HELL – Does It Really Exist and Why Would a Loving God Send Anyone There?

From the last posting,  ... No, we do not need a god who is more human / humane.  We need a God who is able to make humans divine.

This is what is true for all those who have invited Jesus to rescue them from the penalty of their sins.  Ephesians 2 further goes on to state the Good News for those who have been rescued by Jesus:

            But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were

dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is

only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along

with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with

Christ Jesus.  So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible

wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are

united with Christ Jesus.  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t

take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we

have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has

created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long

ago.  Ephesians 2:4-10  New Living Translation

Next posting - So what will you do with Jesus?

HELL – Does It Really Exist and Why Would a Loving God Send Anyone There?

Continuing Ross Douthat's observations from the NY Times editorial, "One hell of a good idea:"

The writer then goes on to discuss the main character of the HBO series, “The Sopranos.”

            “The HBO hit is a portrait of damnation freely chosen: Chase made audiences

            freely love Tony Soprano, and then made us watch as the mob boss traveled

            so deep into iniquity – refusing every opportunity to turn back – that it was hard

            to imagine him ever coming out.”

            “The Sopranos never suggested that Tony was beyond forgiveness, But, by the

            end, it suggested that he was beyond ever genuinely asking for it.”

 

The thought-provoking editorial ends with the question, “Is Tony Soprano really in heaven?”

Along this same line, how about Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and all of the countless other tyrants and terrorists this world has known?   The editorial implies that many want to make God seem more human or humane, but think about the implication.  Do we want a God who is as bad, guilty, and unjust as the rest of us? 

Actually, there is such a “god” – one who is described in the Bible as “the god of this world,”  but you may know him by the name / title Lucifer, Satan, the devil.   The Apostle Paul reminds believers in Jesus of their former condition before they chose to believe in Jesus:

            Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used

 to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of powers

.in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey

God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of

our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone

else.  Ephesians 2:1-3 New Living Translation

No, we do not need a god who is more human / humane.  We need a God who is able to make humans divine:

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God

reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven

and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.  This includes you who

were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by

your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself

through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought

you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand

before him without a single fault.

            Colossians 1:19-22  New Living Translation

HELL – Does It Really Exist and Why Would a Loving God Send Anyone There?

The Choice

When it comes to the Bible, many pick out what they like (consider it to be truth), and ignore what they do not (they decide what to believe and what to disregard).  For example, many choose to not believe in Hell, or to reason that unbelievers will simply cease to exist instead of being punished for eternity.  However, if you start picking and choosing what is true or what to believe, can you, with total confidence, REALLY know where to draw the line?  It is the classical “slippery slope” that many have become all too comfortable on.  An editorial by Ross Douthat of the New York Times, with the title, “One hell of a good idea” explored some of the current “notions” on Hell and Heaven being raised by contemporary authors and how “many religious Americans find the idea of eternal punishment for wrong belief increasingly incredible.”  The writer then goes on to raise some thought-provoking points:

 
“And if it’s hard for the modern mind to understand why a good God would allow such misery on a temporal scale, imagining one who allows eternal suffering seems not only offensive but absurd.”

“Doing away with hell, then, is a natural way for pastors and theologians to make their God more humane.  The problem is that this move also threatens to make human life less fully human.”

“Atheists have license to scoff at damnation, but to believe in God and not in hell is ultimately to disbelieve in the reality of human choices.  If there’s no possibility of saying no to paradise then none of our no’s have any real meaning either.  They’re like home runs or strikeouts in a children’s game where nobody’s keeping score.”

More on this next week.

HELL – Does It Really Exist and Why Would a Loving God Send Anyone There?

Hell is compared to a garbage dump

During Jesus’ time on earth, he likened hell to a place that the residents of Jerusalem were familiar with known as “Gehenna” – the city dump of Jerusalem.  Have you ever spent any time at a garbage dump?  Can you imagine living at one?  It is hot.  There is smoke and heat due to the smoldering and spontaneous combustion of the trash as it is compressed and decomposes.  The stench is offensive to the nostrils, and the filth, dirt and grime become a part of you.  I visited the dump of Manila in the Philippines in 1981.  At that time people lived “on” and “at” the dump.  They scrambled as the trucks dumped their loads to compete with the sea gulls to salvage anything that was still “good.”  They made their shelters from the debris, furnished their “homes,” and quite possibly ate what had been thrown away.  While the memory of that day’s visit is distant, I remember that evening there was no talking or discussion of what we had seen and experienced, none of us were hungry, and all we wanted to do was to take a shower to wash off what we had experienced.  That was our reaction to, at most, a couple of hours experience.  It made a tremendous impression on my life and I believe it would have for the people of Jerusalem as well, as an illustration they could understand.

HELL – Does It Really Exist and Why Would a Loving God Send Anyone There?

Continuation of "indications" we have of what Hell will be like:

• “There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10 (previously cited). 

 Does this sound like something you would want to experience?  Do any of us purposely seek to be tormented?  Think about an unpleasant time during which all you thought about was when it would end, (e.g., severe depression, chemo, hot flashes, the flu, migraines, a stroke, paralysis, drug withdrawal, chronic back pain, etc.) never having an end.

• “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”    Revelation 21:8  New Living Translation

Some believe that rather than spending eternity in hell, that unbelievers will cease to exist – an idea often referred to as the “annihilation of the wicked.”  However, this view does not line up with the verses cited in this and the previous bullets.  Death, from a biblical standpoint, is not “the end” or “to cease to exist,” it simply refers to “separation.”  Physical death separates us from this life (i.e., human existence), but the second death will separate the individual, who now shares the image of God in being eternal, from God forever.  Do you want to be separated from God and those you love and care about for all eternity?

·   “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end

of the world.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  And the angels will throw

them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with

ears to hear should listen and understand!  Matthew 13:40-43  New Living Translation    

Would you want to subject yourself to an eternity of lamenting at what you are missing and the anxiety / depression of thinking about it forever?