BGEA: I think people who believe in hell are just angry and want to see other people suffer.

I don't agree with preachers who say we're going to go to hell if we don't get right with God. God is loving and kind, and I don't believe He would send anybody to hell. I think people who believe in hell are just angry and want to see other people suffer. — A.McF.

I remember an old seminary professor I once knew who told his students something like this: "Don't ever preach about hell without tears in your eyes." His meaning was clear: If we truly believe in hell, our hearts will be broken and filled with love for those who deliberately choose to go there.

Would it surprise you to learn that the person in the Bible who talked the most about God's love was also the one who talked the most about hell? That person was Jesus—and repeatedly He warned His listeners about the reality of hell. He called it a place of "outer darkness (where) there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12, KJV). He pictured hell as a place of absolute loneliness and despair, whose inhabitants are separated from God's blessings forever.

Never forget: God is holy and just—and because He is, evil must be judged. Can you honestly believe God will simply ignore the evils of a Hitler or a Stalin, and say it doesn't matter that they killed millions? Can you honestly believe that those who hate God and persecute His people won't be held accountable?

Hell is real, because God's justice is real. But listen: God does not want us to go there! He loves us, and He sent His Son into the world to die for us and open heaven's door for us. Open your life to Him, and by faith trust Him as your Lord and Savior.

2 Comments

Cheryl says 1.12.2011, 8:58 p.m.

Hell is real and forever. There is no place in the Bible that indicates it is only for a time. The Bible does state that in the end times there will be many false teachings. Dave...God is a Holy God. Sin will not be allowed to exist in Heaven nor in His Holy presense. God is not the one that tortures us...that is Satan. If anyone chooses to reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their heart and life, they will be forever separated from the One that sent Him to save us from eternal suffering. God sent His only Son to die a horrible death to save us from the consequences of sin. That is how much our Holy God loves you and me. Who among us would send their only son to suffer and die for people that have done nothing to deserve such a sacrifice?

Dave says 12.30.2010, 12:06 a.m.

Of course there is a hell. That is a prison where God sends people for an age (aion in the Greek) to be purified in his holy fire. As Jesus said they certainly won't be released "until the last penny is paid."God is awesome! He certainly wouldn't burn people in a literal fire for eternity. That would make him a million times more a sick monster than Hitler. Everything God does is redemptive- especially hell. Until the church gets this right, the world will never really take Christianity seriously. There is just something very irrational about a God who says "love me or I will torture you by burning you forever." Who could really love a God like that?