Why Most Christians Don't Really Believe in Hell

I have been thinking about Hell in recent days.  I cannot dwell on it for more than about thirty seconds at a time without feeling a sense of desperation and horror for those who will end up there. 

I started thinking about Hell more than usual due to Ray Comfort’s approach to evangelism on his show The Way of the Master. I realised that it was the first time in a long time that I had heard someone suggest that it was okay, even loving, to terrify people into Heaven by confronting their sin and their need to be rescued from an eternity in Hell. 

When I was backslidden (away from God,) the thought of death and eternal torment in Hell loomed  like an oppressive force. At times, it used to keep me awake at night and made me afraid to fly on a plane. It was probably the single most important factor in drawing me back to God because I knew that Hell was a real place. Even now, looking back, I shudder at the gamble I was taking with my life and am immensely grateful that God was patient with me.

These days we are told we should not focus on sin or God’s judgement for it, neither should we focus on Hell. It is too gloomy, negative and discouraging. But surely it is more than that—try it for a few seconds, think about yourself or someone you know spending a few hours or days alone in a dark place of torture and torment. A place where you/they want to die rather than continue to suffer but you/they won’t be able to. The only relief from those thoughts for you or for that other person is that there will be an end to the suffering. Now, think about being stuck there FOREVER with no relief. 

The problem is that we refuse to think about Hell and our preachers have been told to stop reminding us that it exists. It’s like non-believers refusing to think or talk about death, as if the absence of debate lessens the reality. But we will all die and we have to go somewhere. Most people still believe in an after-life and even those that don’t can’t prove that there isn’t one. If we believe the Bible, which most Christians claim to, then Hell is a real place and those who do not confess faith in Jesus and repent of their sins here on earth will go there forever, with no chance of escape.

Some Christians, even prominent evangelical leaders are so horrified by the thought of Hell that they soften the idea and hope that God will change His mind due to His mercy. Some still teach annihilationism (also known as extinctionism or destructionism is a belief that at the Last Judgment those not receiving salvation are destined for total destruction, not everlasting torment.) Obviously, that would be preferable from a human perspective, but if Hell isn’t real or isn’t eternal then what are Christians actually being saved from? Why have martyrs through the centuries willingly died for their faith? Why did Jesus Himself die if the penalty for sin could have been paid in another way or if Hell didn't exist for the unrepentant?

The reality is that God cannot change His mind about Hell because His justice requires that He punish sinners. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6 vs 23.) We console ourselves with the thought that God is good and will do what is right—but the Bible clearly teaches that Hell is right. God’s goodness is not violated or in question due to His creation of Hell. Hell is a just punishment for sin.

We waste our time with trivialities and worry about offending people in our politically correct society. But these same people will be thanking us for eternity if God chooses to use us to break through their hard outer shells. If they reject Him, we won’t be aware of them beyond this life because there is no pain or sadness in heaven. It will be as if these people don’t exist. But they will, in Hell, for eternity.

It is sad that most Christians don’t really believe in Hell as it is described in the Bible. We might say that we do, but we soften the doctrine and so often fail to warn people about the reality. People are walking blindfolded towards the edge of a cliff or standing in the road about to be hit by a bus. We need to warn them of the consequence of their sin before it’s too late. No one is guaranteed tomorrow.

The oft quoted verse from John 3 vs 16 begins

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God loves us tremendously and sacrificed willingly. But the passage continues in verses 17-18,

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

We are reminded that God sent Jesus to provide an escape from the condemnation that is to come. 

Let’s spend a brief time each day thinking about the realities of Hell, as well as the glories of Heaven, as a motivator for evangelism. Let’s not allow Satan to convince us that Hell doesn’t exist or that God will change His mind about it. Let’s not allow him to make Hell into a tolerable place or Heaven into somewhere boring with angels playing harps. We can trust that God who created us knows our desires and that Heaven will be so much more amazing than we could possibly dream or imagine. 

Let’s pray for opportunities to witness the salvation of as many souls as possible whilst we still have time. “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” (Proverbs 24 vs 11)

Daniel 12:2  
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Matthew 10:28  
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

Matthew 13:41-42 
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:46 
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Mark 9:43-48 
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Hebrews 9:27   
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

2 Peter 2:17 
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

Jude 1:7 
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 14:11 
And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Revelation 20:10 
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:13-15 
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8 
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.