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What if you’re wrong about hell?

Saint Steven

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A place of condemnation outside of what believers will experience. Don't get stuck on words.

Was Jesus trying to peddle off some sort of mistruth? Jesus did warn, teach, and tell educational parables concerning this 'place'.
You are regurgitating what we have all been taught growing up in the church.

If it was possible that there was no forever-burning hell, would you be in favor of that?
Or will you fight to keep your forever-burning hell?
 
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LostMarbels

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You are regurgitating what we have all been taught growing up in the church.

If it was possible that there was no forever-burning hell, would you be in favor of that?
Or will you fight to keep your forever-burning hell?

What I'm doing, is I am asking you a point blank, in your face question. Do you believe Jesus lied about the existence of a place for the condemned?
 
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Ricky M

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On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the highest, how would you rate that plan?
The vast majority of those created in your image abandoned to what exactly?
Could Abba really be that cruel?
Suppose I built a resort for the homeless, and all I asked for admission is that you stop and say thanks on the way in. That's it, say 'thank you I appreciate this' and you're in, tell me to go screw myself and you can sit outside on the curb.

Am I really responsible for those who choose to sit on the curb?

*

Are you actually a Christian?
 
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Der Alte

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What happens to the dead when death is destroyed?
Luke 20:38
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Matthew 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.[Here Jesus evidently did not know everyone was going to be saved.]

 
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Saint Steven

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What I'm doing, is I am asking you a point blank, in your face question. Do you believe Jesus lied about the existence of a place for the condemned?
That's a loaded question. We would have to unravel ALL your assumptions and preconceptions to even arrive at a proper question. You seem too angry to put up with that. How come? Will you fight to keep your forever-burning hell? Is that a loaded question? The answer seems to be, yes. Correct me if I misunderstood. Thanks.
 
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LostMarbels

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That's a loaded question. We would have to unravel ALL your assumptions and preconceptions to even arrive at a proper question. You seem too angry to put up with that. How come? Will you fight to keep your forever-burning hell? Is that a loaded question?

It is not loaded. You persist in stating a place of torment where those who are not saved go, is a false teaching.

Christ taught there is a place of torment for those who are condemned.

You are contrary one to another. So who is speaking the truth? Do you believe Jesus lied about this 'place' of condemnation?
 
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Saint Steven

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It is not loaded. You persist in stating a place of torment where those who are not saved go is a false teaching.
No. I said I don't believe in a forever-burning hell. Or "hell" for short.
It is "burning" (for lack of a better term) and it is "torment" (for lack of a better term) but it is not a forever-burning hell. And it is not "a place for the condemned" (your words) for which there is no hope of escape. What would be the purpose of that?

Perhaps you mean the realm of the dead? Or Hades? A temporary holding place. ???
 
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nolidad

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From a CWR (Christianity Without Religion) article by Brad Jersak titled:
What if you’re wrong about hell?
(Source link: Q&R with Brad Jersak: What if you're wrong about hell?)
Note this is more to read at the link than what I have posted in the OP here.

Comments and discussion welcome.

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What if you’re wrong about hell?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question:

Recently, in response to my rejection of the hell of eternal torment, one of my readers offered a fairly common objection: “I hope you’re right about that. BUT if you’re wrong about hell, then a lot of people will go there … and it will be your fault. Wouldn’t it be better to play it safe just to be sure?”

The following response was adapted from a much longer essay from Clarion Journal, titled, “Let’s Talk about Hell BETTER or “If You’re Wrong, a Lot of People Will Go to Hell & It’s Your Fault” by Brad Jersak.

Response: The Wager
This high stakes objection is worthy of a careful response.

