Hell Yea.

Ok I know, but it was just to get your attention and I suspect it did.  But this post is about Hell.  First The Lutheran Confessions quotes:

AUGSBURG CONFESSION, ARTICLE XVII. [Concerning the Return of Christ to Judgment]

It is also taught that our Lord Jesus Christ will return on the Last Day to judge, to raise all the dead, to give eternal life and eternal joy to those who believe and are elect, but to condemn the ungodly and the devils to hell and eternal punishment.

Rejected, therefore, are the Anabaptists who teach that the devils and condemned human beings will not suffer eternal torture and torment.

Likewise rejected are some Jewish teachings, which have also appeared in the present, that before the resurrection of the dead saints and righteous people alone will possess a secular kingdom and will annihilate all the ungodly.

LARGE CATECHISM: APOSTLES’ CREED / THIRD ARTICLE

These three articles of the Creed, therefore, separate and distinguish us Christians from all other people on earth. All who are outside this Christian people, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites—even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God—nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing, and therefore they remain in eternal wrath and condemnation. For they do not have the Lord Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Luther and Melanchthon both wrote believing there is an actual hell with actual people in it.  That has become a very unpopular view these days because, let's face it, it's not nice.  But that has nothing to do of course with whether something is true.

I was curious to see what Jesus said about hell, condemnation, damnation, etc., so I looked it up.  With a red-letter edition of the RSV translation, it didn't actually take that long. If you are going to do it yourself from a concordance, I would suggest not only hell, fire, condemned, but also saved, narrow door / narrow way.  I found 20 references to Jesus talking about hell over the four Gospels.  I did include metaphoric and parable references, but did not include "outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" that Matthew included so many times.  I'll list them at the end so you can take a look if you want.  These do not include the references to "the lake of fire" in Revelation.

The issue of hell has heated up (pun intended) lately with the publishing of the best seller by Pastor Robb Bell, "Love Wins."  I heard that Robb Bell posted on the internet that people really should not judge his book before they read it; but that was self-evident to me, so I read it.  Interestingly I found a version of something I had shared in 1998 in my Master's Thesis.  It has been referred to in the ongoing debates over the years as "second chance."  What if people get a second chance to accept Jesus when they die?  Isn't it possible that everyone at death would accept Him and hell would be empty (at least of humans)?  My Master's Thesis, if anyone would like to look at this more deeply after (or before) reading Robb Bell's book is essentially on the human role in justification from a Lutheran perspective as an argument against universal salvation.  I called it "Free for All?"  (It's a double meaning...nm.)  I believe in a literal hell with people actually stuck there throughout eternity (just as the Augsburg Confession confesses - "agrees with God").

In "Love Wins" Robb Bell posits this speculation. Given infinite opportunties after death, and given the infinitude of eternity (beyond time) doesn't it make sense that eventually everyone will go through the repentance and submission necessary to be in and with Christ in God?  One appropriate response (which Robb Bell makes in his book) is that since God is God and all things are possible with God, then, yes, it's possible that hell will be empty.  I conceed this in my thesis and refer to it as a "universality of hope."  But we can't know that.

I came to faith and into the church a couple months before my 18th birthday.  I was not raised in the church.  Someone thoughtfully asked me recently, "Was it God's love or God's judgment that drew you to Christ?"  Great question, and as most of you can probably guess, it was God's love.  Aye, but here's the rub.  In my opinion, the doctrine of hell is not for ammunition to aim at people to "scare the hell out of them."  In the Formula of Concord, Chemitz wrote that this is really bad preaching / sharing of the Gospel.  A correct doctrine of hell serves a different function.  It is incentive to those of us who already believe to share what we know.

I recently spawned a discussion of John 3: 16 vs. John 3: 17 online by posting the Focus on the Family 30-second spot of kids reciting John 3: 16.  But check out John 3: 18.  What are the implications of that for those who believe vis a vis those who do not (yet)?  The issue is, "What's the message?"  Pastors and theologians call that Kerigma. Or as actors ask, "What's my motivation?"  The problem with Robb Bell's position is that it basically leaves us in a place where we don't have to risk offending anyone because in the end, they'll be fine.  What if they won't be?

When someone purports to deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ I ask, "Why do you think Jesus died?"  When someone denys "the exlusivity and the universality of the Christ event" (Jesus is the only way to God but He is the way for everyone.) I ask, "Why do you think the Apostles died?"  Why did they go into "pagan" lands and share the "For there is salvation in no one else" Name, knowing that it could and probably would, and actually did cost them their lives by torturous execution?  It was not because they thought, "Oh they'll be fine."  It was because they knew that according to the Word of their Lord, these people would NOT be fine.  Evangelism matters.

I close with the Catch 22.  Notice where this can go in actually sharing Christ and The Good News in our postmodern culture.  Someone might ask you, "Do you believe in hell?"  If you say, "Yes" then they say, "I reject your God as a non-loving God."  (Love of course, meaning "I get to do whatever I want.")  If you say, "No" then they conclude that it really doesn't matter eternally whether they believe or not. 

I confess again that I am a disciple of the writings of C. S. Lewis.  I highly recommend his short but powerful novel "The Great Divorce."  In it he talks about eternal life, eternal death, choice and time.  In the short vignettes he demonstrates how it is possible to choose hell over heaven.  Good stuff.

Here are the verses to check out.
Matthew: 5: 22, 27-30; 7: 13-14, 21-23; 10: 27-28; 11: 20-24; 12: 30-32, 36; 13: 36-43, 47-50; 18: 7-9; 23: 13-15; 24: 9-14; 25: 31-46.
Mark: 3: 28-30; 11: 43-48; 13: 12-13
Luke: 12: 4-5, 8-10; 13: 24-30; 16: 19-31
John 3: 16-21 (18); 5: 22-29

(Please don't bother telling me there are different interpretations to one or more of these passages.  I know.  The point is, Jesus talked as if there is such a thing as eternal damnation.  We ignore that NOT at our own risk.  We ignore that at the risk of others.)

Because I believe in hell, what we do or do not do matters - eternally; what we believe or do not believe matters - eternally.  That it why it is so important to "always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence...." I Peter 3: 15