Why believe in Hell?
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Why believe in Hell.

Why believe in Hell – or not? . you’d probably rather not even think about Hell never mind actually have to believe in it! Eternal damnation, fire and pitchforks …. You’ll probably happy to use the word, of course – Hell on earth, a living hell, having a hell of time, - but the real Hell – the place where people go to be punished for all eternity - that’s very different, isn’t it. 

For how could God – a forgiving God, a loving God, a God full of mercy and compassion – send people – his beloved people - to eternal fire and damnation, wailing and gnashing of teeth, endless torment – not for a while, not even for an age and an age, but for all eternity. – simply because they did not believe in him? Good people, but people who believed the wrong thing. That’s not the kind of God we want to believe in, is it?

And – if it’s any consolation - it’s not actually the kind of God the Bible believes in either. The kind of God the Bible believes in is the Father in the parable of the prodigal son who longs for the return of his son. It is a God who loves everything that he has made. It is a God who is love. 

Jesus says: “if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive what credit is that to you even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High. For he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful even as you father is merciful. “ 

Are we to believe then, that God expects higher standards of us his children than he does of himself? Does he not forgive even the ungrateful and the selfish – does he not do good and expect nothing in return?

The Bible is remarkably clear that God saves all people – in spite of what you may have been led to believe by others. 

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 

God has through Christ reconciled to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven. 

He is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 

We have our hope set on the living God who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe. 

And if I am lifted up then I will draw all people to myself.

The list goes on and on and on. I can quote the Bible over and over again to show that God has saved the whole world – that “all” means “all” When Jesus cried on the cross “It is accomplished” he didn’t just mean that now it was all over and he’d finally got to the end of his agony – he meant that he had succeeded in doing what he was sent to do which was nothing less than the salvation of the world. 

“So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose”

So, let us not have any doubt whatsoever of two things: first of all that it is God’s desire that all people should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, and secondly that the death and resurrection of Jesus worked - it really did fully achieve what God intended and what God desires in full - it was a “full, perfect, sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” It is truly accomplished. 

Now before I go on I know that some of you may be thinking that this is another one of Paul’s new fangled modern liberal theologies which is watering down the real Christian faith. But it’s not. 

“All people are Christ's, some by knowing Him, the rest not yet. He is the Savior, not of some and the rest not. For how is He Savior and Lord, if not the Savior and Lord of all?
Wrote S. Clement the Bishop of Alexandria in the second century after Jesus

Most Christians (he actually said “the mass of men”) say there is to be an end to punishment and to those who are punished. Wrote St. Basil the Great in the fourth century - and the big debate was not whether all people would eventually be saved, - that was taken for granted - but whether or not the Devil would eventually be saved. 

In fact it was only when St Augustine in the 5th century started writing theology in Latin rather than in Greek that the idea of eternal Hell came to be believed – that’s the new fangled doctrine if you are looking for one! It’s not by chance that the Greek Church – who still worship in Greek and still read the Bible in its orginal Greek don’t believe in eternal Hell! There’s some quotes at the back of church for those who don’t believe me!

And so is Hell no more? Well not exactly – for there is one man who did believe in it and that is Jesus himself. In fact Jesus speaks about Hell more than anyone else does in the whole Bible. 

Whoever says “You fool” shall be liable to the hell of fire. 
It is better to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 
Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 
You serpents, you brood of vipers how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

And this list can go on as well – there can be no doubt whatsever that Jesus believed in Hell and that he spoke about it very forcefully. He didn’t use the word “Hell” of course – he used the word Gehenna – the Valley of Hinnon - the valley just below the city of Jerusalem where people would burn their rubbish - a fire which stank and which burned day and night. The Gehenna of Fire.
So how is it possible to be true to a loving and merciful God, to keep hold of the ancient universalist tradition and still be faithful to Jesus? How can we believe in Hell – the Hell of which Jesus spoke, without believing in eternal damnation? 

St Paul wrote …
They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” 

Except that “aeonios” doesn’t quite mean “eternal” and “olethron” doesn’t quite mean destruction - when the same verb is used in the parable of the Prodigal son it is translated “he was lost and is now found.” and the word for exclusion – exclusion from the presence of the Lord - well - you know - it just isn’t there – not even a trace of it! – it just doesn’t say it…. 

What this Bible verse actually says is this - that these people will suffer not by being sent far away from the presence of God, but that they will suffer because of the presence of the Lord – they will suffer because of the glory of his might. 

For who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears, for he is like a refiners fire….. 

This is far from being an easy liberal Gospel, my friends, this is serious stuff indeed for a very serious afternoon - yes Jesus did believe in the Gehenna of fire – but it was never a place where God sends non-believers far far away. In the words of Jesus the Gehenna of fire is the fire of judgement - it the judgement given to all people for their religious hypocrisy – it is the judgement given to them for their lack of works – for their refusal to bear fruit – it is the judgement given to them because they did not feed him when he was hungry or give him something to drink when he was thirsty or visit him when he was in prison. It is the judgement given to those who refuse to be reconciled to their brother or sister, or to share the good gifts they have received in this life with those who have none, it is the judgement given to those who sin with their hand or eye, it is the judgement given to the worthless servant who does not make his talent grow and who is cast into darkness. 

