Good Morning Church-Do You Feel Empathy for Those Who Will Spend an Eternity in Hell?
This is the question my son asked me today.
He asked if I would write a post that describes just how horrible hell is, and how abusive that makes God.
Those were his words not mine.
I do not think of GOD as abusive but my son does and that is why he no longer believes.
He asked me to share some of the hard to think about verses regarding Hell so here are a few.
And a few more:
Hell is clearly not a place I want to live for eternity.
No one would — If they believed it is real.
More and more people are starting to doubt GOD because of the cruelty described in hell, or they no longer believe in heaven and hell at all, at least not in the way the Bible teaches.
Some are starting to believe in the concept that hell is more of a state of mind — an eternity existing with the knowledge of knowing you let GOD down.
And honestly I wanted to believe that too.
I thought if I can find evidence to support that idea, then maybe I can get my son to see GOD is not as ruthless as HE seems.
But as I studied, I could not find any support in scripture that describes hell as anything but the hell we have always known.
So that leaves me where I started. With a son who says he can no longer believe in GOD because GOD is cruel and abusive.
That is how my son sees GOD.
HE says, “It’s as if GOD is holding a gun to our heads.” Then he added, “But pulling the trigger would be more humane than allowing any part of HIS creation to suffer the eternity of Hell.”
So I ask again, do you feel empathy for those who will spend an eternity in Hell?
I do, and it rips my heart out.
I don’t understand why GOD does what HE does, and I really don’t know how to reach my son at this point.
I am praying constantly for the wisdom to answer his questions, and direction in my own study.
As I have studied, to try and understand my son’s questions myself, I am continually drawn to Isaiah.
I have been listening a lot to Frances Chan, and he was the first that directed me to this passage.
Frances has written, and spoken a lot about our perceptions of hell.
It’s a very difficult topic, because we all have people who we know and love, that have died in a state that leaves us concerned for their eternal soul.
Frances said, that as he tries to reconcile the questions he has about things like hell, and eternal suffering, he refers back to this passage in Isaiah.
GOD’s ways are not our ways — we’re not suppose to understand!
It is a passage that can offer peace to those unsettling questions we all have, if we choose to accept it.
I have a friend who went through the same struggle I see my son facing.
She, like my son had lost her faith.
Just like him, she grew up in a Christian home. Her parents were even missionaries!
But somewhere along the way she lost her faith.
As she was struggling to find her way, her sister was dealing with some problems of her own.
At one point her sister ran away from home.
As she talked with her sister, trying to understand why she had left, her sister said, “I had to leave to figure things out.”
My friend told her sister, “But you don’t have to do that! You don’t have to leave to find the answers!”
And, it was in that moment that she realized, that is what GOD was saying to her too.
GOD was saying, “You don’t have to leave ME to find ME.
So, as I end where I began, with my son's question again, “Do You Feel Empathy for Those Who Will Spend an Eternity in hell?”
Yes — Yes I do, but rather than let that drive me away, it makes me more determined than ever, to share what I know with others and to insure hell is not as densely populated as it could be;
And to leave what I don’t understand till that moment when I see HIM FACE to FACE.
God Bless!
LaVern Vivio
October 22, 2017