  1. “Wrong about hell” in what way? The implication seems to imply that I don’t believe there’s a hell or that the hell I believe in is not something to worry about. Not so! Of course I believe in hell. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it with my eyes, in my spirit and in my Bible. And now I preach the good news, knowing that Christ conquered hades (Rev. 1:18) to rescue us and he came back victorious with a host of captives (Mark 3:27, Eph. 4:8). I see no reason to believe that my conviction that hell is horrendous but not eternal would endanger a single soul of going there.
  2. Are we saved by belief in Christ or by belief in hell? I assume that objectors believe that the material cause of our salvation is Jesus Christ and the efficient cause is faith in his name. Nowhere do the Scriptures demand belief in a particular doctrine of hell as a requirement for saving faith. No doctrine of hell entered New Testament evangelism or our confession of faith at baptism. One can check every evangelistic sermon in Acts to verify this.
  3. The ‘Safe’ Wager: The charge seems to be rooted in a fear-based wager that ultimately bites itself in the behind. The wager goes like this: IF eternal conscious torment is even a possibility, then we’d better warn people about it or they will end up there. Makes sense, right? Well… that might have worked in Jonathan Edwards time. I say might because can we be so sure that those who repent out of fear of being roasted alive forever actually responded in willing faith to Jesus Christ? Did they love him because they’d God’s love in the revelation of the Cross? Or did Edwards merely convince them to convert with the eternal conscious gun to their heads? Is that saving faith?
But for the sake of our wager, let’s say it was. Let’s say that gospel did work. And let’s say Edwards was completely right: that hell is eternal conscious torment and salvation is Jesus’ way out of the white-hot wrath of God. Let’s say eternal conscious torment is the clear and present danger. If so, then we need to determine which gospel will BEST save people from that fate.

Here’s the troubling news: preaching eternal hellfire no longer scares people into Jesus arms. Statistically, it creates atheists by the millions. If you’re truly worried about people going to hell, then you had better NOT mention it, because such preaching is among the top stated reasons why people now reject Christ.

This is a fact in the 21st century: people today reject the good news of Jesus Christ when we import hellfire preaching into our gospel. They do this because:

  • It sounds more like medieval mythology than gospel truth. It doesn’t resonate at all.
  • It looks more like a B-grade horror movie than something anchored to reality.
  • It sabotages the evangelist’s credibility because it doesn’t sound like the foolishness of the gospel (Christ and him crucified). It sounds more like the silliness of radical fundamentalism.
  • It enables the listener to defer judgment to an imagined “later” rather than facing all the ways they are already perishing and in bondage to the kingdom of hell today.
So, if you are truly afraid that people will go to hell, DO NOT tell them about it. But my suspicion is that the greater fear is that we ourselves might go to hell if we don’t get it right, even if we cause others to reject Christ through our hellacious threats.

Too bad this guy rejects the simple clear teaching of the Bible.

Hell is the place where disembodied souls go to await final judgment . Hell is hades/sheol and is the place where the rich man in the true account of Lazarus and the rich man went to- a place of literal torment.

The Lake of Fire is where all unsaved people and the devil and his angels eventually end up! It is not a place of destruction, but a place of endless suffering! The Bible also makes this clear, before God casts a soul into the lake of fire, he destroys death and the grave in it!

Yes we first and foremost tell people about the love of Jesus! And that he died to save u9s from this place where all man by nature is destined to go! But while we tell of our Saviors great love, people also need to know that this is the default location they will end if they reject His immense gift of love!
 
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Saint Steven

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Suppose I built a resort for the homeless, and all I asked for admission is that you stop and say thanks on the way in. That's it, say 'thank you I appreciate this' and you're in, tell me to go screw myself and you can sit outside on the curb.

Am I really responsible for those who choose to sit on the curb?
What if all those homeless people were your children?
Would you make any admission requirements, or send any of them away?

Luke 15:20
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
 
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Josheb

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Death is not a "someone", it is a something.
Does not matter. If the dead are not dead then neither is death and you have an internal conflict in your case that death not being a person does not resolve.

Revelation also reports hell or hades is destroyed. Is hades destroyed or not. If it is not destroyed then it remains and no restoration has occurred. If hades is in fact actually destroyed then so is everything else suffering the same fate as death and hades. Can't be had both ways.

