Tag Archives: Evangelism

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The Most Important Thing People Need To Know About Hell (And Heaven Too…)

Because we have been so bombarded with images of flames and devils with pitchforks, we fail to see that the essence of hell is relational. The apostle Paul, who was well tutored in the Hebrew Scriptures and a careful student of Jesus’ teachings, taught that hell is a place where people:

“pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thess. 1:7)

Hell is the absence of relationship with our creator. It is utter darkness and where the silence of God will be absolute (a truly horrifying thought).

This brings us to a very common misconception about heaven in our culture. Leaving aside images of chubby cherubs, many have this idea that heaven is an eternal pleasure factory in the sky where people get everything they want. This is deeply flawed and incorrect. Heaven is where God is. So if we don’t like living in God’s limited presence now, then we really won’t like it later!

Think of it this way. Imagine that heaven were an eternal Opera. While I recognize the talent and skill of Opera singers, an eternal Opera would be hell for me if I really don’t like opera! In the same way, heaven would be hell for someone who does not want life with God. Moreover, the pleasure that we enjoy in heaven flows out of our relationship with God; enjoying his creative goodness and joy forever and ever without end.

Tim Keller observes that thinking of hell in relational terms is foreign to most people:

“Modern people inevitably think hell works like this: God gives us time, but if we haven’t made the right choices by the end of our lives, he casts our souls into hell for all eternity. As the poor souls fall through space, they cry out for mercy, but God says “Too late! You had your chance! Now you will suffer!” This caricature misunderstands the very nature of evil. The Biblical picture is that sin separates us from the presence of God, which is the source of all joy and indeed of all love, wisdom, or good things of any sort. Since we were originally created for God’s immediate presence, only before his face will we thrive, flourish, and achieve our highest potential….To lose his presence totally, that would be hell—the loss of our capability for giving or receiving love or joy.”

So the most important thing we need to know about heaven and hell is this: The essence of heaven and hell is relational because heaven (i.e., eternal life) is primarily defined as life with God and hell as life without God.

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” – John 17:3

**If you are interested in exploring these questions further, I have written more here.

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What About Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus?

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The other night I had the opportunity to speak at MTSU to some great college students on the question Is Jesus the Only Way to God? In the Q & A time afterwards, this question came up and what follows is the biblical framework I shared with them. Any distinctively Christian answer to this challenging question must account for (at least) the following passages / revealed truths as we reason from the scriptures.

  1. God is compassionate and just (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Pss. 7:9; 85:11; 89:14; 145:8–9; Rev. 16:7).
  2. All are sinners in need of a savior (Rom. 3:10–18, 23; 5:12–21; 6:23; Eph. 2:1–3).
  3. Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5; 4:10; 1 John 2:2) and the only way to God.
  4. Since the time following the resurrection of Jesus, no one can be saved apart from the knowledge of Christ (Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:14; Acts 17:30-31).
  5. God genuinely desires all to be saved (Ezek. 18:23; John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:3–6; 2 Peter 3:9).
  6. God has revealed Himself to the whole world both in creation (Ps. 19:1–2; Acts 14:15–17; Rom. 1:19–20) and human conscience (Eccl. 3:11; Rom. 2:14–16), so that people are without excuse.
  7. God’s Spirit is at work convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–11).
  8. Christians are commanded to take the gospel to the whole world (Matt. 28:19–20; Acts 1:8).
  9. God has providentially arranged the world so that people might seek Him and everyone who seeks Him will find Him (Acts 17:24–28 cf. Heb. 11:6; Jer. 29:13; Acts 10:35).
  10. There will be people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in heaven (Rev. 7:9).
  11. The awful reality of hell indicates that not everyone is saved in the end (Matt. 10:28; 25:31–46; 2 Thess. 1:7–9).
  12. There is not a second chance after death to accept the Gospel (Heb. 9:27).

It Is Crucial to Remember:

First, people are Judged for their sins—not what they don’t know. The Bible clearly teaches that people are judged for their willful sins (Rev. 20:12–15; cf. Isa. 64:6–7; Matt. 5:48; 12:36; 2 Tim. 4:14; James 2:10–11) according to the standard of revelation they have received (Rom. 2:4–16; James 4:17). They are not condemned because a missionary never made it to them and they never heard the name of Jesus.

Second, they are already condemned and actively choosing life away from God (though this will look differently for all of us). Humanity’s universal problem is that we suppress the truth available to everyone that God exists (cf. Rom. 1), mute our conscience and fail to live up to even our own standards (Rom. 2), and ultimately want to go our own way (Rom. 3).

Finally, God has many ways to get the message of the Gospel to those who seek him–(through missionaries, dreams, visions, radio, Bibles, internet, TV, tracts etc.).

At the end of the day, God doesn’t specifically answer this question to our (emotional) satisfaction in the Bible. We are left with some mystery when it comes to saying exactly how God will work out His plan of salvation among the nations. Therefore we trust ultimately in His goodness and justice. Will not the judge of the earth do right?

*Thoughtful, Bible believing Christians approach this question in different ways in light of the passages mentioned above, but I have found William Lane Craig’s approach to this question to be helpful (click here to listen)

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Six Key Questions to Ask an Atheist in a Conversation

Ravi Zacharias offers a very helpful list of questions, here are a couple of them: “Many times, as Christian theists, we find ourselves on the defensive against the critiques and questions of atheists. Sometimes, in the midst of arguments and proofs, we miss the importance of conversation. These questions, then, are meant to be a part of a conversation. They are not, in and of themselves, arguments or “proofs” for God. They are commonly asked existential or experiential questions that both atheists and theists alike can ponder.

