[ampaterry]

Some people who believe in the passages in the Bible about heaven, utterly reject the references to hell. Robert Ingersoll, a famous lawyer and atheist in the latter part of the nineteenth century, once delivered a blistering lecture on hell. He called hell the "scarecrow of religion" and told his audience how unscientific it was, and how all intelligent people had decided there was no such place. A drunk in the audience came up to him afterward and said, "Bob, I liked your lecture; I liked what you said about hell. But, Bob, I want you to be sure about it, because I'm depending upon you."

I don’t talk about Hell very much; I want to motivate people to turn to God, but I don’t think scaring them into it is a good way to win healthy citizens to His kingdom. People should turn to God because they love him, not because they fear what might befall them if they do not turn to him. Nevertheless, Hell exists. It is real, and will be the abode of the lost after the judgment. It is not a boogey man story to frighten the weak into doing right. Jesus Christ speaks more about hell than anyone else in the Bible.

For instance, in Matthew 23:33, Jesus says;
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"

And yet, Jesus is kind and loving! How do we correlate the one who speaks of hell with the one who loves every creature on earth? By understanding that it is because he loves them that he speaks of hell to them! He tries other methods first, but if they are not responding, he loves them enough to warn them about where their present line of activity will lead them, in the end.

And I love you enough too; don’t be left behind. Don’t risk an eternity of separation from God for a bit of earthly pleasure! Forsake your present path, and come to Jesus Christ now! He will not refuse you.