So there are two holes in your theology of hell.



And I would say the same thing to Jersak if he were here.
 
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LostMarbels

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No. I said I don't believe in a forever-burning hell. Or "hell" for short.

Mar 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

It is "burning" (for lack of a better term) and it is "torment" (for lack of a better term) but it is not a forever-burning hell.

Hence: "everlasting", "fire", "burn" in the bible.

And it is not "a place for the condemned" (your words) for which there is no hope of escape.

Matthew 23:33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

What would be the purpose of that?

2 Peter 2:4 4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment

Perhaps you mean the realm of the dead? Or Hades? A temporary holding place. ???

I mean exactly what I type. I speak exactly what I intend to convey.

No. I do believe the church lied about it though.

So? We can go right back to the days of Christ. We can even ask Christ. There is no need to rely on traditions and teachings of men.
 
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Josheb

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What if all those homeless people were your children?
Would you make any admission requirements, or send any of them away?

Luke 15:20
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Failed analogy.

Matthew 13:38
"The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one..."

John 1:12
"But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God..."

John 8:44
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires."

1 John 3:10
"By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

Not everyone is God's child. There are those who are colloquially "God's children" because He made them but the minority of those "children" are the adopted sons (and daughters) of God by way of their inheritance in Christ. For your analogy to be correct the question would have to be "What if those 'homeless people' were not your children but instead had openly defied your desire to save them from themselves? Would you change the 'admission requirements' you'd already established prior to their disobedience or let them stay away?"

Nobody is sending anyone away.

And the appeal to children sent away is an appeal to emotion, not reason.

Furthermore, the prodigal son is not saved. He has no inheritance. He has the father's love but he still has no inheritance. The Jews in Jesus' parable audience had to return to the Father, but they then had to also come through Christ. There is no other way to the Father but by Christ and there is no other way out of hell.

The analogy of homeless children and appealing to Luke 15:20 fails in several ways.
 
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Der Alte

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You are regurgitating what we have all been taught growing up in the church.
If it was possible that there was no forever-burning hell, would you be in favor of that?
Or will you fight to keep your forever-burning hell?
Rubbish. That is a favorite cop out of UR-ites. I believe the same as he does and I did not grow up in the church. Although I sporadically attended Sunday School beginning in the days of FDR, and was familiar with all the hero stories; David, Goliath, Samson etc. I did not become a Christian until my mid 20s when LBJ was POTUS. I have questioned everything from day one.
If there was no eternal burning hell why would Jesus use language which to much of His immediate audience would describe an eternal burning hell, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth etc.

