all. Then He took all our sin upon Himself on the Cross, dying for us in the most grusome way possible. He was perfect, not worthy of death, but He died for us, so that as long as we put our trust and faith in Him, our sins are forgiven. Incredible. So if we believe and trust in Jesus Christ as our savior and perfect sacrifice, the one who took all of Gods wrath and anger for our sins, then our sins are forgiven and we are free from our bondage to sin. We can look forward to spending eternity with God in heaven. But if we do not except the work Jesus did for us on the Cross, if we do not except Him as the one who willingly gave us His perfect life to take our sins away, then as a just, righteous God, He has to put us away from Him in hell.
So in conclusion, if someone asks you if they are going to hell, you cannot duck the question, if you are not willing to tell the truth about God, then you will offend God! We have to be willing to say, if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Savior, the ultimate destination is hell. But then this opens up an opportunity for us to share the good news of what Christ did for us on the cross. We HAVE to be willing to share the good news if we have the chance, if we don't, then we are doing our parts to send people to hell. This sounds harsh, and it is, but it is true. God uses us to reach the lost, and if we are to cowardly, or do not care enough to share the good news with those who have not experienced Jesus Christ, then we are doing our part to to send them to hell since we are not allowing God to use us to reach others. I am as guilty of this as the next person of not taking every chance I have, but now, we have a chance to change, to do everything in our power to bring others to Christ, we know the good news, lets share it in love, with Gods love, because of our love for the lost.
Tim
7 comments:
Thanks for the very clear, very disturbing, very convicting post. You are right on. God help us who are His to go to those who need to be.
If Gandhi hadn't excepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, then the answer is yes, but thats not the question you should be asking.
why not? what is the question?
Because Jesus is the only way to heaven, without His death on the cross all of us would go to hell, but now because of His death, if we except Him, we can go to heaven. You really should read the blog, its all explained there. The question you should ask is are you going to hell? do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If not, then thats an issue, not who has died and gone to hell in the past. And if you have accepted Him as your savior then again, you should not be asking who has gone to hell that died previously, but you should be worrying about whom you can save from hell that is still alive.
Well I guess it depends on your definition of "way," as it pertains to "I am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the father except through me." If you think "way" means acknowledging and "inviting Jesus into your heart" then ya I understand your point. However, I believe "way" can be defined as the "way" Jesus lived his life. (Who he spent his time with, who he cared for, what he talked about most, etc., mostly the poor and underprivileged) In this instance Gandhi was the best example of Christ and what Christians are supposed to be doing, and thats why I ask that question. It doesn't make sense that one could just acknowledge Jesus as the "way" and therefore spend eternity in heaven. Because of the American-Christian context we were born into, we think that Christianity is an appropriate religion for all cultures, and therefore we see it as the only way.
Ok so I can kind of see where you are coming from because these were a lot of the positions that used to believe in. First, the first half of your post, pretty much supported my Universalist beliefs that I was trying to convey through the Gandhi example. By saying that God has mercy and it doesn’t matter what we do or think, because we will always ultimately sin, then I would assume and hope that you think you are not the one to decide when God’s mercy is extended. We have no choice or decision, to whom and when God will extend that mercy. He can do it whenever he wants. You are correct, we all sin. However Jesus died for everyone. Everyone. Not just Christians, not Americans, everyone and there is nothing you or I can do about it.
A theologian gave an example that I think paints a great picture of what the final judgment might look like. Imagine a courtroom scene and anyone in front of God. We’ll say Hitler for interest’s sake. (Don’t get me wrong, I disagree with everything Hitler did and stood for and in my eyes was an “evil” person). God is obviously the judge. God looks down to Hitler, the defendant, and says, “Why should I let you into heaven?” Hitler responds, “I believe I was following what I thought was truth, and acted on my beliefs the best way I knew how to.” God says, “Well you were very, very wrong. You caused so much harm and suffering, and nearly ended the world. And there is a penalty for all of your sin.” Then Jesus, the lawyer comes in and says, “Well God, I already accepted that penalty, and he is free to go.” Even for Hitler. And that, as hard as it is to see in our eyes, very well may be the way things turn out. You see, Christians feel the need and responsibility make someone the bad guy and have the “well someone has to be guilty” mindset, because we see ourselves as trying to follow what we believe as true.