The Gehenna of fire is certainly real in the words of Jesus, but it is not about faith or lack of it, it is for those who do not bear fruit, for those who do not live lives of justice, mercy and forgiveness – for those who are not perfect as their heavenly father is perfect. 

Any theology which implies somehow that the righteous who do not believe will burn for ever and ever and ever, and that the wicked – and there have been a great many very wicked people in this world – the wicked who can say the right words and who have been baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit will somehow wander straight into heaven doesn’t fit easily with Jesus’s hard demands for justice, mercy and generous love. 

So make no mistakes, there will be a Gehenna of fire in the afterlife just as Jesus said – we can even call it Hell if we want, – but it will not be the fires of the devil, and it will not be a distant place far from the presence of God – rather, like the Valley of Hinnon which is a part of how the City of Jerusalem deals with rubbish, Hell is part of how the City of God deals with sin.

It will be the very fire of God himself which purifies – The fire of the Burning bush when God spoke to Moses. The pillar of fire which led the Israelites through the wilderness. The fire of God at Mount Carmel when Elijah fought the prophets of Baal. The fire with which Jesus will baptise us according to St John the Baptist . The flaming fire when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his angels. For our God is a consuming fire …..

Yes there will indeed be a Gehenna of fire in the afterlife just as Jesus said – but it is the fire of the glory of God –St Paul – not surprisingly, puts all of this far better than ever I could .

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones wood, hay , straw – each person’s work will become manifest. For the Day will disclose it because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which anyone has built on the foundation survives that person will receive a reward if anyone’s work is burned up that person will suffer loss, through they themselves will be saved, but only as through fire. 

Somewhere in the Roman Catholic theology of St Anselm in the 11th Century, and somewhere in the protestant Theology of the 16th century Reformation a new theology of Hell has grown up – God has become the enemy, we have to placate him with the sacrifice of his son, or he will send us far away to Hell which is a place of, burning, darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth for all eternity. 

But, my friends, God is never the enemy, we do not have to placate God – for God loves us – that is fundamental to Christianity - he will not send us far from his presence, for there is nowhere – in heaven, on earth or under the earth – which is far from his presence

“Where shall I go from your Spirit: or where shall I flee from your presence: If I ascend to heaven you are there, if I make my bed in Hell you are there also” 

We will, all of us, come into the presence God – the very good, the very bad and then most of us who are frankly mediocre – all of us – and whatever was done in secret shall be shouted from the roof tops. Our life, our actions, our secret thoughts, the evil we have done and the good we have not done will be made known. – and it will be made known not only to others, but more importantly and more harshly it will be made known to ourselves. In the light of God we will understand for the first time who we really are and what we have really done – for now we see though a glass but dimly, but then, we will see face to face, we shall know even as we are known. 

And for the righteous that terrible moment, that judgement, that falling into the hands of the God they love, will be a joy. For the wicked that terrible moment will be Hell … the consuming, refining fire of God - for when our lives are over, and when we stand before God we will not be able to rewrite even one letter of our history – we will not be able to go back and undo one thing we have done or one word we have spoken – and we will not be able to go back and do even one thing more which we ought to have done or say one kind word more that we should have said. – once this life is over our deeds are done and there is no more time to make amends – there is indeed a great gulf set between us and not even God himself will be able to cross it to rewrite our history and soothe our fears. We will have to live for all eternity with our life as we have lived it. 

And Hitler and Stalin and many many others like them, known and unknown, will, I believe, understand for the very first time and in the fullest detail the pain and suffering of each man, woman and child whom they have killed - and it will be Hell – and no one will be able to make their pain go away – their worm – the worm of the memory of the pain they have caused - will never die. And Mother Theresa will understand, perhaps also for the first time, the warmth and love and joy of each tender touch and gentle word she gave or spoke to each man, woman and child in her care. And each one of those touches and words will bring warmth and peace to her heart. And the rest of us - who are neither Hitler nor Mother Theresa – the rest of us with our own peculiar mix of sins and virtues, of good deeds and unkindnesses – the rest of us will have to live with our lives. 

Blessed are they who die in the Lord, for they take with them the record of their deeds.

Terrifying – yes – It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 
But thankfully my sermon does not quite end here – for today is not miserable Friday – a Friday of fear and trembling - it is Good Friday. 


Repent and believe the Good News - said Jesus, that is the very first sermon he ever preached. And the Good News is that we can begin to be healed now, while we still have a chance to change our lives! 

As Christians we can have had a foretaste of what is to come –we are a kind of first fruits of his creatures. - we have already seen the judgement of God and we have already seen the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ on the cross and so we can begin sorrow for our sins, and grace to live that new life today – for eternal life is not something we will have some day far off when we die, it is something we can have right now - that is the miracle of Christianity. We still have a chance to amend our lives and bear fruit, fruit that will last. - We can be changed. 

We can be transformed by God’s Holy Spirit into a new creation, a temple fit for God, and today we can decide to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. Today – this new day of our eternal life - we can know God’s love for us, we can know God forgiveness for our failings, and today we start anew. 

And I’ll confess that I don’t understand why or how, but somehow I think that repentance and healing done on this side of the great divide will really make it easier when we meet God on the other side. Somehow the love of God which challenges us, changes us and recreates us is more effective on souls who still have free will and can choose to say sorry in faith. 

Paul Kennington
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