Whatever Happened to Hell?
Forsaking the true gospel in favor of “sola feels”
Yesterday was Easter, when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from out of the tomb. Evangelical congregations, and I imagine most others, sing about how Christ vanquished the grave and conquered death (O death, where is your sting?).
The sermons are almost invariably about two things: that Christianity hangs on the truth of Christ’s resurrection, and that what Christ did when he rose from the grave is defeat death. Death is the big baddie.
Jesus defeated death. Amen! But wait, what does this mean? Did the twenty minute sermon go into any detail on what death entails, or are newcomers and semiannual visitors meant to take it at face value — that is, the face value assigned by the culture? To the secular culture, death is blackness. Death is annihilation. Death is no more life, not in the spiritual sense, but the biological one…that is, until someone close to us dies, and then we take comfort in the idea that he or she has gone to “a better place.” Contradictory beliefs are valid if they make us feel better, but all this stuff about hell is just mythology that feeds a decade-long fantasy series about the Supernatural.
What about eternal damnation? When the Apostle Paul wrote that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life,” what did he mean? What did Jesus mean when he said that, “unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins?” Did they mean that without faith in Christ Jesus, we simply slip into the blackness when the synapses in our brain stop firing? No. Like it or not, the doctrine of hell is biblical. In fact, Jesus talked about it an awful lot, calling it place of “outer darkness” — but not just that, it is a “fiery furnace,” a place of “torment” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It is agony, for eternity.
We don’t talk about hell because it isn’t nice to think about — we mention it, sure — this four-letter word is ironically prolific in cursing. But pastors, I suspect, don’t preach on hell because they want visitors to leave full of hope and joy, not terror or dread. Or perhaps they think an understanding of hell is assumed, that since we live in a “Christian” country, everyone knows about the doctrine of hell. Yes, the fundamentalist Baptists put up “Hell Houses” to scare teenagers around Halloween, yet it seems they alone really give hell a prominent place in evangelism. Granted, the Hell House is a severely imbalanced approach; I don’t think you can simply scare people into the arms of Jesus. But give them credit where it’s due: at least they acknowledge the existence of such a place. They don’t just passively acknowledge it and awkwardly preach around the icky subject, but they actively promote the doctrine. Actively promoting Biblical doctrines seems to me a good thing.
I’m currently reading Chosen But Free and The Potter’s Freedom simultaneously. In the latter, James White points out that Paul’s letter to the Romans would “fail almost every evangelism class currently offered in seminaries” because he starts with the bad news: “Without a single poem, no funny illustrations or multi-media aids, the inspired Apostle drags on about the sinfulness of men, Jew and Gentile alike” (p. 81). White argues one must first understand the bad news before the good news really carries any weight, and I do believe he’s right. We must establish the consequences of sin (note 61% of Americans strongly disagree that “even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation), before Christ’s brutal death and resurrection mean what they’re supposed to mean to the unbeliever. It is not enough to simply say that Christ conquered death. It is not enough to say that faith in Jesus leads to eternal life in heaven, and let the listener go on believing that hell is a myth dreamed up to scare people into obedience. We have to proclaim the uncomfortable, politically incorrect truth that a just God sends sinners to their just punishment, and be willing to bear the scoffing and the ridicule for the sake of the whole gospel. We say that Christ has provided “a way out.” A way out of what? That question must be answered.
The growth of “liberal Christianity” is lamentable because it forsakes the true gospel in favor of “sola feels.” But for a biblical doctrine, hell doesn’t receive nearly enough attention even in self-described biblical churches; I suspect “feels” are part of the reason.