Secondly, Paul although a great guy, and one that we can learn a lot from, never knew Jesus. He never walked with him nor was ever one of the disciples. When a rich young ruler asked Jesus what must be done to inherit eternal life, Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor, then he can follow him. He is very clear. That’s all he needs to do. It is based on actions. He doesn’t say acknowledge in your heart I am God right now, and that I am here to save you. I feel like saying actions as a byproduct of belief, is a copout. It’s saying if I happen to do good things (or what I perceive to be good) then that’s great, but its no big deal if I don’t do anything at all. While I believe these people will still be in heaven, because God’s mercy has no bounds, I am trying to make a point that living a life in which we tell people that God says they are going to hell, just for the sake of an evangelical opportunity is just plain wrong. And holding to the belief that all salvation is based on a private acknowledgment and the fact that now Jesus is located somewhere between your aorta and superior vena cava, doesn’t resonate with me whatsoever. And for the sake of throwing out New Testament people, James says faith without action is dead, and even the demons believe.
So I agree with a lot of what you said, there are a few key points though that I feel go off course. This is a mindset(the one you are presenting) that is becoming more and more popular in American Christianity with the emerging church movement, its a mindset which is very popular because you can say so and so lived a good life and thus God will forgive them. It feels good to us because our sinful natures tell us its fair, that it would be unfair for God to send good people to hell. It all stems from the belief that people can be good. This is one thing you said that I would like you to clarify, you say all people sin yet you still seem to hold to the fact that people can live a "good" life and can essentially save themselves through their works. So can you clarify for me how someone can do enough good to make up for all their sins over their whole life, both in their thought life and flesh life?
I agree with you that God can choose to extend His mercy where He wills to an extent, because He is a righteous God, and for Him to extend His mercy to someone who did not except the perfect sacrifice He made for them on their behalf would violate His righteousness. If Jesus died for everyone, before His sacrifice covers our sins, we still have to except Him. And this is where the hitler example(though I know you weren't really saying he is in heaven), James tells us(and other Biblical authors) that when we are saved, we are given a new heart, one with the Holy Spirit in it, one where our deepest desire is to please Christ, this leads to obedience towards God, because even if we are struggling in our walk, our deepest desire is for God and that will keep us coming back to Him. If our deepest desire is not for God, then we are not truly saved. When God gives us the new heart, with it comes Gods law, we are no longer slaves to sin, we now have Gods law in us and due to that would not be capable of the horrors Hitler committed. Dude, I truly wish no one had to be guilty, its not that mindset at all, but God tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, thus we are ALL guilty. So we all are guilty and headed for hell, but God gives us an out, a perfect life taken for our sakes, and if we put our faith and believe in that perfect life then we are free and gain a new heart. So we all start out guilty and remain that way unless we accept that perfect substitution for our sins. Paul never walked with Jesus in the flesh, but he is a God inspired author whos words in the scripture are innerant, so we cannot write off the things he says simply because we don't like them. The Bible tells us not many rich nor wise will inherit the kingdom because they lack the childlike faith needed to accept Christ. Jesus refers to children and their faith many times because the gospel is so simple that many people, the wise and rich of the world throw it out saying it cannot be true. Jesus was not saying rich men have to give up all their belongings to be with him, Jesus was telling him that if your truly believe Jesus is God, if you have that faith in Him as your king, then are willing to do whatever He asks you to do, and willing to sacrifice whatever part of your life needs to be sacrificed to serve Him fully. Again it comes down to your faith in Him and wether or not you are willing to give it all up. If you believe then you will do anything, but those that are rich and wise by the worlds standards have more to lose or have to much reliance on their own "wisdom" and have a much tougher time putting their complete faith and belief in Jesus. God tells us very clearly we have to believe on the name of Jesus Christ to be saved, and anything less will result in eternal separation from God, so if someone directly asks you this question, we must be willing, in love to tell them what God tells us. It is not just for evangelical opportunity, as Paul tells us to those who do not know God to preach Christ and Christ crucified, this is why we do not go around telling people, hey your going to hell! That is just wrong and offensive, but if someone directly asks us if they are not a believer in Jesus as their savior are they going to hell? If we refuse to tell them what Gods word says, then we are still being offensive, just this time we are offending God instead of man. Funny you bring up that James verse, people get confused sometimes when reading James because he talks about salvation only through faith in one breath, then saying that faith without action is dead. Just believing is not enough, Paul tells us we have to confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that he is our Lord, the demons believe who He is, they know who He is, but they don't accept Him as Lord. Faith without works is dead, because if we truly have that belief in Jesus as our king, as I said earlier, we gain a new heart where our deepest desire is for Christ, to please Him and live for Him. So what James tells us is if we believe in God, that new heart will cause us to bear fruit, we will have works. If we don't have the new heart that has a desire to please God, we never accepted Him as our savior and king in the first place.
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