Hell

Anyone who is among the living has hope – even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! Ecclesiastes 9:4


“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:16-21

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:8-10

Don’t be deceived , my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
James 1:16-18

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2

And if your eye cause you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:47-48

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendents endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Isaiah 66:22-24

“Then he will say to those on his left ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41

And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with whole-hearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. I Chronicles 28:9

I pray that everyone who is led to this page will read it. I know that most will not, or they will read part of it, or skim through it without really thinking about it. But I hope you will read it and think about it and ask yourselves questions about it.

In previous entries I have discussed the truth of Jesus Christ and how you must either accept what Jesus says about himself or you must call him a liar (see ‘The Truth About Truth’). That there is no middle-of-the-road, or ‘neutral’ position. Jesus was not simply a great prophet or wise man as some religions would have you believe. He was either who He said He is, the Holy Son of God, and the only way to the Father, or He was a liar. The choice to believe or call Him a liar is yours, that is how free will works. For those of you who are parents you understand that you cannot force your children to love and obey you. No matter what you do, in the end the choice is up to them. This is exactly the relationship God offers to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Although He could probably force us to obey Him through intimidation and fear He does not, instead He leaves the choice up to us. He does this because He does not desire a relationship with a bunch of mindless robots. He desires a relationship based on love and trust, just as parents, we desire a relationship with our own children based on love and trust.

What I want to discuss is another ‘truth’ or reality of scripture and that is Hell. Many of you would prefer not to think about or believe in this concept because it is a hard truth to accept. But the scriptures are very clear, and Hell is a real place according to the word of God, so again, you either accept it or you call the word of God a lie. One of the things that makes this concept so hard to accept is that it is hard to imagine how a God who is love can send someone to a place of eternal damnation. First of all Hell is a place prepared for the devil and his angels (or demons) (Matthew 25:41). Second, God does not want anyone to go to Hell (2 Peter 3:8-10). He wants everyone to come to repentance and accept His free gift of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16-21). Unfortunately, because of free will, not everyone will accept this gift, but the choice is ours, so when our physical life on this earth is over, our spiritual life will either be spent for all eternity with God or in the place prepared for the devil and his demons. That place is Hell.

So what is Hell? Lets think about this for a minute. What makes life on earth tolerable? Is it the misery and the suffering, the evil and darkness? No! it is the mercy, the compassion, the love, the goodness, the light. So, where do all these good things come from? The answer, in case you don’t know, is God (James 1:16-18). So what is Hell? Hell is everything that God is not. It is the evil, the darkness, the misery, the suffering, the absence of mercy, compassion, tenderness, love and perhaps most important; hope. So in effect Hell is the absence of God. Hell is everything this world would be if the presence of God were removed.

For now the world is a spiritual battle ground. This is why both darkness and light coexist. That is going to change one day, whether it changes during our lifetime or not is really irrelevant. We are all going to die a physical death, and when that occurs, for us, the battle is over. We will be judged by the choices we made during our life. We will not be judged based on our good deeds, because by God’s standard we have all come up short. We will be judged by whether we accepted the sacrifice provided for us or not. We will be judged by whether we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, or whether we belong to the devil by not accepting the only Son of God (John 3:16-21). We will be judged by our choices. We will either spend eternity with God and His mercy, love and compassion, or we will spend eternity absent from God, in the place prepared for the devil and his demons, where only evil, darkness, misery and suffering exist. The choice of where you spend that eternity is up to you.

There is so much more that could be said about this subject. I can only hope that I have stirred enough interest within you that you will look into it further. You could choose to ignore this altogether, but by doing so understand one thing; you still have made a choice. I hope you will not choose to ignore this because quite frankly it is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. I can assure you of one thing: if you do seek answers they are only a prayer away. If you seek God you will find Him. (I Chronicles 28:9).
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