Second Clement 5:5 [A.D. 150]).
"If we do the will of Christ, we shall obtain rest; but if not, if we neglect his commandments, nothing will rescue us from eternal punishment"
• (Second Clement ibid., 17:7)
"But when they see how those who have sinned and who have denied Jesus by their words or by their deeds are punished with terrible torture in unquenchable fire, the righteous, who have done good, and who have endured tortures and have hated the luxuries of life, will give glory to their God saying, ‘There shall be hope for him that has served God with all his heart!’".
Ignatius of Antioch[a student of John]
"Corrupters of families will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they who do these things according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by evil teaching the faith of God for the sake of which Jesus Christ was crucified? A man become so foul will depart into unquenchable fire: and so will anyone who listens to him" (Letter to the Ephesians 16:1–2 [A.D. 110]).
Justin Martyr
"No more is it possible for the evildoer, the avaricious, and the treacherous to hide from God than it is for the virtuous. Every man will receive the eternal punishment or reward which his actions deserve. Indeed, if all men recognized this, no one would choose evil even for a short time, knowing that he would incur the eternal sentence of fire. On the contrary, he would take every means to control himself and to adorn himself in virtue, so that he might obtain the good gifts of God and escape the punishments"
• (First Apology 12 [A.D. 151]).
"We have been taught that only they may aim at immortality who have lived a holy and virtuous life near to God. We believe that they who live wickedly and do not repent will be punished in everlasting fire" (ibid., 21).
"[Jesus] shall come from the heavens in glory with his angelic host, when he shall raise the bodies of all the men who ever lived. Then he will clothe the worthy in immortality; but the wicked, clothed in eternal sensibility, he will commit to the eternal fire, along with the evil demons" (ibid., 52).
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
"Fixing their minds on the grace of Christ, [the martyrs] despised worldly tortures and purchased eternal life with but a single hour. To them, the fire of their cruel torturers was cold. They kept before their eyes their escape from the eternal and unquenchable fire"
• (Martyrdom of Polycarp 2:3 [A.D. 155]).
Mathetes
"When you know what is the true life, that of heaven; when you despise the merely apparent death, which is temporal; when you fear the death which is real, and which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the everlasting fire, the fire which will punish even to the end those who are delivered to it, then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world" (Letter to Diognetus 10:7 [A.D. 160]).
Athenagoras
"[W]e [Christians] are persuaded that when we are removed from this present life we shall live another life, better than the present one. . . . Then we shall abide near God and with God, changeless and free from suffering in the soul . . . or if we fall with the rest [of mankind], a worse one and in fire; for God has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, a mere incidental work, that we should perish and be annihilated" (Plea for the Christians 31 [A.D. 177]).
Theophilus of Antioch
"Give studious attention to the prophetic writings [the Bible] and they will lead you on a clearer path to escape the eternal punishments and to obtain the eternal good things of God. . . . [God] will examine everything and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit. To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works, he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all good things. . . . For the unbelievers and for the contemptuous, and for those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity, when they have been involved in adulteries, and fornications, and homosexualities, and avarice, and in lawless idolatries, there will be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish; and in the end, such men as these will be detained in everlasting fire" (To Autolycus 1:14 [A.D. 181])
Irenaeus[Student of Polycarp a student of John]
"[God will] send the spiritual forces of wickedness, and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, and the impious, unjust, lawless, and blasphemous among men into everlasting fire" (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).
"The penalty increases for those who do not believe the Word of God and despise his coming. . . . t is not merely temporal, but eternal. To whomsoever the Lord shall say, ‘Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire,’ they will be damned forever" (ibid., 4:28:2).
Tertullian
"After the present age is ended he will judge his worshipers for a reward of eternal life and the godless for a fire equally perpetual and unending"
• (Apology 18:3 [A.D. 197]).
"Then will the entire race of men be restored to receive its just deserts according to what it has merited in this period of good and evil, and thereafter to have these paid out in an immeasurable and unending eternity. Then there will be neither death again nor resurrection again, but we shall be always the same as we are now, without changing. The worshipers of God shall always be with God, clothed in the proper substance of eternity. But the godless and those who have not turned wholly to God will be punished in fire equally unending, and they shall have from the very nature of this fire, divine as it were, a supply of incorruptibility" (ibid., 44:12–13).
Hippolytus
"Standing before [Christ’s] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: ‘Just is your judgment!’ And the righteousness of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to the lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment. The unquenchable and unending fire awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die and which does not waste the body but continually bursts forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment; no appeal of interceding friends will profit them" (Against the Greeks 3 [A.D. 212]).
Minucius Felix
"I am not ignorant of the fact that many, in the consciousness of what they deserve, would rather hope than actually believe that there is nothing for them after death. They would prefer to be annihilated rather than be restored for punishment. . . . Nor is there either measure nor end to these torments. That clever fire burns the limbs and restores them, wears them away and yet sustains them, just as fiery thunderbolts strike bodies but do not consume them" (Octavius 34:12–5:3 [A.D. 226]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"An ever-burning Gehenna and the punishment of being devoured by living flames will consume the condemned; nor will there be any way in which the tormented can ever have respite or be at an end. Souls along with their bodies will be preserved for suffering in unlimited agonies. . . . The grief at punishment will then be without the fruit of repentance; weeping will be useless, and prayer ineffectual. Too late will they believe in eternal punishment, who would not believe in eternal life" (To Demetrian 24 [A.D. 252]).
Lactantius
"[T]he sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding forever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire, the nature of which is different from this fire of ours, which we use for the necessary purposes of life, and which is extinguished unless it be sustained by the fuel of some material. But that divine fire always lives by itself, and flourishes without any nourishment. . . . The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment. . . . Thus, without any wasting of bodies, which regain their substance, it will only burn and affect them with a sense of pain. But when [God] shall have judged the righteous, he will also try them with fire" (Divine Institutes 7:21 [A.D. 307]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"We shall be raised therefore, all with our bodies eternal, but not all with bodies alike: for if a man is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to hold converse with angels; but if a man is a sinner, he shall receive an eternal body, fitted to endure the penalties of sins, that he may burn eternally in fire, nor ever be consumed. And righteously will God assign this portion to either company; for we do nothing without the body. We blaspheme with the mouth, and with the mouth we pray. … Since then the body has been our minister in all things, it shall also share with us in the future the fruits of the past" (Catechetical Lectures 18:19 [A.D. 350]).



