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Jesus and Hell
by Jack Earl I used to hear a lot about hell. In fact, it was a warning about hell that prompted me to ask for God's forgiveness when I was only five years old. We had yearly evangelistic services at our Baptist church in Michigan. My parents always attended these week long revivals and I was quick to respond once I understood the message. It seems that the subject of hell was quite common back in the 40s and 50s. Every service ended with an invitation to be saved from hell. But the warnings about Hell slowly faded away over the years. My church began to emphasize the benefits of our salvation to us during this lifetime. I discovered that I did not have to die to begin enjoying the benefits of my salvation. I discovered that I was not only saved from the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin. I learned that Jesus was not only my Savior, He was also my Shepherd. He would guide, provide and protect me. This emphasis upon the current benefits of turning to Jesus began to replace the message of hell and deliverance. This was good. I began to enjoy my Christian life as I discovered the privileges and power that I had as a believer. But I also began to lose the sense of urgency to warn others about the direction they were taking as the reality of Hell faded to the back of my mind. I no longer felt the burning need to spread the good news about forgiveness. The subject of Hell is rarely mentioned now. It is something that we avoid because we do not want to appear to be among the unenlightened. While all Christians believe in a Heaven, not all believe in a Hell. I suspect that they choose not to believe in a Hell even though the Bible clearly warns of such as place as a Lake of Fire that is eternal. It is very disturbing to think of loved ones who have died spending their eternal future in torment. Rather than face this possibility they simply dismiss it from their mind or may even justify their position on some new doctrinal view. Some Christian cults hold the position that there is no such thing as an eternal consciousness for the unbeliever after this life. They simply cease to exist. I suppose this is less disturbing than the thought of an eternal state of suffering. This belief has been quietly adopted by many true believers for their own state of mind. Others have accepted some kind of universal salvation which they believe fits in more with their concept of a loving God. They hope that everyone will eventually end up in heaven and if there is a Hell it is only for the Devil and his demons. I suppose some preachers simply avoid mentioning Hell because there are higher motives for turning to Jesus. It is true that to become a Christian out of fear is not the most noble of reasons. It is quite selfish. In fact, it could be viewed as nothing more than a fire insurance policy against Hell. Better are those who turn to Him for strength to cope with temptation. Better yet is to turn to Him for direction. I admit that it is quite cheap to turn to Jesus merely to avoid Hell. But that was my primary motive and it is much better than refusing to come to Him at all. And, personally, I have not really run into any believers who repented and came to the Lord without some fear of Hell. Jesus believed in a real hell and He warned others about it. We learn more about Hell from Jesus than we do about heaven. In fact, we learn more about Hell from Jesus than we do anywhere else in the Bible. Jesus believed that there were those who would consciously enter a place of torment immediately upon death. He believed that this torment was not merely separation from God but that it was physical agony. He also believed that it was eternal and permanent. With this reality in mind, it would have been most unloving for Him to remain silent and not warn of Hell. I suggest that it is not the loving thing to do for us to remain silent while our friends and family are headed blindly down the road to an eternity of physical torment. We may find that our warnings about Hell bring ridicule upon us and I suspect that is the real reason for our silence. But we must do unto others as we would want them to do unto us. Would we not want them to warn us if we were the one headed for Hell? If you saw that your neighbor's house was on fire you would go to their house, knock on their door, and if there was no answer you would break down the door and enter at a great risk to yourself to insure that your neighbors did not perish in the fire. I suspect that it is our lack of concern that communicates to our friends and family that the fire is not real. Possibly what we need is to spend just a few seconds in Hell to arouse our concern. Jack Earl is a retired Christian Bookstore manager, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute. He now lives in the Seirra Nevada Mountains in central California. He may be reached at [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |