What About Hell? Well, What About It?

"... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Gen. 18:25, ESV).
"For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33, KJV). 

NB:  JUSTICE DELAYED IS NOT JUSTICE DENIED!  

I heard an anecdote of a child asking the parent what the word heck was, and was told that it was where you go when you don't believe in Gosh!  Many people feel so uncomfortable about hell that they avoid the subject and it isn't even part of their vocabulary. In fact, this is the doctrine that probably gives Christianity a bad rap and people become antagonistic.  The word is often avoided in polite company and euphemisms are used, just as for death itself.  We're all guilty of not taking it seriously, even trivializing it or correcting someone's diction, even when offended.  We don't want to admit publically it exists because people object--a way of showing tact and sensitivity.  But the truth can be offensive.  Even the heathen will bid someone go there when they want to curse them, take revenge, or get even.  Sometimes it seems that at some time everyone wishes there was a hell, even if they don't believe in God--just for a place for their enemies to go. You may even hear an atheist tell you to go there when angry!

Now, God is also uncomfortable about hell; yes, He created it for the devil and his fallen angels and it's the "other place" where people realize who they wanted to be for eternity apart from God; however, God had no choice (what's He to do?) because He is holy and just and cannot tolerate evil but must judge it.  If He overlooked it without retribution, He wouldn't be just!  There is no other place to go as an alternative final abode; either one is with God or separated for Him forever--no middle ground of neutrality or no-man's land. 

The punishment and this is not a place to learn a lesson or to be reformed like a prison, but a place of comeuppance--being dealt their due desserts.  But God is just and people are not punished beyond what strict justice mandates and the more one knew to do right, the more accountable they are, that of whom much is given, much is required also.  There is final equity in hell for the just punishment of the lost or condemned. People in hell will not be able to repent, it's not a place of people changing their minds concerning their lives and lack of faith in God, for they will still insist that they are right and God wrong and accuse Him, instead of owning up to their own failings and evils.  You would think people would realize their failures, but they will not and only be hardened and committed in their animosity toward God. Repentance is the gift of God and a matter of grace, but there's no grace in hell; as it says in Dante's Inferno, "All ye who enter here abandon all hope!"

If we eliminate hell from our doctrine, Christianity would be a lot more palatable to the infidel and some even think that that is the weakness of the faith--this teaching. They may want to be apologetic for God, protecting His reputation, but hell is real whether we preach it or not; Jesus mentioned it twice as much as heaven and the same word for everlasting was used to describe it--it's not annihilation or the grave as cults lead one to believe.  Hell is a necessary doctrine because it must be  If God is just and didn't punish sin it would mean He has weakness or is nonchalant or not holy.  But God is almighty and holy and can do something about what offends Him.  Sin isn't just something that God can overlook like we can, because God is allergic to sin and good and evil are antithetical to God and they cannot co-exist.

The torture of hell might be that this is the place where there are no rules and people get what they always wanted, but the real hell of it is that God isn't' there and they will realize that God's presence is what gives us joy in life and the ability to live life to the fullest.  Just like it wasn't good for man to be alone and that's why God created Eve, hell could be a place of ultimate solitariness where one must contemplate forever what he did and have no one to blame but himself.  They will have to live with their depraved self without any redeeming value or blessings.  It's like having everything to live on and nothing to live for; in that case, even rich people are bored and find no purpose in life until they find true meaning in God.

Thus hell is the eternal monument to man's dignity where ultimate justice is meted out accordingly and in due measure, no more nor any less than required.  It's a salute to man's so-called free will and the choices he made and that all choices have ultimate consequences!  Time to pay the piper!  Time for the recompense of the wicked getting what they deserve.  If there was no hell we would lose an important anchor in preaching and society to the reality of sin's judgment.

We don't repent to get so-called fire insurance or a ticket out of hell, but we must realize there are consequences to our choices and decisions which God will judge.  Christians shall not come into judgment (cf. John 5:24; Rom. 8:1), but the wicked will be judged (cf. Rom. 2:6; Heb. 9:27) according to their works and the books opened to show that they fall short of the perfect requirements for heaven's entree in spite of their do-goodism.   Soli Deo Gloria!

If War Is Hell!, What's Hell?

"Wicked men will hereafter earnestly wish to be turned to nothing and forever cease to be that they may escape the wrath of God' (Rev. 6:15-16, NKJV).
"When all is done, the hell of hells, the torment of torments, is the everlasting absence of God, and the everlasting impossibility of returning to his presence... To fall out of the hands of the living God, is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our imagination."--John Donne
"I believe in God and if I woke up in hell I would still believe in him."--Robert Louis Stevenson
"When you take away the doctrine of hell, society loses an important anchor."--Paul Johnson

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is famous for these words ("war is hell") during the Civil War and his name is synonymous with them.  People often say they went through hell on earth or similar metaphoric language to be hyperbolic.  We should never trivialize hell and think it's nothing but a jolly boys' club or where bad people can get together and have a good time.  Hell is a solitary venture for the most part because part of the punishment is facing up to who a person is without God and fellowship--learning to admit one's own evil nature.  We don't hear of hell, fire, and brimstone preachers anymore like Jonathan Edwards, who facilitated the Great Awakening in the 1740s.  Actually, Christ mentioned hell twice as much as He did heaven, so it must be real--its duration is for as long as heaven (everlasting).

People do suffer in hell but not unduly--there are degrees according to one's sins and responsibility or opportunities.  God metes out justice with nothing more nor less--punishment is not beyond that which strict justice requires.  God cannot be cruel nor unjust and He doesn't torture souls, but in their own misery, they might wish they would be annihilated rather than stay in hell.  The symbols of fire and sulfur are to highlight the misery factor.  God is everywhere by nature, even in hell, but He's not there except in His wrath and justice, not His love and mercy.  All vestiges of love and mercy are erased and the time has slipped by for them with no more chance for salvation--the worst torture that will cause gnashing of teeth and weeping will be one's own regrets and self-inflicted misery of a conscience accusing them.  No one suffers unjustly and people will know God as a consuming fire, not as their Father.  It is evidently a place of torment, but mostly psychological and not what one would make out to be a torture chamber of cruelty.

God is certainly there, but in judgment.--but God isn't cruel!  There is no praise of God and no place for repentance, for these come by the grace of God, not man's effort.  Yet, what is sad, is this is what the impenitent want--to be separated from God's love and to be by themselves.  God is the source of all goodness and love, and imagine a place without any of that!   Hell is just that--separation from God's goodness, just as Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"  We can be assured though that the Judge of all the earth will do right (cf. Gen. 18:25).  Jesus did say that there are degrees of punishment, for Sodom and Gomorrah will suffer less than Capernaum!  Jesus said that some sins will warrant only a few stripes!

When we picture hell as outer darkness, we must realize that God is light and in Him is no darkness!  These people have rejected God and don't want anything to do with His light!  Part of the misery of hell will be that its purpose is punitive, not correctional or for sanctification and there can be no escape--there's no hope of reform and what's worse they will be haunted by the reason they are there and will realize it's all their fault, not being able to blame anyone!  No one repents or gives God praise in hell!  But the people there are those that wanted justice, not mercy and they're getting it!  If there were no hell, there would be no justice!

Remember the words from Dante Alighieri's Inferno (Part 1 of Divine Comedy):  "Those who enter here, abandon all hope!"  Never equate hell with cruelty (God has no mean-spirited bone in His body), but a place of perfect justice, being unjust to no one!    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Gateway To Hades

"Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (Romans 7:24-25, ESV).

"A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back" (Proverbs 29:11, NKJV),

"I see the better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst."  (Ovid, a Roman poet of antiquity).
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."  --C. S. Lewis
Note:  From this post, I hope to show you that the sin crescendo is the malady spiraling out of control and that Christ is the only cure and answer.

They say that all who entered here (hell) should give up all hope. They toyed with the devil and reaped what they sowed.  They have made the final decision, step by step to go the way of the devil by the exercise of their own will and cannot blame God for their fate, that they claimed they didn't see coming. They made their decision one step at a time knowing what they were doing and not being forced to do anything they didn't want to do.  Sin is like that:  It is like a gateway drug that leads to dangerous drugs and further addiction, seeming harmless at first, but then there's no turning back after the point of no return--you become enticed as it's slave (you are now a confirmed and possibly  a hardened sinner) and the only hope is to be set free by Jesus, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (cf. John 14:6).  A. W. Tozer said, "Jesus is not one of many ways, nor the best way, but the only way!"

An example of the progression of sin from Colossians 3 is lying leading to abusive speech, leading to slander or character assassination, leading to malice, then wrath, then finally outbursts of anger, and Jesus equated anger with murder (cf. Matt. 5:22)!  How do people get addicted to sex?  Greed leads to evil desire, then passion or lust, then impurity, then acted out sexual immorality itself.  The problem arises as to how to defuse the time bomb of escalating sin before we do something that will get us in trouble with the law or what have you. Psychologists have a term that may be helpful: Opposite action.  To neutralize greed, for example, be thankful!  To neutralize anger, forgive! Sin is a contrary spirit to God (man's declaration of independence from God) and we must learn to undo it by reversing its appeal with "opposite action."  Sin may seem harmless in incubation, but when hatched it is dangerous and must be recognized for what it is:  Calling it by other names or denying it will do no good (some believers are in denial, when the first step to recovery is simply admitting you are powerless to overcome it alone), and denial will only compound or postpone the problem.  Call a spade a spade and don't invent or concoct pretty names for your sin.

Everyone has some trigger sin that leads to a chain reaction if not checked. Sometimes there may be cues that we need to avoid and flee immorality like it is written.  We can even have pet sins that we tend to be lax about and tolerate, but fail to realize their danger and nip it in the bud like they say in slang wording.  We all have a sin which easily besets us according to Hebrews 12:1 and needs to recognize and admit this.  Sin at any level is a dangerous thing to flirt with and to experiment with. "The eye is never full of seeing," and that is how innocent looking [which isn't necessarily sin, but letting the imagination get carried away is], and curiosity and finally addiction to boot can take over a person's life, and he ends up becoming a pervert--there will be no perverts in heaven.  I've heard people admit to being a "dirty old man" and thought nothing of it, but God frowns and condemns any such acting out of perverts' fantasies.  There is only one solution:  "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16, ESV).

All this means this:  You must learn to walk with the Lord in fellowship by keeping short accounts of your sins and confessing them per 1 John 1:9 in the ESV ("If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unmentioned ones]"). Remember we all have our individual issues and all of us have feet of clay (flaws not readily apparent), and Jesus sees through the veneer.  We have two natures: The one that gets fed the most will dominate your behavior!  You cannot be spiritually starved and expect to get the victory!  In sum, the antidote to sin is a close walk with the Lord and a spirit of gratitude and praise: "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise!" (Psalm 100:4, ESV). But note well:  "If I regard iniquity in my heart the LORD will not hear me" (cf. Psalm 66:18).

How does a person become a slave to his own sin?  He thinks it's okay to fudge a little and become lax, i.e., he doesn't see it coming and lets the little sins slide not taking holiness and sanctification seriously.  Three people didn't see their sinful downfall coming on the day of Christ's crucifixion:  Pilate had long given in to public pressure and expediency and finally caved to public opinion and compromised his own morals and Rome's standards to boot; Judas had been flirting with Satan and listening to his ideas, like when Mary anointed Jesus, and it was only a small step after already opening the door to Satan to give in to the temptation to betray him; Peter was impetuous and compulsive and didn't think before he spoke often and thought too highly of himself and his flesh got the best of him on that night.  So the three gave in to the world, the devil, and even the flesh: The big three are our enemies also!  In fact, we are our own worst enemy just like the cartoon character Pogo of Walt Kelley fame said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."  Sometimes we have to reach rock bottom before we realize our own nature and repent or find God like Peter did when Christ reinstated him. If we don't know what God is like we will never know what we are really made of either.  Judas felt remorse, but not true repentance, and did not match it with faith in forgiveness from Christ, because he didn't know Him.

We all have to know ourselves and our weaknesses because others may figure us out and learn how to push all the wrong buttons.  The Greeks sought to "know thyself" as well as to "know God."  The two go hand in hand and compliment each other.  Knowing God helps you know yourself and see yourself for what you really are and in the true light.  The fool gives full vent to his rage according to the Bible. We all need an outlet but we must learn to be angry and not sin or do something we'll regret. Most of us have experienced losing it, or giving someone a piece of our mind, or letting them have it at some point. Some believers have anger management problems but don't realize they are nurturing sins that feed into this vicious cycle of anger and regret over it. Personally, I have learned to know myself well enough to know how the devil tempts me and to avoid those situations (i.e., watching certain TV channels), and so nip it in the bud--don't open the door to Satan or given him a beachhead or opportunity to use you for his will or to be captive to his spirit.  It is easy to get carried away when you don't know yourself and how the devil uses you when you are at your weakest--he likes to catch you on a "spiritual high" and whenever you've done something for the Lord he will counterattack to neutralize you and put you out to pasture, so to speak, being of no benefit to God's will.

Sin is like a chain reaction or a domino effect that must be stopped dead in its tracks!  It could also be pictured as a roundabout that you cannot get off or a vicious circle that goes for infinity.  The only escape is to be delivered by Christ who paid the price to set you free--we have the power to live in the Spirit, not permission to live in the flesh!  Sin is slavery and bondage, and there is no freedom but in Christ.  No other religion names sin as the issue to man's evil and offer the solution of atonement--other religions offer philosophy, works, enlightenment, or meditation.  There's only one Savior given among men under heaven (cf. Acts 4:12) though. "... [And] you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21, ESV).  You don't need to be enlightened or turn over a new leaf or make a New Year's resolution, but to repent and this can only be done by God's grace as you come to Him in sincerity and throw yourself at His mercy, realizing your helpless and hopeless state without Him.  You have to realize your spiritual bankruptcy.  Einstein said that it is easier to denature plutonium than the evil nature of man!  Jeremiah had a lot to say about how evil man is: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand  it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, ESV) and "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to doing evil"  (Jeremiah 13:23, ESV).  Even Moses said, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5, ESV).

There is a way to avoid the gateway to your personal "hell":  You must make an honest assessment of yourself (as Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living") and you must be accountable, aboveboard, frank, and straightforward; this means no hypocrisy or semblance of holiness under the guise of your walk--going through the motions, memorizing the Dance of the Pious, or talking the talk without walking the walk. Why?  We Christians are held to a higher standard and it is like living in a glass house once the world figures out you are a Christian--life gets complicated, inconvenient, uncomfortable as we have to move out of our comfort zones. This is called the "buddy system" or having a sponsor in AA's 12 steps.  Every believer should have someone they can level with and be honest with without any pretense from a faux friend.  Your spouse has you pegged and may be partial!   Mates (they are often your chief critic or sparring partner!) can be good, but often they just know how to push each other's buttons.  It is counterproductive to put such a burden on them alone--you may need a circle of friends or church you can call home and be involved in.

Don't be like a fish out of water or a Lone-Ranger Christian trying to fight the devil all on your own--we are not his match and woe is us when we get on his hit list if we are unprepared. We all have different thresholds of sin tolerance; however, remember, sin doesn't just happen: Satan knows our foibles, weaknesses, and faults and exploits them to the max--so beware of his schemes, especially mind or psychological games!  Let me quote Paul:  "... I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices [schemes]" (2 Cor. 2:11, NKJV).

The only way to defeat the enemy is to be outfitted with the full armor of God per Ephesians 6:10ff, ESV:  "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might...."  Note that keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus will keep you out of trouble (cf. Hebrews 12:2)!  Finally, for survival purposes, I challenge you with the five necessary K's:  Know Scripture; know thyself; know your enemy; know the will of God, and finally, know God!  Soli Deo Gloria!