Saturday, May 28, 2011

Lie #3 – “God is love. Therefore, I don’t believe there is a literal Hell.”

This is an emerging argument and it’s gaining quite a bit of power in our churches these days.  This is a concept founded by two popular movements today known as New Ageism & Universalism.  New Age has been around for a while now and Universalism is really picking up steam as of late.

            In these movements, ministers with these beliefs teach that the concept of Hell in the Bible is always denoted as meaning “Sheol” which is ‘grave.’  They then use this to say that it is a reference, in some places, to a literal grave (being buried), and then in other cases to the garbage heap that was outside of the city of Jerusalem where citizens’ trash was dumped and then burned.  In both explanations, a literal Hell is not real or feasible.

            This is unfortunate, because there are many people being tricked and mislead with this belief system.  People are willing to accept only ½ of God, that part being love and mercy, but the other ½ of wrath and judgment is far from their thoughts and beliefs.  Without Hell and Judgment, there is no urgency to come to Christ, much less share the gospel with others. 

Without Hell, the price Jesus paid on the cross is drastically cheapened.  Without Hell, we cannot truly understand His grace, mercy, and love.  Without Hell, we cannot know God.

            Hell is a literal, real place.  Think of the account of the rich man and Lazarus.  The rich man was pleading for just a drop of water to cool his tongue from the ongoing torment in the flames.  Apart from this account, we have several other references to a literal Hell; in fact, Jesus speaks more about Hell than He does Heaven.  It’s very real and God doesn’t want any of us to go there.  However, the choice is ours.

 Allow me to leave you with a few references Scripture makes to the fate of the lost:

“Shame and everlasting contempt” – Daniel 12:2

“Everlasting punishment” – Matthew 25:46

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” – Matthew 24:51

“Fire unquenchable” – Luke 3:17

“Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” – Romans 2:8-9

“Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” – 2 Thessalonians 1:9

“Eternal fire…..the blackness of darkness forever” – Jude 7, 13

“He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone….the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever: and they have no rest day or night” – Revelation14:10-11

            Hell wasn’t created to scare us to the cross.  It was designed so that we could see the perfect holiness, righteousness, and grace of God.  How?  Because, for God to be a just and holy Judge, punishment must come for every wrong doing.  Any court system knows this.  However, God went a step further – the fine was paid for our crimes before we ever committed them because we would commit them.  If that doesn’t illustrate grace and mercy to its fullest, then I’m not sure anything can.