In today's American culture, it has become, at least in my opinion, politically incorrect to say someone's religion is wrong. When it comes to religious beliefs, the spirit of the age seems to encourage a relative approach - it's all good, as long as it's good for you and it doesn't harm others and you are respectful of others' beliefs. Respect, however, seems to be more than just showing care and a whimsical approach to sharing one's beliefs with another, respect is not saying someone else is wrong. It's not claiming that your faith is exclusively true - bad news for any exclusive religion, including Islam.
The result of this spirit of the age is that even within Christian circles, there is a doubt of the existence of hell. It's become the view that love means being accepting of all ideologies, political viewpoints, religions, sexual orientations, and etc. The thought goes, "If we can be so loving and open to accept and cherish everyone regardless of personal differences, then God should be that loving too! An all-loving God, if he exists, wouldn't send someone to hell, because their beliefs didn't align with his." It really shows, that we think we know more about love than God. It shows that we think we know more about justice than he does. How arrogant is that? Our words, our thoughts, our beliefs, cannot trump those of God expressed in his Word.
Some Christians have jumped on the universal salvation bandwagon. They still claim that salvation is through Jesus, and through faith, but they allow an opportunity after death for people to come to faith in Christ! Is this in Scripture anywhere? Christian universalism is of course grounded in a right heart position, that no one should perish and suffer hell, which by the way is God's heart position too, in his moral will. But in his decreed will, God allows for us to be morally free agents. He isn't the puppet master of our souls - forcing us into a relationship with us. So in his decreed will, he allows for humanity to reject him - to mock him - to spit on him - to trample him underfoot. The major flipside to this is that it means God's righteous judgment upon the people who reject him. The upshot of course is that for those who have accepted him, it wasn't forced, it's a true love relationship with the Master of the Universe!
When this life is over, where do you want to stand on man's word, or God's. I'd like to cite some of the verses which Bill Wiese lists in his book which show the existence of hell within the pages of the Bible.
Appointed or Assigned
Luke 12:46
Revelation 21:8
Body in Hell
Proverbs 1:12
Matthew 10:28
Darkness
Job 33:28-30
Matthew 8:12
2 Peter 2:4-17
Destruction
Job 21:30
Matthew 23:33
2 Thessolonians 1:9
Eternal Separation
Proverbs 15:29
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Hell
Psalm 55:15
Matthew 16:18
Revelatoin 20:14
These are just a few of the verses, and I mean just a few, which Bill Wiese cites in his book. For the full list, check out his book 23 Minutes in Hell
. Also check out his book, Hell: Separate Truth from Fiction and Get Your Toughest Questions Answered
The result of this spirit of the age is that even within Christian circles, there is a doubt of the existence of hell. It's become the view that love means being accepting of all ideologies, political viewpoints, religions, sexual orientations, and etc. The thought goes, "If we can be so loving and open to accept and cherish everyone regardless of personal differences, then God should be that loving too! An all-loving God, if he exists, wouldn't send someone to hell, because their beliefs didn't align with his." It really shows, that we think we know more about love than God. It shows that we think we know more about justice than he does. How arrogant is that? Our words, our thoughts, our beliefs, cannot trump those of God expressed in his Word.
Some Christians have jumped on the universal salvation bandwagon. They still claim that salvation is through Jesus, and through faith, but they allow an opportunity after death for people to come to faith in Christ! Is this in Scripture anywhere? Christian universalism is of course grounded in a right heart position, that no one should perish and suffer hell, which by the way is God's heart position too, in his moral will. But in his decreed will, God allows for us to be morally free agents. He isn't the puppet master of our souls - forcing us into a relationship with us. So in his decreed will, he allows for humanity to reject him - to mock him - to spit on him - to trample him underfoot. The major flipside to this is that it means God's righteous judgment upon the people who reject him. The upshot of course is that for those who have accepted him, it wasn't forced, it's a true love relationship with the Master of the Universe!
When this life is over, where do you want to stand on man's word, or God's. I'd like to cite some of the verses which Bill Wiese lists in his book which show the existence of hell within the pages of the Bible.
Appointed or Assigned
Luke 12:46
Revelation 21:8
Body in Hell
Proverbs 1:12
Matthew 10:28
Darkness
Job 33:28-30
Matthew 8:12
2 Peter 2:4-17
Destruction
Job 21:30
Matthew 23:33
2 Thessolonians 1:9
Eternal Separation
Proverbs 15:29
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Hell
Psalm 55:15
Matthew 16:18
Revelatoin 20:14
These are just a few of the verses, and I mean just a few, which Bill Wiese cites in his book. For the full list, check out his book 23 Minutes in Hell
. Also check out his book, Hell: Separate Truth from Fiction and Get Your Toughest Questions Answered
(I'm sorry about my bad english, I'm from Brazil)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting point of view.
My concern in this discussion is not the existence of Hell in self, But the fact that It is the reason that very many peolpe come to Jesus. Many Peolpe accept Jesus because they'se afraid of Hell and not because of what Christ has done. Hell has become a religion.
Good point, Gijo. I would say however that when someone first comes to Christ it's from a result of conviction of sin and an acknowledgement that those sins can be forgiven by Jesus, who is both Lord and Savior.
ReplyDeleteActs 2:37-38 supports this, I believe, as well as John 16:5-11. I believe that part of that conviction also comes from the threat of punishment - no penalty, no conviction of sin.
Hell certainly isn't a teaching within Scripture to dwell on, but if its existence is being denied, even by believers, then what effect does erasing hell have on the rest of Scripture. If we remove one doctrine, because we don't like it, what else are we willing to remove from God's Word?