Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt 10:28

 

 

 

People say that an all loving God can never be reconciled with the notion of Hell. These self assured critics protest that no loving God could be so vindictive as to relegate some poor human being to a place of torment and eternal damnation. Some folk even go so far as to say, “If God is that spiteful, then I don’t want to spend eternity with him anyway.” Regardless of a person’s high indignation, or the rationale for rejecting Hell’s existence, and no matter how opposed it may seem to our sense of fair play, there is in fact, a Hell. Though Hell was not made for man, but expressly for the Fallen Angels and Satan, in particular, the reasons for man’s descent into Hell are two-fold.

Jesus’ parable about two men, one gone to paradise and one left in Hell tell us why there is a Hell.

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
   And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores …
   And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
   And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
   And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
   But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
   “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
   Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
   For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
   Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
   And he said, Nay father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
   And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:19-31

Christ simply points out in his parable that men are relegated to Hell fairly and justly and that their faithlessness requires it. The rich man had ignored God and his teachings in favor of his own lusts and his own convenience. He had lived his life in selfish disregard for his fellow man and therefore was unfit for habitation in God’s kingdom. If he could not repent in this life, under the merciful influence of God upon his mind and flesh, then he could not repent and live godly after his demise.

Christ rejects the rich man’s request to go to his brothers to warn them about Hell’s torments saying, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets (or God’s Word), neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

What irony lay in Jesus’ words. Shortly after speaking this parable of Hell and Paradise, Jesus would give the world the greatest witness of God’s power and love by, rising from the grave, but he knew even at the time of the parable that faithless men would not respond to his life, death and resurrection. He was forewarning Mankind that people who are destined for Hell’s everlasting fires are void of love and faith – two absolute requirements for entering eternity with God. Even someone returning from the dead can not dissuade the faithless from their path of destruction; can not convince them of a coming day of judgment when Hell’s unquenchable fires will be lit with their torment. Paul points this out to believers when he recommends that we judge ourselves now in this life so we do not have to be judged in death.

On the other hand, Paradise, by definition, is a cool place of harmony, security, wonderful perfection, and bliss. It has to be a place of harmony or it would not be a paradise. The coming harmony of Paradise will not be in word only, nor can the blight of sin be allowed to infest Paradise the way sin has infested this world, otherwise what difference would there be between Paradise and this life. Jesus said there are two ways only: a narrow pathway to heaven and a huge Broadway to Hell:

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt 7:13-14

Don’t listen to the baloney of faithless people. I’d listen to what Jesus says instead. Find that skinny way to Paradise and avoid the eternal fires of Hell at all costs.