Gospel.com Blog

We’re continuing our “Common Objections to Christianity” series of posts today with a question about Hell.

As Andy stated in the first post in the series, “Our intent isn’t to play devil’s advocate, but to let you share how you would respond when your faith is challenged.”

To reiterate, we want to hear how you would answer this question. Try to think how you’d respond if a friend asked you this question in a coffeeshop. You don’t have access to any books, sermons or publications to show them. Your friend doesn’t want a reading list—they want to hear your response!

How would you respond to this statement:

“Christianity purports to be a religion based on love. The New Testament writers regularly state that God is a loving God. However, they also state that many people will suffer in Hell. How could an omnipotent, loving God allow the existence of a place of eternal torment?”

Share your response!

This is one of the more vexing questions that Christians encounter (or ask themselves): if Jesus is the only way through which we’re made right with God, what does that mean for people who never hear about him? It’s one thing to hear the Gospel and choose to reject it; but what about somebody who never had a chance to hear, let alone reject, the message of Jesus?

Christians have taken many different approaches to this question. I’ll highlight responses from two different online ministries below. Do you agree with either (or both) of them?

Uplook Ministries answers the question by arguing that God works in people’s hearts in many more ways than just through overt preaching of the Gospel. They conclude:

God has promised us that, if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). He is not eager for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). “For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13). We do not know how God is dealing with people in lands yet unreached by the gospel, but from Scripture we can see that He will never condemn anyone unjustly, but will be faithful to reveal Himself to anyone who looks for His salvation.

We also know that John saw in heaven “…a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10). Not only every nation but every tribe will be represented in heaven.

Notice that they all sing the same song. We are not saying that sincere Muslims or Hindus, trusting in their religion, will make it to heaven. There is only one Saviour, and everyone in heaven will be there through the salvation provided by God’s Lamb, the Lord Jesus.

Read the full answer at Uplook Ministries.

The Faith Facts ministry answers the question:

…the Bible also teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)! And it implies that whoever seeks after God earnestly will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 86:5; Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7-8). God is fair as well as just. We are confident, for example, that the Old Testament patriarchs who lived by faith before Jesus’ earthly ministry, are in heaven. So certainly some people have gotten to heaven without knowing Jesus in the personal way that the New Testament speaks of. Ultimately only God can judge as only He knows the individual’s heart. We hold out hope that for those who have not heard but have not rejected God, those have been misinformed, or those who are unable to understand (children, mentally ill, etc) may be pardoned by a just God.

Certainly, the Bible does not teach “universalism.” Universalism is the idea that everyone gets to heaven.

The Bible clearly teaches that the only certain way to heaven is through Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We are confident that God will not hold anyone accountable for any knowledge he did not receive. At the same time, the Bible emphatically states that Christ is the only sure way to salvation. Anyone who has heard of the saving grace of Jesus, and rejects it, would be thumbing his nose at God (John 3:36).

Read the full answer at Faith Facts website.

Do these answers satisfy you?

Share your thoughts!

Here are a few sermons on heaven and hell from sermonindex.net:

Hell, What is it like?

What and Where is Heaven?

Heaven

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Revelations 4:

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Do Christians really believe in Hell? And do they really believe that anyone who isn’t a Christian will be tormented in a lake of fire for all eternity? How could a loving God send people to Hell?

Few aspects of the Christian faith are as difficult to understand, and unpleasant to ponder, as the doctrine of Hell. Add to the mix the common stereotypes about lakes of fire, pitchfork-wielding devils, and a condemning God, and you have a doctrine that’s seriously misunderstood by most people (including many Christians!).

But it’s just too important a part of the Gospel story to ignore; if there were no Hell—no threat of eternal separation from God—there would be little point to Jesus’ death and resurrection! So today, let’s take a look at some resources that explain what Hell is, why Christians believe it’s real, and what it all means for you right now.

• Probably the #1 question people have about Hell is how could a loving God make people suffer in Hell? It’s a good question—and the Bible has some good answers. Answers in Genesis has an excellent breakdown of this question, asked by a Christian who was having trouble grasping this idea.

  A similar question worth asking is do Christians really believe that people who haven’t heard of Jesus will go to Hell? Here’s a second answer to that question if you want more.

• If you want to read for yourself what the Bible says about Hell, here’s a list of verses from the Bible that talk about Hell (and Heaven too). And if you need a hand interpreting what they all mean, you can’t do better than RBC Ministries’ online booklet What the Bible Says About Hell.
• Pastors and church leaders—are you shying away from talking about Hell in your sermons or study lessons because it’s such a touchy subject? It’s really not a subject you can just ignore—here are some ideas for broaching the subject of Hell in logical ways during sermons.
• A famous creed of the Christian faith states that Jesus “descended into Hell” after his crucifixion. What does it mean that Jesus descended to Hell?

There’s lots more about Hell and the afterlife over at Gospel.com’s Hell topic page. It’s not a fun subject by any stretch of the imagination—but it’s important, and while it’s tempting to just ignore or breeze over the doctrine of Hell, it’s too important a part of the Gospel story to just overlook. So take a few minutes and see if the above links don’t answer a few of your questions about Hell!

Heaven and Hell. Hades and Paradise.

Is heaven harps and wings? Does it look like Dante’s Paradisio? Is Hell like Sarte envisioned? Type ‘Heaven’ into any search engine and marvel at how many different ideas people have concerning heaven.

There’s quite a bit of misinformation about the afterlife screaming to be heard. You can find people that will tell you just about anything about what happens after we die. Want heaven to be a place where your wildest fantasies come true? Well, there are teachers that would love to tickle your ears about just that.

Obviously, for Christians the question of whose version of eternity is correct is kind of important, as that question is key to our understanding of the gospel.

That’s why this week we’ll be looking at some of those different questions, exploring the beliefs of Christians and pointing out some resources we’ve found to help you with your understanding of the Afterlife.