No Hell?

1. One of the most famous opponents of Christianity in modern times was Bertrand Russell.

2. Mr. Russell wrote an essay entitled, “Why I am not a Christian.”

3. Russell called Hell “a doctrine” that is “a doctrine of cruelty.”

4. According to this agnostic, the teaching about Hell has actually put cruelty into our world.

MR. RUSSELL REFUSED TO ENTERTAIN THE IDEA OF BECOMING A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE HE FOUND THE CONCEPT OF HELL REPUGNANT.

a) If things go as planned, we will study whether or not hell is just (fair) sometime soon.

b) Tonight we turn our attention to a different topic.

c) There are a lot of people who do not believe Hell is a real place or that people will really go there.

2) If we speak with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they will tell us Hell is not real.

3) Unsaved people go to no such place.

4) If the Seventh-Day Adventsis engage us in a congregation, they will also deny that Hell is real.

5) Members of the World-Wide Church of God doe not believe in a literal place known as Hell.

6) Many denominational preachers (according to surveys) do not believe in Hell.

7) One survey had almost 70% of the responding ministers say Hell is not a real place.

8) We might be inclined to think these views about Hell are always outside the churches of Christ.

9) If this is our thinking, we are wrong.

10) In the mid 1800’s there was a very popular preacher in the area of Nashville, TN.

11) His name was Jesse B. Ferguson. In 1852 brother Ferguson said this:

a) “Is Hell a dungeon dug by Almighty hands before man was born, into which the
wicked are to be plunged? And is the salvation upon the preacher’s lips a salvation
from such a Hell? For ourself, we rejoice to say it, we never believed, and upon
the evidence so far offered, never can believe it.” That is, Hell is not a real place.

b) Someone might say that was more than 150 years ago. People now know better.

c) Some of us have heard the name Edward Fudge, another member of the church.

d) In 1982 brother Fudge published a book entitled “The Fire That Consumes.”

e) In this book he denied what he refers to as the “traditionalist view” of eternal punishment.

12) If all this is not enough, the denial of hell is not far removed from Elkhart County.

13) Another name some of us know is John Clayton. Brother Clayton lives in our area.

14) He publishes a little pamphlet several times a year called “Does God Exist.”

15) Brother Clayton likes to give creation-evolution seminars, and he is in our backyard.

16) Brother Clayton has given a glowing recommendation to Fudge’s book which says Hell does not exist.

17) Brother Clay wrote these words:
“I recommend this book highly to the serious student of the Bible who is not afraid to have some traditions challenged.”

18) Brother Clayton further confessed that he has always had a problem with the some people suffering eternally.

19) Another member of the church, F. LaGard Smith, has publicly said God will not torture souls.

20) If we think everyone believes in Hell, we need to realize that times have changed.

21) Even within the church there are people who do not believe in Hell.

SINCE THERE ARE PEOPLE IN AND OUT OF THE CHURCH WHO QUESTION THE EXISTENCE OF HELL, IT IS IMPORTANT TO GO BACK AND LOOK AT THIS TOPIC. DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH THE EXISTENCE OF A PLACE CALLED HELL, AND IN THIS PLACE, PEOPLE ARE PUNISHED FOREVER AND FOREVER, WITHOUT END?

a) Those who deny the existence of Hell often say the wicked will be “destroyed.”

b) That is, they believe the unsaved will be consumed; every trace of them will be obliterated.

c) A person will not be punished, dangled, or tortured in Hell.

2) When we undertake a study such as this a good beginning point is often the Old Testament.

3) Certainly many Old Testament references are not as clear as New Testament passages.

4) On some subjects, there is often less information in the Old Testament than in the New Testament.

5) More than a few times we find key details in the first part of the Bible.

6) With respect to Hell, we have a very helpful text it the 12^th chapter of Daniel.

a) Daniel’s words look forward to the resurrection at the end of time.

b) After Jesus returns and the resurrection occurs, people will be sentenced to heaven or hell.

c) Here is how Dan. 12:2 reads – READ.

7) I am no expert in Hebrew, but I did check the words Daniel used.

8) “Everlasting” appears twice in the English text of Dan. 12:2.

9) Everlasting is used to explain the duration of “life” as well as the “contempt” (punishment).

10) In the Hebrew text, everlasting is the same word.

a) If we believe “everlasting life” means forever, why make “everlasting contempt” mean something else?

b) Common sense the length of time described by one is identical to the length of time for the other.

c) If a person is obliterated, it is difficult to see how they can be the object of everlasting shame.

11) In the New Testament we find a similar point, only the language is Greek.

12) Matthew 25:46 says the righteous will enter into “eternal life.”

13) I have yet to find someone who disagrees with me on what eternal life means.

14) Eternal life is eternity with God; forever; unending existence; no termination to our continuation.

a) Jesus then used this same term for “punishment.”

b) If life is forever, why is not punishment forever?

