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Anybody who thinks we are not living in an age of super tolerance just hasn’t been keeping up. The philosophies and reasonings of men have convinced most of the world that they can believe anything they want to on any subject or believe nothing at all and they are still all right with God. Underscoring the popularity of this belief in universal salvation was a poll taken in Dallas recently. A large radio station sent a reporter out with a microphone to ask, “Who’s going to Hell?” of a random sampling of people. Of approximately 500 polled, 98% said they didn’t know anybody whom they thought was bound for Hell. Now that’s getting pretty close to universal Universalism.
What does the Bible say about Hell? Is Hell just a place have dreamed up by preachers to gain control of people through fear? Hardly. Jesus often spoke of Hell. It is a place where both soul and body will be destroyed (Mat 10:28). It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mat. 13:42). It is a place of eternal fire and eternal punishment prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat. 25:41, 46). Other Bible writers speak in plain language of this terrible place. Perhaps the very terribleness of the place is more than men have been willing to contemplate and they have thus tried to deny the existence of it by denying that anyone will go there. However, it must be remembered that there is as much (perhaps more) material in the New Testament to warn men of Hell as there is to promise them Heaven. Men are foolish to believe only the materials about Heaven while disbelieving those about Hell.
The Bible not only teaches plainly that Hell is a real place in the eternal, spiritual world, but it also tells us who will go there. Paul lists some of its populace: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men [homosexuals, DM], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10). He writes a similar list in Galatians 5:19–21 and likewise says that such things will keep one out of the kingdom of God. This is another way of saying that such will go to Hell. John lists several who will be in Hell, including those not written in the Book of Life (Rev 20:15; 21:8; 22:15). Those who do not obey the Gospel will be lost in Hell (2 The. 1:8–9). Lamentably, Jesus said that more will be lost than saved (Mat. 7:13–14).
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Edifier, weekly bulletin of Pearl Street Church of Christ, Denton, TX, July 1, 1982, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