 
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Ricky M

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What if all those homeless people were your children?
Would you make any admission requirements, or send any of them away?

Luke 15:20
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
I already told you the admission requirements.

And yes if one of my kids told me to kiss off, he'd sit on the curb.

Actually, it sounds like you are struggling with an issue I've struggled with for a long time now.
 
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The Liturgist

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From a CWR (Christianity Without Religion) article by Brad Jersak titled:
What if you’re wrong about hell?
(Source link: Q&R with Brad Jersak: What if you're wrong about hell?)
Note this is more to read at the link than what I have posted in the OP here.

Comments and discussion welcome.

Q&R with Brad Jersak: What if you’re wrong about hell?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question:

Recently, in response to my rejection of the hell of eternal torment, one of my readers offered a fairly common objection: “I hope you’re right about that. BUT if you’re wrong about hell, then a lot of people will go there … and it will be your fault. Wouldn’t it be better to play it safe just to be sure?”

The following response was adapted from a much longer essay from Clarion Journal, titled, “Let’s Talk about Hell BETTER or “If You’re Wrong, a Lot of People Will Go to Hell & It’s Your Fault” by Brad Jersak.

Response: The Wager
This high stakes objection is worthy of a careful response.

  1. “Wrong about hell” in what way? The implication seems to imply that I don’t believe there’s a hell or that the hell I believe in is not something to worry about. Not so! Of course I believe in hell. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it with my eyes, in my spirit and in my Bible. And now I preach the good news, knowing that Christ conquered hades (Rev. 1:18) to rescue us and he came back victorious with a host of captives (Mark 3:27, Eph. 4:8). I see no reason to believe that my conviction that hell is horrendous but not eternal would endanger a single soul of going there.
  2. Are we saved by belief in Christ or by belief in hell? I assume that objectors believe that the material cause of our salvation is Jesus Christ and the efficient cause is faith in his name. Nowhere do the Scriptures demand belief in a particular doctrine of hell as a requirement for saving faith. No doctrine of hell entered New Testament evangelism or our confession of faith at baptism. One can check every evangelistic sermon in Acts to verify this.
  3. The ‘Safe’ Wager: The charge seems to be rooted in a fear-based wager that ultimately bites itself in the behind. The wager goes like this: IF eternal conscious torment is even a possibility, then we’d better warn people about it or they will end up there. Makes sense, right? Well… that might have worked in Jonathan Edwards time. I say might because can we be so sure that those who repent out of fear of being roasted alive forever actually responded in willing faith to Jesus Christ? Did they love him because they’d God’s love in the revelation of the Cross? Or did Edwards merely convince them to convert with the eternal conscious gun to their heads? Is that saving faith?
But for the sake of our wager, let’s say it was. Let’s say that gospel did work. And let’s say Edwards was completely right: that hell is eternal conscious torment and salvation is Jesus’ way out of the white-hot wrath of God. Let’s say eternal conscious torment is the clear and present danger. If so, then we need to determine which gospel will BEST save people from that fate.

