Hell

“By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…” 2 Peter 2:3-4

What is in hell? Hell, in many mythological, folklore and religious traditions, is a place of torment and punishment in an afterlife. It is viewed by most Abrahamic traditions as punishment. ... Many are ruled by a death god such as Nergal, Hades, Hel, Enma or the Devil. (Wikipedia)

Hell is not something most people want to hear taught. In fact, many believe that a loving God could never condemn anyone to hell. This just shows how far we have drifted from God’s word in our thinking today. Notice these words from Jesus:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29).

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

“Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:45-46).

Jesus taught very forcefully on the subject of hell. His teaching was a constant warning to his hearers that they should repent and avoid this place of eternal destruction. It makes no difference how much we try to avoid the subject; hell is a reality in the teaching and doctrine of Jesus.

C. S. Lewis had some interesting things in his writings about hell. Some is just speculation but some is also very Biblical in its content. In The Screwtape Letters Lewis wrote, “The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” Screwtape is coaching his nephew, a junior demon, on the nuances of leading someone to hell.

In The Problem of Pain Lewis wrote, “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason.”

In The Great Divorce Lewis wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” This coincides with what Paul wrote to the Romans regarding the Gentiles who rejected God, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature” (Rom. 1:26).

Scott Gage