Hell? Yes. (But I Wish The Answer Was No)

Every Wednesday we’ll post a message having to do with doctrine and purity. Hope it helps.

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Hell? Yes. (But I Wish the Answer was No)

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that there are four basic truths seeming to be “under construction” in the interest of new and improved truth: The Sinful Nature of Humanity, The Exclusivity of Christ, The Existence of Hell (this post), and The Definition of the Family. For the next two weeks, on Wednesday postings, I’d like to re-visit each of these four. Two weeks ago we discussed the sin nature; last week we looked at the exclusivity of Christ. Today, let’s talk hell.

An anonymous writer mailed a warning to my office in January, reminding me that hell awaits non-believers, and that I was in for a ghastly variety of torturous experiences if I didn’t repent. Why he thought I needed the message is still unclear, but what struck me most was the detail he went into. While I believe unequivocally in hell as being both literal and eternal, I’ve never felt a need to dwell on the horrific details of what the damned experience might be like. My anonymous friend felt otherwise, filling page after page with images of crackling bones, roasting flesh, eternal screams. No explanation of grace; no instructions on what to do or believe should

I wish to repent. Just hell, in 3-D. It was pornography for sadists.

And it was reminder of the effect of extremes. When an extremist overemphasizes a doctrine, others react by avoiding the doctrine altogether, which may explain the reluctance many have to even mention the reality of something Jesus warned about, Paul attested to, and John foresaw in his revelation: the awful realty of hell.

It’s an offensive concept in and of itself, preached, at times, in ways that are needlessly offensive as well. So those of us who prefer more balance can be tempted, in reaction to the Fire and Brimstone crowd, to soft pedal hell by way of apology for those who hit the sustain pedal way too hard when they mention it. But if truth is poorly presented, then it’s the presentation needing correction, not the truth. Because hell is, and it matters.

So said Jesus, more explicitly and emphatically than anyone else in scripture. Three times in Mark’s gospel, for instance, He warned against sacrificing the eternal for the temporal, an error that would usher you into a place “where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:44, 46, 48) Matthew also records Him predicting:

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:50)

Pretty strong stuff coming from gentle Jesus. Which makes His declaration about God so loving the world that He gave His only Son so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish all the more meaningful, considering what “perish” entails. Knowing that, He both warns and invites, leaving His followers a balanced example to follow.

John did, writing eloquently about God’s loving nature in his epistle (see I John, especially) then recording some alarming observations in the Revelation:

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.  (Revelation 20:15)

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.  (Revelation 21:8)

I hate thinking about this. I loathe the idea that someone could suffer endlessly, and if I could change God’s mind on the matter I’d joyfully do it. But given His reluctance to take counsel from me, I know that’s a lost cause. Job himself, an infinitely better man than me, was told the same when God responded to his complaints by saying, in essence, “I’m God, and you’re not.”

Indeed, you and I were never commissioned to decide which doctrines are acceptable to polite company. We’re truth’s stewards, not its review committee, and I see no wrong in admitting I don’t understand many of God’s how’s and why’s, nor am I required to. I wish there was no hell, and I cannot fully understand the need for it. Then again, I’ve never fully grasped the concept of God’s grace, though I preach it regularly. Ditto for His mercy, wisdom, and omnipotence. My ability to completely comprehend a truth has never kept me from believing, teaching and promoting it, and in this sense, the truth of hell is no different. Where it differs, certainly, is in my attitude. I love preaching grace, whether I really get it or not. But I despise the concept of hell, neither getting it nor relishing it. Yet disliking a concept won’t make it go away, and refusing to address what God Incarnate so specifically and graphically spoke about is akin to refusing His own words.

Because they point to it, a fearsome subject clearly articulated in scripture, and no one taking scripture seriously can duck it. It’s hard, and perhaps even scary, to talk about. But there are, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, scarier things to consider:

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 1:31