Hell? . . . Really?
These days many think the idea of hell should have disappeared with believing in dragons and burning witches at the stake. And some who focus on the love of God question whether a loving God would condemn anyone to hell – if hell even exists. Well, some of these people are willing to concede that the Hitlers and mass murderers of the world have earned their place in the flames, but almost everyone else deserves to go to heaven.
Even many people who don’t consider themselves Christian regard Jesus as a great teacher, role model and spiritual leader. Since Jesus is so influential, let’s look at what he taught about hell.
Jesus told 40 parables, many of which are “happy:”
A shepherd finding a lost sheep – Luke 15:3-7
A woman rejoicing over finding a lost coin – Luke 15:8-10
A widow who convinces a judge to give her justice because of her persistence – Luke 18:2-8
However, by my count, about half his parables involve judgment where things end poorly for some:
Sheep that are blessed and goats that are condemned to eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels – Matthew 22:31-46
A narrow gate that leads to life and a wide road that leads to destruction – Matthew 7:13-14
An inappropriately dressed wedding guest who is bound hand and foot and thrown into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth – Matthew 22:2-14
So Jesus clearly taught that some will experience blessings and others will be frightfully condemned. Beyond offering parables that taught this, he sometimes went out of his way to introduce the topic of hell into totally unrelated conversations.
On one occasion when a Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus was surprised that the centurion’s faith was so robust that he recognized that Jesus could heal without even being physically present. After healing the servant remotely, Jesus remarked,
Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Isreal with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and will take their place at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom, will be thrown outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth – Matthew 8:10-12
Nothing about the centurion’s request remotely touched on the topic or hell, yet Jesus – without prompting –injected it into this conversation.
You can’t deny that the Bible records these and many other times where Jesus taught about hell and God’s judgment. Logically, here are the only conclusions you can come to about this indisputable fact:
Jesus didn’t really say these things but, instead, the Gospel writers put words in his mouth – But this would have involved an impossibly complex conspiracy to systematically inject this topic into dozens of otherwise-unrelated parts of Jesus’ ministry as recorded in all four Gospels, Not a single copy of the ancient New Testament manuscripts supports this idea.
·esus really didn’t believe in hell but was willing to accommodate the backwards beliefs of his listeners – However, that would severely undermine his credibility and authority as a teacher. If he said things he didn’t really believe, why should you trust anything he said?
Jesus was wrong. There is no hell – I don’t recommend embracing this view.
Jesus truly believed in hell’s reality.
In my book That’s a Great Question: What to Say When Your Faith Is Challenged I describe what I call the Filter of Selective Christian Theology, where people embrace Jesus’ “nice” sayings like loving your neighbor and turning the other check but reject his clear teachings about God’s judgment and hell. They do this primarily because they already know what they want to believe and filter out the parts they don’t like.
One more thing: John 3:16 is arguably the most famous verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
That’s a lovely, reassuring verse. But let’s keep reading. John 3:17-18 says. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already. . . .”
The evidence is pretty conclusive. Jesus believed in and actively taught about hell. Ignoring his teaching on this subject is perilous. There is only one way to avoid condemnation and spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. That is to acknowledge your sin and inability to live up to God’s standards, recognize that the only remedy is Jesus’ death and resurrection where he took your penalty, and commit yourself to following him. I truly hope you have done this.