Is there really a Hell?

 Most of the dramatic and frightening imagery we know with hell comes directly from the words of Jesus Himself. Christ talked a great deal about hell. In His approximately 42 months of public ministry, there are 33 recorded instances of Jesus speaking about hell. No doubt He warned of hell thousands of times. The Bible refers to hell a total of 167 times. Consider, for example, how many times He speaks of the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” of those who are “cast into outer darkness” (see Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30). He describes “Gehenna” as a place where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). He also has the rich man in the parable describe himself as inhabiting a “place of torment” (Luke 16:28). As we see it, there’s no way to stay true to the “whole counsel” of Scripture if we’re unwilling to look these passages in the face.

As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). We can be warmed and comforted, or we can be scorched and burned. It all depends on where we stand in relation to the flame.

It’s not only the fire and torments that makes hell such a miserable place. It’s the fact of being separated from God. Separation from God is primarily a matter of human choice. You may be in the same room with me, sitting in the next chair, and yet I can refuse to talk to you or acknowledge your presence. In the same way, though God is “never far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27), we can decide to turn away from Him and divorce ourselves from His love. It’s an attitude that, once willfully assumed, can over time become confirmed and hardened through habit and practice. As Paul says in Romans 1:21, “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

This willful choice is what hell is all about. You can’t go to hell except by your own choice.