It sure would be nice to hear the answer "No" to that question. Sadly, the Bible is too clear that a place called "hell" does exist. Furthermore, the Bible graphically portrays hell as separation from God, outer darkness, the place where the worm does not die, a lake of fire and brimstone that is not quenched, and a place of eternal torment and pain. There is no room to dismiss any of these descriptions for hell.
There is also no biblical support for the idea of annihiliation, the immediate or eventual ceasing to exist. This concept flies in the face of the doctrine of justice and judgment so prevalently defined and explained in the Bible.
Even as I type this, I am in anguish over the permanance of people's decisions made in this life. Paul agonized over his people as well: "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." If Christians took more time to contemplate the reality of the fires of hell, our fire for evangelism (telling the Good News to the world) would be both critical and urgent.
We live in a world that would prefer to either put hell away from our thinking altogether or else refuse to believe that an "all-loving" God would condemn any "good" person to an eternity of such unyielding torment. To do either of these is foolishness and speaks to the fact that our world has become so accustomed to man's wickedness that we have lost all sense of God's holiness and justice.
Hell is a topic that no preacher wants to preach but a topic that must be preached in order for revival to happen...
See you this Sunday!
Pastor Randy
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