I'm Going To Hell

Many years ago, when I was a mere teenager, an uncle of mine said to me, “I’m going to hell.” Being a bit stunned, I asked, “Why do you think that?” He said, “Because everyone knows the Bible is true. I don’t live by it, so I’ll be going to hell.” I queried, “If you really believe that, then why don’t you live by it?” He responded, “Because I don’t want to.”

This uncle was considered by many to be the black sheep of the family, living a pretty wild lifestyle. He was also known to take a provocative position on issues just to stir up emotions and drive a conversation. So, even though he seemed sincere with his statements concerning going to hell, I cannot be sure he really believed it. After all, why would anyone deliberately live in such a way as to end up in eternal torment?

Back in 1980, when I came to believe the Bible, I converted to Christianity. I certainly did not want to be tormented day and night forever and ever. Yet, when I told the good news to a friend of mine that I had discussed the Bible with frequently, I was not met with joy. Rather, I was confronted with a number of questions about what the church I joined believed in. After several questions, I realized that my friend was from an even more conservative wing of the Church of Christ than the one I joined. God forbid I had become a Baptist or a Methodist. Anyway, the bottom line was that apparently the beliefs I had adopted concerning the Bible weren’t totally correct. I still had a few doctrinal issues wrong, so I guessed I was still bound for hell.

This was my first remembered brush with Christian judgmentalism. By this I mean a person being judged unworthy of God’s salvation even though he himself believes he has done all God has told him to do to be worthy. It is quite disconcerting.

Over time I discovered that there were people claiming to be Christians that ranged from very liberal to very conservative. On the very liberal end of the spectrum were those who believed in universal salvation. Everyone would be saved in the end. On the very conservative end of the spectrum were those who believed that a person needed to have their doctrine 100% correct and live according to it perfectly to be saved. And, of course, there was a wide range of beliefs in between these extremes. I began to visualize this range of beliefs as being embodied in individuals standing next to each other in a long chorus-like line. Each person is turned toward the person on their more liberal side pleading with him to just give up his more liberal views in order for the two to be in fellowship. Of course, he is totally ignoring similar pleas from the person on his more conservative side directed at him.

These disparities in people’s thinking about whom God will save and whom he won’t made me curious about who thought I wasn’t saved. Whenever I would get into a discussion with someone of a Christian faith different from mine, I liked to ask if they thought I was going to hell. I recall one time when I engaged a Mormon acquaintance in a discussion. After a bit I asked, “So, what do you think will happen to me in eternity?” He hem hawed around as I continued to press for an answer. Finally I said, “Look, you won’t hurt my feelings whatever you believe. After all, it won’t be you judging me anyway.” Still I got no straight answer to my question. I had to assume that if he thought I was going to heaven, he would have been happy to say so. Therefore, I guessed he didn’t think I would fair well.

About seven years after becoming a Christian, I de-converted when I became convinced that the Bible was not the word of God. Then it became really interesting asking people where they thought I would spend eternity. Since the Church of Christ generally believes that one can lose his salvation if he falls away from his faith, the answer from them was obvious: “You’re going to hell.” But from other groups, such as Baptists, it was more interesting. Baptists generally believe that once a person becomes saved there is no way for them to become unsaved. So, opinions from Baptists tend to vary. Some think that I am still saved even though I don’t believe the necessary things to be saved. Others think that I was never saved to begin with, which is kind of odd when you think about it. That means that even though I actually had faith in Jesus and confessed and was baptized, I was still bound for hell even though I wasn't aware of that fact. If that is possible, could it be that some of those Baptists who thought I was never saved were themselves never saved. I’ll leave that one for National Enquirer to sort out.

In the mist of all this confusion, I do have a bit of good news, especially for those that are outside God’s favor, knowingly or unknowingly. If the Bible is true, don’t fear. Contrary to what I always believed about it, the Bible does not teach that the unsaved will be tormented forever and ever. Rather it teaches they will be annihilated, never to exist again. I discovered this when I was conducting research for my latest book, “God Is: Exploring the Nature of the Biblical God”. I would love for you to give my book a read and let me know what you think about it.

God's Punishment

I heard a Holocaust survivor, David Faber, speaking on Focus on the Family this morning. The program is online at http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ . The things he went through were absolutely horrendous and difficult to even think about, let alone live through. On listening to this gentleman, I was reminded of an article I read about ten years back by Hank Hanegraaff in the Christian Research Journal. The article is still online at http://journal.equip.org/articles/-abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here- . It is about the necessity of hell. Please read it before reading further. I sent an Email to Mr. Hanegraff right after the article was published. Here is its content.You will see the relevance to David Faber near the end.