15) In Lk. 16 we have a picture of Hades, the place where people go after their earthly life ends.

16) Jesus said a man was “suffering.”

17) If there is no suffering in an eternal Hell, why have people suffered in Hades for thousands of years?

18) There is only one way to answer this question.

19) Luke 16 must be explained away by those who do not believe God will continue to punish people.

a) Those who reject the idea of Hell rush to say Lk. 16 does not mean what it appears to mean.

b) One of my books is a nice little Hardback volume from the Jehovah Witnesses.

c) The authors cover (briefly) Lk.16. They begin by saying Lk. 16 is an “illustration.”

20) In their view there is absolutely nothing literal about the rich man and Lazarus in Hades.

21) This is a typical approach to those who do not believe in punishment after this life.

a) In my book the authors ask how the saved and unsaved could carry on a conversation in Hades.

b) They ask how could a single drop of water would help someone who was so hot and in pain.

c) Questions we may or may not be able to answer to do nullify the force of Lk. 16.

d) These authors further allege the rich man stands for those who rejected Christ.

e) Lazarus represents those who accepd the Lord.

f) Not accepting Christ has bad consequences (in this life, not the hereafter).

g) This is all, according to many, this parable means. It is just another illustration.

22) Jesus used illustrations at times, that’s for sure.

23) Think about how the Lord illustrated things.

a) Mt. 10:16 – “behold, I sent you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.”

b) This is an illustration, and it gets right to the point.

c) Jesus summed up the 4 chapters of Jonah in two verses (Mt. 12:40-41).

d) He only used half a verse to make an illustration from Solomon’s life (Mt. 12:42).

24) In Mt. 12:48 the Lord used only one verse to illustrate who God’s family was.

25) In Mt. 13:4-8 Jesus illustrated multiple points by using only 5 verses.

a) There He showed how the seed is the Word of God

b) He explained how people fall into basically four categories.

c) Jesus’ illustrations were short and to the point. We cannot dispute that point.

26) When He presented teachings like parables, factually based teachings, the accounts are longer.

27) Which of these two categories does Lk. 16 fall into? Is it short or is it long?

a) No one can say the information in Lk. 16 is a short (brief).

b) Verse 19 begins the information and it lasts all the way till verse 31.

c) By by reckoning, 31-19 comes out to 12 verses!

d) Saying this is an illustration is a wild assertion.

e) This is certainly not all the proof we offer to say Lk. 16 is not a rather meaningless illustration.

28) Listen to what the Thessalonians were told in the opening verses of the second letter to them.

a) These Christians were reminded of the Lord’s final return. Jesus is coming back.

b) With Him will be angels (2 Thess. 1:7).

c) God knows their were will be people who have made no plans to meet Him.

d) Some will not have been taught, and others will have not responded (verse 8).

e) To the unsaved, this fate is promised: verse 9 – READ.

29) How can punishment be inflicted if a person does not exist?

30) Verse 8 refers to God’s “vengeance.” For vengeance to be taken, there must be an object (person).

31) Some groups try to say God will just zap people into nothingness.

a) If this is the punishment, why is it so bad?

b) If there is no Hell, why is the afterlife to be dreaded by the unsaved?

c) Why bother to teach people if they will not be punished eternally?

32) Why did Jesus say what He did in Mt. 5:29-30?

a) We remember how He said it is better to rip out an eye than go to Hell with an intact body.

b) It is better to lose an arm than enter into Hell.

c) How can these words be true if Hell simply describes a person being completely vanquished?

33) Other descriptions from the Lord are also impossible to explain.

34) In Mt. 13:42, 50 we find Jesus referring to Hell as “the furnace of fire.”

35) Why call Hell that and scare people if Hell is not eternal destruction?

36) Jesus illustrated Hell with more frightening words: “unquenchable fire” (Mk. 9:43, 47-48.

37) In Mt. 3:11-12, John the Baptist referred to this as “fire baptism.”

38) When John spoke about being “baptized in fire,” he meant eternal punishment. Damnation.

39) Jesus said “depart from me ye cursed” (Mt. 25:41), not “You are going to now be vaporized.”

40) Hell is a place of “outer darkness,” Mt. 8:12.

41) We can take nearly any Bible teaching and there will be someone who tries to deny it.

42) Virtually no Bible truth is so sacred it is believed by everyone.

43) Our best defense against error is to know what the Scriptures teach.

44) One of the things they teach is an afterlife for all people; eternity with God or eternity without Him.

45) Those who are not with Him will be unsaved, consigned to a place with Satan and his evil workers.

46) Jesus came so this place would not need to be our eternal home.

47) Hell will have plenty of residents; it doesn’t need one more.

48) If we are not on the road away from there, now is the time to make things right.