Why do Good People go to Hell | Romans 2:1-5, Revelation 20:11-15
Have you ever been told to go to hell? I have. Back when I pastored a church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I went door to door and went to this guy’s trailer out in the country. I knocked on his door, and he came to the screen door with his big pit bull. I told him who I was and why I was there. He told me that he was going to hell, and he told me to go to hell. Then he opened the door and told his dog to get me. I ran out and made it to my car in one piece. One of the most offensive Christian doctrines is the doctrine of Hell. Belief in Hell in the US has decreased from 71% to 58% in the past 20 years; with only 1% believing they are going there. Some say, “How can anyone take Christianity seriously if it teaches that there is a place called hell where God sends people who reject him eternally?” They argue, if hell is real, then that would make God seem to be a cruel, mean and vengeful sadist who delights in torturing people because they don’t believe in him. A recent Times article suggested that “Hell is just too negative; churches are under enormous pressure to be consumer-oriented. Churches today feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding…” so Hell is out of fashion. The response by some Christians is to come up with alternative views: universalism (everyone goes to heaven) or conditionalism (those who believe go to heaven, everyone else is annihilated). Yet, the scripture is clear that there is no alternative. We can’t erase it from the Bible, but we can seek to understand it. Spurgeon: These are such weighty things, such that when I dwell upon them, I feel far more inclined to sit down and weep than to stand up and speak to you.
The Bible teaches us about the reality of hell from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both Paul and John believed in hell, and they teach us that hell is reasonable, horrible but avoidable because of God’s grace.