Here’s the troubling news: preaching eternal hellfire no longer scares people into Jesus arms. Statistically, it creates atheists by the millions. If you’re truly worried about people going to hell, then you had better NOT mention it, because such preaching is among the top stated reasons why people now reject Christ.

This is a fact in the 21st century: people today reject the good news of Jesus Christ when we import hellfire preaching into our gospel. They do this because:

  • It sounds more like medieval mythology than gospel truth. It doesn’t resonate at all.
  • It looks more like a B-grade horror movie than something anchored to reality.
  • It sabotages the evangelist’s credibility because it doesn’t sound like the foolishness of the gospel (Christ and him crucified). It sounds more like the silliness of radical fundamentalism.
  • It enables the listener to defer judgment to an imagined “later” rather than facing all the ways they are already perishing and in bondage to the kingdom of hell today.
So, if you are truly afraid that people will go to hell, DO NOT tell them about it. But my suspicion is that the greater fear is that we ourselves might go to hell if we don’t get it right, even if we cause others to reject Christ through our hellacious threats.

This is called Pascal’s Wager and one can read about it here:
Pascal's wager - Wikipedia

In my personal experience it is not an extremely persuasive or compelling technique for evangelization. In fact, I think hellfire-centric approaches to preaching the Gospel in our present culture, due to atheist propaganda and widespread misunderstanding about the nature of Christianity, and the proliferation of poorly catechized proselytizing Christians and also cult apologists who go door to door promoting non-Christian cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which represent a counterfeit Christianity, frequently alienate people. And I think when we consider hellfire as an evangelical subject, we should consider that some of the most successful sermons following this theme, including the ancient homilies of St. John Chrysostom and a more recent example, the estimable Jonathan Edwards with his celebrated “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, had the effect of restoring piety among baptized Christians who had grown worldly and had allowed Christianity to slip away from the central position it should occupy in their lives.

It is for this reason we call the reaction to Edwards, for example, a revival, because he restored and reinvigorated an existing faith. But to someone not already acquainted with Jesus Christ, our Lord, God and Savior, his sermon would, certainly in the current climate, be less likely to have a positive effect, and we know this because a great many try to inculcate faith using this technique. And it seems to work at restoring faith, for example, among people who were baptized and regularly attended church in their childhood, and still go occasionally, but are what we might call “wandering sheep”, but not so much in terms of appealing to the intellectual mind of the non-believer who would in the 17th and 18th century, for cultural reasons, have found Pascal’s Wager compelling (for example, Immanuel Kant).

The values which produced Immanuel Kant are not the values of contemporary civilization, so we instead have to see what appears to be working among intellectual converts to the Christian faith, at present. And it looks to me, from my own observations, that the common narrative thread among conversion stories of modern Christians of an intellectual disposition is a profound realization and appreciation of God’s infinite love and mercy, which they have been blessed to encounter in some form.

Edit:

I should also stress as a footnote that I am not a universalist, and I do find the recent advocacy of universalism by people like Dr. David Bentley Hart, who I have historically admired for his brilliant takedown of Richard Dawkins, to be an unfortunate development. I simply feel like the hellfire preaching strategy is more effective, at present, and indeed historically, of rekindling an unsteady faith, than at converting unbelievers and effectively moving them into a state of mind where they are prepared to accept the Holy Spirit and the profound change of mind (metanoia, the literal meaning of repentance) that brings, which is instead a conversion experience which seems chiefly effective when the person receiving Christianity is enabled by a compelling realization of divine love.
 
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