At Logan’s request, this week’s blog posts are on hell. Sounds like a fun topic to write about, huh? It is important to address, because I believe hell is a real place.
Why do I think hell is real? Primarily because the Bible says it is, and the Bible is my source of authority. But, the Bible is not entirely clear about what hell is. We know it is a place without God, and a place of eternal torment where the unrighteous go (Matthew 25:46). But what is hell all about?
In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus told a parable (a story) about the rich man and Lazarus. In this story, Lazarus is a poor man who is a beggar at the gate of a rich man’s house. The rich man ignores Lazarus, and he is so poor that he longs to eat the scraps that fall from the table. Lazarus dies and goes to be with Abraham. The rich man also dies, but he goes to Hades (a.k.a. hell) where he is tormented. He looks up and sees Lazarus with Abraham, and he begs for even just a tiny bit of water to cool his tongue! Abraham reminds the rich man that in life on earth, he had a good life while Lazarus suffered, and now the tables have turned. And along with that, there is no way anyone can cross over the great chasm between them. Because of the agony the rich man is in, he wants his family to be spared from it. He begs that Lazarus return to warn his brothers, but he is reminded that they have the law and prophets to warn them, and if they don’t listen to that then there’s no point in sending any other warning.
From this story, we learn a few things about hell. First, it exists. Second, hell consists of torment and will be completely miserable. Third, no one can cross from heaven to hell. Once you’re there, you’re there and it’s a done deal. Fourth, we have the Bible to warn us about it, so consider yourself warned!
At the time this parable was told by Jesus, the people only had the Old Testament as the Scriptures. Now we have even more than that - we don’t just know that we need to follow God’s law to avoid hell, but we know God’s plan for how that all works out! We know from the Bible that we may be made righteous even when we mess up, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us.
While many people are curious as to the specifics of hell, like where it’s located and what exactly it’s like, I don’t feel the need to dwell on it. I know that my salvation in Christ is secure because of my faith, and because of that hell is no worry to me personally. But at the same time, knowing that hell exists is motivation for those of us here on earth to tell others about Jesus so they too can be spared from the torment that could be in their future.
3 comments:
"Why do I think hell is real? Primarily because the Bible says it is"
I can find you old books that claim lots of things. But you say 'primarily' so we can assume then that the rest of your claim is based on empirical evidence too? Or maybe just a gut feeling? I could never doubt you with affirmation such as that!
For a better explanation on why I say "primarily," please check out this post on Biblical Authority. My primary source of authority is the Bible. But, like everyone, tradition, reason, and experience also play a role in my life.
Thanks for reading the blog! :)
I really appreciated your post a lot katie! You said a lot of things that need to be heard. Anonymous, what do you believe? Where do you get your source of authority? I think that if you are familiar with this organization and this web page, you will see that the claims Katie made are not baseless, but that the Bible is the most accurate recording of history ever written! We could get into discussing the historic reality of some of the more particular things, but all you need to know is that Jesus is real. Once you understand that, you have a serious decision to make. You must decide in your mind who Jesus was. Was he just the man, or is he the Son of God. Blessings and thanks again Katie!
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