1. If there is no God, “the big questions” remain unanswered, so how do we answer the following questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? This question was asked by Aristotle and Leibniz alike – albeit with differing answers. But it is an historic concern. Why is there conscious, intelligent life on this planet, and is there any meaning to this life? If there is meaning, what kind of meaning and how is it found? Does human history lead anywhere, or is it all in vain since death is merely the end? How do you come to understand good and evil, right and wrong without a transcendent signifier? If these concepts are merely social constructions, or human opinions, whose opinion does one trust in determining what is good or bad, right or wrong? If you are content within atheism, what circumstances would serve to make you open to other answers?

2. If we reject the existence of God, we are left with a crisis of meaning, so why don’t we see more atheists like Jean Paul Sartre, or Friedrich Nietzsche, or Michel Foucault? These three philosophers, who also embraced atheism, recognized that in the absence of God, there was no transcendent meaning beyond one’s own self-interests, pleasures, or tastes. The crisis of atheistic meaninglessness is depicted in Sartre’s book Nausea. Without God, there is a crisis of meaning, and these three thinkers, among others, show us a world of just stuff, thrown out into space and time, going nowhere, meaning nothing.

3. When people have embraced atheism, the historical results can be horrific, as in the regimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot who saw religion as the problem and worked to eradicate it? In other words, what set of actions are consistent with particular belief commitments? It could be argued, that these behaviors – of the regimes in question – are more consistent with the implications of atheism. Though, I’m thankful that many of the atheists I know do not live the implications of these beliefs out for themselves like others did! It could be argued that the socio-political ideologies could very well be the outworking of a particular set of beliefs – beliefs that posited the ideal state as an atheistic one….”

Read the rest here.

Sean McDowell and I respond to the 18 most challenging questions atheists raise here.

Think Christianly with Jonathan Morrow
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Sound Bites and Slogans: “Why can’t we let people believe what they want about Jesus and just get along?”

Around the holidays, today’s response to a popular Sound Bite and Slogan may come in handy. “Why can’t we let people believe what they want about Jesus and just get along?”

I agree with you that we should try to get along and certainly not be rude or condescending toward those who believe differently than we do. But we also need to remember that while people are entitled to their own beliefs, they are not entitled to their own truth. Just because we believe something (even sincerely) doesn’t make it true. When it comes to really significant questions in life–like is God real? and was jesus who he claimed to be?–the most important question we can ask is this: Is it true? And to answer questions about the identity of Jesus, we must examine the historical evidence which is something I’d love to explore together.
Truth for Today: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” – 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
Think Christianly with Jonathan Morrow
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A Summary of What the Bible Teaches About Hell

Last night I taught a seminar at our church addressing the question – Is Hell for Real? What follows is a brief overview and summary.

Biblical Passages:

“This final dimension of judgment and hell is anticipated in the Old Testament (Dan. 12:1-2; Isa. 66:24) and taught in every section of the New: the Gospels (Matt. 5:22; 29-30; 7:13, 23; 8-12, 29; 10:28; 13:42, 49-50; 18:6-9; 22:13; 23:33; 24:51; 25:30, 41, 46: 26:24; Mark 1:24; 5:7; 9:43, 45, 47-48; Luke 3:17; 4:34; 12:5; 13:3, 5; 16:23-25, 28; John 3:16-18, 36; 5:28-29; 8:21,24); Acts (10:42; 17:31); the New Testament letters (Rom. 2:5, 8-9, 12; 6:23; 9:3, 22; 1 Cor. 11:32; 2 Cor. 2:15-16; 4:3; Gal. 1:8-9; 6:8; Eph. 5:6; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; Col. 3:6; 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:3, 9; 2:10; Heb. 6:2; 9:27; 10:27, 39; James 4:12; 2 Peter 2:1, 3 ,4, 9, 12, 17; 3:7; Jude 4, 6, 7, 13); and the Apocalypse (Rev. 2:11; 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10-11, 19; 16:19; 17:8, 11; 18:8, 9, 18; 19:3, 15, 20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8; 22:15). Plainly, the New Testament has much to say about the final destiny of the unsaved.” (1)

Summary of what these passages reveal about the nature of hell:

“The Bible’s picture of hell, therefore, indicates that upon death some people will be translated into a different, nonspatial mode of existence. They will be conscious, and they will await a resurrection of their bodies, at which time they will be banished from heaven and secured in hell where they will experience unending, conscious exclusion from God, his people, and anything of value. This banishment will include conscious sorrow, shame, and anguish to differing degrees, depending on the person’s life on earth.”—J.P Moreland and Gary Habermas (2)

As Christians, what should our response be to the doctrine of hell?

“No orthodox Christian likes the doctrine of hell or delights in anyone’s condemnation. I truly wish universalism were true, but it is not. My compassion toward those in other world religions is therefore expressed, not in pretending that they are not lost and dying without Christ, but by supporting and making every effort myself to communicate to them the life-giving message of salvation through Christ.”—William Lane Craig (3)

1 Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds., Hell under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 168.

2 J. P. Moreland and Gary R. Habermas, Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003), 291.

3 http://wri.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/politically.html Politically Incorrect Salvation by William Lane Craig.