Q&A: Is There a Hell?

I believe it is the responsibility of believers to be truthful. Part of that truth? There is a hell, and we don’t want to go there.

A good friend of mine once told me, “Don’t settle for a lesser Jesus.” Jesus talked a lot about hell. He loved us enough to provide that warning. He loved us enough to be nailed to a cross in order to become the Passover sacrifice which spares us from it.

Below are just a couple of examples(there are many) of Jesus talking directly about hell.

The first example is when Jesus tells of a rich man and a beggar. The beggar, named Lazarus, goes to sit with Abraham. The rich man finds himself in hell asking for drops of water and cannot cross back.

The second example is found in Matthew 13. Jesus explains that hell is a place which is a blazing furnace and has gnashing of teeth.

Life or death? Through his death and resurrection, we are all offered that exact choice. Jesus says that if we follow Him that we will have life abundantly. John 10:10 states:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Billy Graham notably used to tell most of his audiences that they don’t know they day or time of their death. One day we will wake up, and it will be our last day on earth. With that in mind, they needed to make sure that they didn’t delay their decision to follow Christ. Graham is quoted as saying:

Preach with authority. The authority for us is the Word of God. Preach with simplicity . . . Preach with urgency . . . heaven and hell are at stake. Preach for a decision.

This is a blog about education. Of all the things which our young people need to know, there is one thing that rises above all curriculum maps, rises above all standardized test scores, and rises above all other knowledge.

Our young people need to know Jesus.

They need to know the fullness of life when they do their best(not gonna be perfect!) to obediently follow Jesus. They need to know the consequences of the emptiness of life without Jesus.

This world is lost, and most don’t even know it. It is our job as believers to be salt. It is our job to be anything but lukewarm. We must not lead them to a “lesser Jesus.” We must boldly lead them to the One who stood in the Temple and pronounced woes upon those who misled and took advantage of their followers. We must lead them to the one who took the message of God’s salvation to prostitutes, to lepers, to those who couldn’t walk, to those living in cemeteries who had lost their sanity, and to those who were blind. We must lead them to the one who doesn’t accept their sin, but loves them enough to forgive them of those sins. We must lead them to the One who bore our sins on a cross and defeated death with his resurrection so that we may live.

Below is a compelling discussion between Shawn Ryan(a recent convert to Christianity) and John Burke. Burke relays the story of a man who died, and experienced hell. The man in simplest terms called upon Jesus, and was plucked by a great light from the darkness. I urge you to watch this. Powerful.