If one believes that the Bible is God’s Word, it is not an option to set parts of it’s contents to the side. Because of the stark teachings on hell in Scripture, many have done just that. The argument rings out, “How can an enlightened society believe in an eternal punishment described by fire and suffering?” And though many Christians sheepishly simply answer that it is in the Bible, they secretly agree with the skeptic.
It is not hard for me to understand why. As compassionate people, we cannot imagine the thought of some sweet old lady or some nice young man being punished for eternity for a few wrong things they did on earth. However, we are not even scratching the surface theologically by thinking such shallow thoughts concerning God, hell and the true state of our depravity. Let’s take a moment to go deeper and imagine some foundational truths concerning the true nature of humans.
As I type, I watch my morning apple turn brown as I take bites out of it. If left uneaten, it will soon shrivel up and will eventually rot. A person’s soul is not much different. Excuse the apple analogy, but I will take it a few steps further.
As the apple is covered with the skin, all humans experience God’s common grace (common to all living beings). This is not the grace that leads to salvation (special grace that awakens the dead heart and yields new life), this common grace is described in Matthew as Jesus challenges the people to love their neighbors. He says concerning the Father, “…for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt 5:45-46 NASU)
This common grace allows all humans to be capable of loving others and receiving love. This common grace keeps us from killing each other and riots breaking out in the streets everyday. With the recent looting in New Orleans, we should stop and wonder why this doesn’t happen more often. The thought in Hebrews is that if God stopped speaking us into existance at any moment, we would cease to exist. The very thought that we can experience life, eat food, feel the warmth of the sun, and so many other things is based completely on the goodness of God.
So we return to the little old lady and the nice young man who are not believers. The destination of their souls, apart from coming to Christ, is eternal damnation. Why? Because all the good that exists in them is simply a gift from God. If God were to remove His common grace from their lives, their sin would instantly consume them and the results might be something worse than Hitler or Stalin.
The dish washing philosopher/theologian Brother Lawrence said that he was not shocked at how evil the world was. He was shocked that it was not worse. When we consider the total depravity of man and what we are all capable of apart from God’s grace, we should shudder at what the status of the world might really be.
So the older lady and young man live what seem to be good lives. However, at judgment, the truth is revealed and they have no ground to stand upon. Their goodness was like filthy rags and the sin compiled in one day would be enough for eternal punishment. They will see that any good they did was a gift from God while they are held accountable for all their wicked deeds.
It is my humble opinion that as sin takes complete control in hell, the end result will be something so hideous and wicked that the soul will look nothing like it did upon earth. I can imagine that these souls will appear like Satan himself in that they will be totally consumed with evil as eternity begins. The wickedness of Hitler on earth might not be able to match the tamest soul in hell as God’s grace is removed.
With all this said, how can we rejoice in the midst of such terrible and frightening thoughts? I will close with the words of the Apostle Paul. Read these words and know that we can rejoice for God has made a way!
Rom 5:6-11
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
NASU
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You’re a good teacher. Good thoughts.
My colleague has two toddlers and she was telling me about one of them pushing the other down the stairs the other week and exulting in how funny he thought it was. Which I think just goes to show us that we are NOT inherently good—we don’t have to be taught to be sinful, it just comes naturally!
Which makes me ever thankful that I depend on Christ’s righteousness and not my own.