So a FoxNews story reports that more Americans believe in the existence of heaven than hell. Why does this not surprise me? Here's the question I'd like to hear answered. Of those Americans who believe in the existence of hell, how many of them think the chances are high that they'll go there?
I'm not a bible-thumping, asp-wielding, tent-revivaling, hellfire & brimstone preacher. But I do believe in the existence of hell. And so did Jesus. Read the Gospels. No one in the whole Bible talks more about hell and damnation that Jesus Christ. In fact, most of what we know about hell comes from the lips of the Savior.
I'm on a Christian radio talk show every Sunday night from 9-11 p.m. here in Pittsburgh. And last night, we had a caller who argued the case that Jesus was uber-tolerant and would never hurt a flea. And I told the woman, Gabrielle (ironically), that it was very evident that she had not actually read the recorded accounts of the life of Jesus. Her understanding of Jesus is like the one I described in this earlier post. The hippy peacenik Jesus, a little high on weed. "They call me mellow yellow." The Greenpeace Vegan Jesus. The Precious Moments figurine, a.k.a. the child of god(dess). Gabby, the caller, doesn't want Jesus. She wants Phil Donahue.
I'm not glad there is a hell. But there is. And it is foolish to believe - counter to the very words of Jesus Christ - that no one goes there. The preacher who never talks about hell is incompetent and should be challenged. I don't mention hell often and I don't like mentioning it when I do. Sometimes I do not enjoy preaching God's Word. But it is His Word I am called to deliver. Not my own. Not what my congregation would like to hear.
I'll wager that most people in America think, if there is a heaven, that they'll go there. Sadly, I doubt that very much. Jesus is not vague in Matthew 7 when He says that the gate to heaven is narrow and few will find it while the gate to destruction is wide and many are on their way.
And that's one reason why I have very mixed feelings about Halloween. My son will go begging for candy like all his neighbors tonight. And I will stand at the door giving Butterfingers to the little princesses, and Scream guys, and imps, and the teenager wearing the white t-shirt that simply says "Official Halloween Costume" on the front. But anything that makes light of the devil or hell is dangerous in my opinion. I wouldn't make jokes about cancer to a woman about to die with tumors pillaging her body. And I don't think we should laugh at devildom when the majority of human beings are going to be damned.
In any case, that's why we preach the gospel, right?
Monday, October 31, 2005
You Need Hell
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