Dear CRJ,

I would like to comment on the article "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here" by Hank Hanegraaff in the Practical Apologetics section of Vol 23 Num 1. The theme running through this article is that if there is a heaven, then there must be a hell of eternal torment. In fact, the opening paragraph states, "Are you absolutely certain that one day those who have died in Christ will be resurrected to eternal life in heaven? If you are, then you can be just as sure that unbelievers will be resurrected to eternal torment in hell." The article further implies that if there is not a hell then there is universal salvation.

Why only these two choices? Why could it not be that there is a heaven and another place where God punishes evil people according to their deeds and then releases them into heaven? Or how about eternal non-existence for evil people? In other words, isn't there a better way to punish people than to torture them for an infinite amount of time?

At one point, Mr. Hanegraaff has a quote saying, "Evil is contagious and must be quarantined. Like a deadly plague, if it is not contained it will continue to contaminate and corrupt." Putting this together with the statement above where he says, "... unbelievers will be resurrected to eternal torment in hell," we get a very simplistic view of the world that says that all unbelievers are evil and all believers are good. Come on, surely Mr. Hanegraaff doesn't believe this. Just a little observation of the world reveals that there are many unbelievers that are very moral and good people while there are many believers that are evil. Is justice really served by making belief in the divinity of Jesus the deciding factor between eternal bliss and eternal torment?

Later, Mr. Hanegraaff says, "Without hell, the wrongs of Hitler's Holocaust will never be righted. Justice will be impugned if, after slaughtering six million Jews, Hitler merely died in the arms of his mistress with no eternal consequences." Has Mr. Hanegraaff really thought through what he is saying here? Of course, most people would like to see Hitler punished for his evil deeds, but eternal torture? This makes a mockery of justice! And to top it off, what will happen to those six million Jews that Hitler ordered to be killed? Well, since they are unbelievers according to the New Testament, they're going to be there in hell suffering eternal torture right alongside Hitler! Some justice for the victims. If this is really true, then God is infinitely more evil and unjust than Hitler himself. Come on, give me a break!

Randy Finch

Eternal Torment, Bliss, or Oblivion?

How often do you contemplate your own mortality? How often do you consider your fate beyond death? I find myself thinking on these things fairly frequently, especially since I am now most likely closer to my death than I am to my birth. I'd have to live past the age of 109 for this not to be true.

The idea of dying and passing into eternal oblivion doesn't hold much appeal. Of course, if the alternative is passing into a place of eternal torment, I will take oblivion any day of the week. Yet, still, the idea of "going to sleep" to never awaken again seems in some ways totally bizarre. I have on a number of occasions been laying back in my recliner and, just as I a reach that transition state between consciousness and unconsciousness, have the reality of eternal oblivion hit me. I normally awake with a sinking feeling and the word "absurd" stuck in my mind. But when I think about it rationally, I realize that my state of being before I was conceived was not at all scary. If that is the state I will ultimately return to, it should be no more scary. Basically, eternal unconsciousness is only troublesome to us while we are conscious. Once we reach that eternal state of unconsciousness, no worries!

On the other hand, the idea of passing into a state of eternal bliss is a bit troublesome also. Again, not if the only alternative is eternal torment. Think about existing forever. What would you do? How could anyone possibly occupy all that time without getting bored stiff. After having done everything there is to do a thousand times or more, I think I would at least be ready for a nap. I am reminded of the movie Groundhog Day. In it, Bill Murray keeps repeating February 2 over and over and over again. The implication is that he repeats it hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. Eventually, he gets so bored, he begins to commit suicide only to wake up again on the morning of February 2. Of course, many people believe that those people going to heaven will spend eternity praising God. No disrespect to my Creator, but that sounds boring to me. As much as I enjoy the singing at church, after about 20-30 minutes I am ready to move on to the sermon. And then after 20-30 minutes of the sermon I am ready for lunch. Now lunch I can handle for quite some time, but my stomach refuses to cooperate. The point is that I thrive on diversity. Hey, with as many nearby restaurants as we have, my wife and I still sometimes become bored with them all and wish for something new.

We humans also tend to enjoy overcoming obstacles to reach goals in this life. Will it be the same in heaven, or will we be more like automatons mindlessly being subservient to our maker? I would hope for the former, how about you?