Talking and writing about hell in public is a faux pas these days. But at the risk of being a Debbie Downer (or rather, a Dennis Downer) during the holiday season, I’m going to do just that. I was stunned by the overwhelming response I received to my post “Imagine There’s No Hell” a few weeks ago and it started me ruminating about all of the misconceptions non-Christians think Christians believe about hell. These misconceptions – and the lack of proper teaching Christians have on hell because defensive pastors tend to avoid the subject at all cost – have put average Christians at a huge disadvantage when defending their faith.
Some of the primary intellectual arguments against Christianity stem from these misconceptions about hell. Namely, it’s sometimes postulated that Christians believe in a God who is 1) a sadist who delights in sending people to hell to burn forever; 2) unfair because he applies the same absolute standard of holiness to everyone, even to people who have never heard of him; and 3) arbitrary and extreme, assigning everyone to the same punishment.
So from time to time I want to address different aspects of the question of what hell is, why we believe in it, and why God sends people there.
Today, I want to correct the impression by many that hell is a place of uniform punishment that is experienced the same way by the worst (say, Pol Pot or Hitler, who killed millions) and the not so bad, relatively speaking (say a neurosurgeon who had an affair). If it is true that God assigns the exact same eternal punishment to everyone, then he would indeed be a cruel and unjust God.
But the Bible does not teach that hell is experienced the same way by everyone. Rather, there are degrees of hell. There are some levels of hell that are completely intolerable and reserved for the worst of the worst. But there are other levels of hell that are relatively bearable – “Hell Lite” so to speak – reserved for people who lived a reasonably decent life. Jesus refers to these degrees of hell in the following two important pronouncements:
And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. -Jesus in Matthew 10:14-15
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. -Jesus in Matthew 11:21-22 (Italics mine.)
In other words, when it comes to hell, what people do in this life really does matter. It is true that no one is good enough on their own merit to be worthy of heaven – “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But it is also true that an unbeliever’s works make an eternal difference. The person who in this life completely abandons the moral law written on his heart and inflicts great harm on others will receive a much more severe punishment than the person who generally tries to observe the moral law.
This is not to say that there is anything about any level of hell that is desirable. No one will be spending eternity in hell partying with their earthly drinking buddies. But it is to say that God is infinitely and perfectly fair. The punishment meted out by God in the day of judgment will be fact based, measured and appropriate, and dispensed to all irrespective of person. It will be seen by all of God’s creation as just and fair and he will be praised as such.
Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly? – Abraham to God in Genesis 18:25
God will repay each one according to his deeds. – Paul in Romans 2:6
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
