What I want to do today, though, is just briefly outline why I believe it is a safe assumption to hold.  By no means will this be an exhaustive post or a post that will be the end all to all discussions on the subject, but should give us a healthy understanding for why we believe in a real hell.

Reason #1: Reason requires a hell

Have you ever noticed in life how the only way something good exists is if there is a chance for the opposite?  Take love, for example.  Love is a splendid thing that men die for and women swoon for.  It is a powerful force.  But have you ever stopped to think how impotent love would be if not for the existence of hate?  The very fact that hate is real and is a true option for how we feel about someone, makes love all the more real and powerful.  Johnny chooses to love Jane and in doing so he chooses not to hate her.  Love exists and so does hate.  Both are viable options that show the existence of the other.

If we are going to hold that there is a heaven, then it is necessary to believe that there is a hell.  You can’t have one without the other.

Another side of this coin is that our experience reveals to us that hell is real.  Heaven//Hell are not just future destinations, but there are snapshots of each that we experience on a day to day basis.  Snapshots of heaven come and go - hearing a baby coo for the first time, watching a sunrise or sunset, an enjoyable evening with friends, watching a baptism, and more.  These are tiny glimpses of what heaven will be like.  But there are also snapshots of hell that we hear of to often - we pick up the newspaper and read tales of rape, murder, incest, and slavery, natural disasters, fathers leaving families, oppression, the bad guy always seeming like he wins, and more.  These, too, are tiny glimpses of what hell will be like.  Reason and experience teaches us that hell is real.

Reason #2: Justice requires a hell

Talking to parents right now, we have all seen what happens when behavior is unchecked by consequence.  Junior is running through the house screaming and kicking his sister.  You call out, “Junior, you better knock it off or else!”  Junior continues to terrorize his sister and so you call out again, “This is the last time I’m going to warn you!”  Junior refuses to listen and ratchets up his disobedience.  You respond, “I’m going to give you to the count of three!  One….. Two…. Two and a quarter… Two and a half… You need to stop it!”

Here’s my question, when will Junior stop?  With that style of discipline, never.  If the punishment is never delivered but is only threatened, then it is a useless punishment.  Your law will never work in your house and Junior will reign and you will not.

It’s the same in the world: In a world where there is no punishment, the law is useless.

Ecclesiastes 12.14 says, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

Paul says in Galatians 6.7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

As uncomfortable as it makes us, there will come a time when God delivers ultimate justice and the reward will be either heaven or hell.  If there is to be a reward of heaven, then the punishment of hell must exist.

Reason #3: Jesus believed in hell

While reasons 1 and 2 are important, what really shapes our theology is what Jesus had to say about hell and he spoke about it a lot.  I know that it plays like the ultimate “trump card,” but we can’t escape that Jesus spoke about this more than Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, Peter, or James combined.  In the New Testament, hell is mentioned 13 times… 12 of them are by Jesus.  The question becomes, will we listen to John Lennon or Jesus?  I would suggest that we listen to the one who has conquered death.

If we are going to say that we believe the Bible and what Jesus taught, we cannot write off hell.

There you have it.  A short explanation of why I believe that hell is real.  I know that there is no chance that I answered every possible objection, but hopefully this will give you a launching pad to your own study.  If you have any questions or other thoughts you would like to share with me, please send me a note here.

I really wish that I could write hell off… but I can’t.  I don’t write a defense of hell because it is enjoyable, because it’s not.  It is difficult and sobering to do so.  Thankfully, there is a way out.  As Paul wrote, “thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”