IF THERE IS NO HELL
"If there is no hell, God is not just. If there is no punishment of sin, heaven is apathetic toward the rapists and pillagers and mass murderers of society. If there is no hell, God is blind toward the victims and has turned his back on those who pray for relief. If there is no wrath toward evil, then God is not love, for love hates that which is evil.
To say there is no hell is also to say God is a liar and his Scripture untrue. The Bible repeatedly and stoutly affirms the dualistic outcome of history. Some will be saved. Some will be lost. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever-lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan12:2 Rsv). Paul agreed: "To those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury"(Rom. 2 :7--8 RSV).
Think about these facts: Thirteen percent of the teachings of Christ are about judgment and hell. More than half of his parables relate to God's eternal judgment of sinners. Of the twelve times that the word gehenna the strongest biblical word for hell appears in Scripture, there is only one time in which Jesus was not the speaker.: No one spoke of hell more than Christ did. "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished"(Mark 16: 16).
Are we to ignore these statements? Can we scissor them out o our Bibles? Only at the expense of a just God and a reliable Bible. Hell is a very real part of the economy of heaven."
"The Beginning of the Very Best - When Christ Comes Again"
by Max Lucado
To say there is no hell is also to say God is a liar and his Scripture untrue. The Bible repeatedly and stoutly affirms the dualistic outcome of history. Some will be saved. Some will be lost. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever-lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan12:2 Rsv). Paul agreed: "To those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury"(Rom. 2 :7--8 RSV).
Think about these facts: Thirteen percent of the teachings of Christ are about judgment and hell. More than half of his parables relate to God's eternal judgment of sinners. Of the twelve times that the word gehenna the strongest biblical word for hell appears in Scripture, there is only one time in which Jesus was not the speaker.: No one spoke of hell more than Christ did. "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished"(Mark 16: 16).
Are we to ignore these statements? Can we scissor them out o our Bibles? Only at the expense of a just God and a reliable Bible. Hell is a very real part of the economy of heaven."
"The Beginning of the Very Best - When Christ Comes Again"
by Max Lucado