This week’s post reverts to my childhood. I would be out in the yard…….probably digging a hole…….which seems to have gone for high entertainment on a hot summer Kentucky afternoon in 1962. I would make a statement and my buddy Sam would snap back…….”oh yeah!!…….prove it.” It is amazing how often this one line put an end to the argument. Because, the fact is that we say and believe lots of things………that we really cannot prove:
The universe is infinite.
Life began with lightning striking a puddle of dead molecules.
The universe began in an instant…..with a “big bang”.
All living things evolved from a single, primitive, one celled organism.
It is impossible to exceed the speed of light.
Given enough time, typwriters, and paper(a number approaching infinity)………a room full of monkeys can randomly type an encyclopedia.
It is intellectually honest to use an unreal idea……like infinity or numbers near it…….to analyze a real phenomenon like the human genome………or an encyclopedia.
The fact that we cannot see or measure something is adequate proof that it doesn’t exist.
Back to my opening proposition. Probably about half of mankind does not believe that Hell exists. I am talking about the place described in the Bible…….. a place of burning eternal pain. Many deny hell outright. Most just ignore it and go about life as though there were no consequences to our actions. We whistle as we walk past the cemetery. This is the practical application……….the functional equivalent of denying hell.
At this point, I need to clarify just what the Bible says will send you to hell. But; first, here is a list of things that will not send you to hell:
Not paying your bills.
Lying.
Cheating on your spouse.
Homosexuality.
Stealing.
Working on Sunday
Murder
Having an abortion
These things are wrong…….but in themselves they will not damn you. These things can be fixed…….if you act in time.
Here is what will send you to hell:
Denying that Jesus Christ is God.
This bears repeating:
Denying the divinity and the authority of Jesus will send you to hell.
So……..you say…….”the Bible and all of that religions rot is just a myth……….hell is no more real than Zeus and his flaming chariot. Jesus was just a nice guy.”
OK
Prove it.
And there is the rub……..because assessing the divinity of Jesus and the reality of an eternal burning hell is the single most important decision that you will make in your life. Fact is….it is the only important decision that you will make in your brief life.
Hell is either real…….or it is not. Jesus is either divine……or he was just another lunatic. And, like it or not…….you must choose. BTW…….it’s a package deal. If you accept the divinity of Jesus……you accept the reality of a burning hell……because Jesus believed in a burning hell. So……if you accept the divinity of Jesus and the reality of an eternal burning hell……no problem…….you’re covered. But, deny those two ideas and you are at grave risk of eternal suffering.
So, to pursue this line of logic…….. if you deny hell……..you need a bulletproof, logical, intellectually sound reason for your denial.
You need a reason that is so compelling……..that you would bet your life on it.
Because that is precisely what you are doing.
That reason…….that bulletproof explanation……. does not exist.
The poor man(Lazarus) died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
Jesus describing hell, Luke 16: 22-24, ESV
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Luke, Acts 4:12
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Paul, Romans 10:9-10, ESV