HELL? YES!
MATT.10:28; LUKE 16:19-31
A CRITICAL LOOK AT HELL:
PRE/POST ENLIGHTMENT … ENLIGHTMENT, A MOVEMENT OF THE 18TH CENTURY THAT STRESSED THE BELIEF THAT SCIENCE AND LOGIC GIVE PEOPLE MORE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING THAN TRADITION AND RELIGION.
17TH CENTURY, MEDIEVAL ITALIAN PREACHER
“FIRE, FIRE! THAT IS THE RECOMPENSE FOR YOUR PERVERSITY, YOU HARDENED SINNERS. FIRE, FIRE, THE FIRES OF HELL! FIRE IN YOUR EYES, FIRE IN YOUR MOUTH, FIRE IN YOUR GUTS, FIRE IN YOUR THROAT, FIRE IN YOUR NOSTRILS, FIRE INSIDE AND FIRE OUTSIDE, FIRE BENEATH AND FIRE ABOVE, FIRE IN EVERY PART. A MISERABLE FOLK! YOU WILL BE LIKE RAGS BURNING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRE.”
JONATHAN EDWARDS,
CONSIDER THAT IF YOU ONCE GET INTO HELL, YOU’LL NEVER GET OUT. IF YOU SHOULD UNEXPEXTANTLY ONE OF THESE DAYS DROP IN THER: (THERE) WOULD BE NO REMEDY. THEY THAT GO THERE RETURN NO MORE. CONSIDER HOW DREADFUL IT WILL BE TO SUFFER SUCH AN EXTREMITY FOREVER. IT IS DREADFUL BEYOND EXPRESSION, TO SUFFER IN IT AN HALF AN HOUR. 0 THE MISERY, THE TRIBULATION AND ANGUISH THAT IS ENDURED.”
20TH CENTURY, GERMAN THEOLOGICAN RUDOLPH BULTMANN, “THE COSMOLOGY IF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ESENTIALLY MYTHICAL IN CHARACTER.”
21ST CENTURY, UNDERLYING CULTURAL TRENDS,
FIRST, A CHANGED WORLD VIEW OF GOD
SECOND, PLURALISM
THIRD, THE HUMAN POTENTIAL MOVEMENT
FOURTH, GROWTH IN EASTERN RELIGIONS
ANSWER: HELL IS WHAT HELL IS BECAUSE GOD IS WHO GOD IS …
GOD IS JUST, ROMANS 1:18
GOD IS GLORIOUS, ISA.6:1-7
GOD IS BENEVOLENT,
GOD IS PATIENT,
MAN IS ACCOUNTABLE
A CASE STUDY, LUKE 16:14,19-31
DIFFERENCE IN LIFE, VS.14,19-21
DIFFERENCE IN DEATH, VS.22
DIFFERENCE IN ETERNITY, VS.22-31
HELL IS:
FIRE AND DARKNESS
A CONTINUATION OF LIFE
TORMENT, VS.23,24,25
MEMORY, VS.25
DISTANCE, VS.26
A PLACE YOU WILL WANT NO ONE ELSE TO GO, VS.27-31
APPLICATION:
SPURGEON, RESPONDING TO THE QUESTION, HOW CAN WE BELIEVE IN A LOVING GOD WHO ALLOWS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD …
“THAT IS TROUBLING, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT MOST TROUBLES ME. WHAT TROUBLES ME IS HOW WE CAN CLAIM TO HAVE KNOWN AND EXPERIENCED THE LOVE OF GOD COULD BE DOING NEXT TO NOTHING TO TAKE THE LOVE OF GOD TO THOSE PEOPLE.”
C.S. LEWIS, “IN THE LONG RUN THE ANSWER TO ALL THOSE WHO OBJECT TO THE DOCTRINE OF HELL IS ITSELF A QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU ASKING GOD TO DO? TO WIPE OUT THEIR PAST SINS AND, AT ALL COST, TO GIVE THEM A FRESH START, SMOOTHING EVERY DIFFICULTY AND OFFERING EVERY MIRACULOUS HELP? ALAS, I AM AFRAID THAT IS WHAT HE DOES … IN THE END, THERE ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE … THOSE WHO SAY, “THY WILL BE DONE” AND THOSE TO WHOM GOD SAYS IN THE END, “THY WILL BE DONE” … ALL THAT ARE IN HELL CHOSE IT. WITHOUT THE SELF CHOICE IT WOULDN’T BE HELL”
