Why don’t we talk about Hell anymore?
It used to be that preachers would regularly preach about Hell and its dangers. Whether there was an unsaved person in the sanctuary or not, everyone knew about it. It seems that trend has been changing for a while in the church.
But a stigma seems to be attached to those who preach about Hell too much. They were called “hellfire and brimstone” preachers. And they tended to be loud, very loud. Now everyone seems to want to hear from “conversational” preachers instead.
But I don’t think it’s about the style of preaching. I think it’s about the subject. Hell makes people uncomfortable. It’s not a “seeker-friendly” topic of discussion. People don’t want to hear about the result of wicked living and sinfulness. It offends people and even makes them angry.
I believe that if something is in the Bible, we should preach about it. One famous American preacher says he doesn’t believe he should preach about sin and Hell because people already know they are sinners. But this isn’t necessarily true. Some people think that they are good people no matter what they do.
Some preachers even suggest that God is a God of grace. They don’t want to talk about Hell because they don’t want to talk about God’s judgment. God is indeed a God of grace, but how can he be gracious if there is no penalty for sin?
People don’t understand their need for a Savior unless they understand how depraved and lost they are. So we should preach about sin. And we should also preach about the result of sin, death and Hell. After all, Jesus had no trouble talking about it.
Jesus spoke of Hell with images and illustrations. He talked about Gehenna (Matthew 5:22, 29-30;; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5), outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50), anguish and flame (Luke 16:24), Hades (Luke 16:23), and Hell (Matthew 16:18). Jesus said it is a place of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46).
Gehenna was a deep pit the Jews through trash into and set the whole thing on fire. It stank and was always burning 24/7. He used this image of a real place that everyone was familiar with to show that no one wanted to go there. He talked about Hell as a real place and spoke about it in terms of the end times.
But Jesus wasn’t the only New Testament person to speak about Hell. Paul called it a place of torment, that is without God’s presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9). James also referred to it as Gehenna (James 3:6). Peter talks about a gloomy darkness reserved for sinning angels as an example for the ungodly and their judgment.
The images continue from John, referring to it as a place where people are tormented forever without any rest (Revelation 14:11). He calls it Hades (Revelation 20:14). It is the lake of fire and the second death (Revelation 21:8). And finally, Jude calls Hell a place of eternal fire (Jude 7).
So Hell is definitely mentioned throughout the New Testament by multiple authors. We need to take it seriously and proclaim it along with the gospel. Why would I say that? Because people need to know the other side of salvation. They go hand-in-hand. If there’s a heaven, there’s a Hell.
If we don’t tell people about both, it is an extreme disservice. This message may offend people, but I would rather offend someone and tell them the truth than fluff it over and be responsible when I get to heaven.
This doesn’t mean that we proclaim Hell with glee or rudeness or anger. We speak of it with tears in our eyes. Everyone we meet must hear the gospel because there is only so much time before it is too late. So we speak about Hell with conviction and kindness.
Image by Jeroným Pelikovský from Pixabay
Pastor Srock, thank you for this article. I commend anyone who is willing to address this difficult topic. I want to provide a little bit of pushback against what you are saying in this article though. I think the reason nobody talks about hell is because God has written the truth on our hearts about this. The truth is that if we are invited to enter into a marriage with someone and that someone offers their love, but then says they will put us in a basement and torture us for 50 years if we don’t marry them, this is not an offer of love. There has to be a way out, or a way to voluntarily turn down the marriage proposal in order for that proposal to be a proposal which is accompanied by real love. God offering us eternal life or else being tortured for eternity is not a choice and does not allow us to see who God really is and what his love really is. It obscures our view of his kindness:
[Romans 2:4 NASB20] 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Would you advise your daughter or niece to accept a marriage proposal which is accompanied by a threat of 50 years of torture if she did not accept the proposal? This is likely why polling such as that done by McCrindle and olive tree media in Australia has shown repeatedly for many years that the mainstream concept of hell and judgment, which involves eternal conscious torment, is reported by non-christians as one of the biggest reasons why they want nothing to do with Christianity. The traditional view of hell as eternal conscious torment is not bringing people to God. It is driving them away. I have personally spoken with many of these people who have deconstructed from Christianity or simply stayed away for a long time until they learned more of what the Bible really says about hell. You’ve mentioned in your article that punishment is “eternal”, meaning that the torment lasts forever. This is in spite of the fact that the same Greek word aionios, eternal is used in the New Testament to describe verbal nouns over and over again which by their very nature are not themselves things which last for eternity. They are things which have endless results. A few examples are:
eternal sin
eternal salvation
eternal judgment
eternal redemption
None of these things above last for eternity. They are processes which are accomplished in a finite amount of time and then the results are endless. Considering all of the passages below, could eternal punishment also be in this category?
[Hebrews 10:26-27, 39 ESV] 26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. … 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
The author of Hebrews above is using the phrase “fire that will consume the adversaries” to intentionally contextualize his wording, “preserve their souls” in verse 39 above. Look below in Isaiah where the author of Hebrews is borrowing this fiery phrase from:
[Isaiah 26:11, 14, 19 CSB] 11 LORD, your hand is lifted up to take action, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame. Let fire consume your adversaries. … 14 The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them; you have wiped out all memory of them. … 19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
The content of Isaiah 26 above sounds a lot like Jesus in Matthew here:
[Matthew 10:28 NASB20] 28 “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
And then here’s Isaiah saying almost the same thing as Jesus above in regard to those who side with antichrist during the tribulation:
[Isaiah 10:17-18 NASB20] 17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire and Israel’s Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day. 18 And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
And then considering the content of the passages I’ve just shown, is it possible that these Thessalonians verses below are translated properly, expressing the same concept? The Thessalonians verses below are about the day of the Lord, just as Isaiah 26 and Isaiah 10 above are:
[1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, 23 LSB] 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape. … 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then we might see James adding onto the same theme here:
[James 5:19-20 NASB20] 19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
James above sounds a lot like Ezekiel here from the Septuagint:
[Ezekiel 18:4, 27 Lexham English Septuagint] 4 For all lives are mine; the way is the life of the father, so also the life of the son; they are mine; the soul that sins, this is the one that will die. ……. 27 But when a lawless person turns back from his lawlessness which he committed, and he does justice and righteousness, this one has kept his soul.
Of course what I’m hinting at here is the doctrine of annihilationism which describes that the wicked finally cease to exist after having received a just period of torment which is commensurate to the severity of their sins. In this view, part of the eternal punishment for sin is just death, and both its results and the process of it being administered both last forever. The wicked are just dead and gone forever, just as Jesus describes above in Matthew 10:28. They are endlessly being punished with death and the results are also endless they are endlessly dead:
[Romans 6:23 NASB20] 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[John 3:16 NASB20] 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Giving consideration to the doctrine of annihilationism of course runs us right into Revelation 14:11 and revelation 20:10 which seem so definitively to have no agreement with annihilationism whatsoever. In my latest work “Hell is Made Holy”, I tackle Revelation 14:11 and Revelation 20:10 to show how the language of the smoke going up forever is a reference to the Old Testament sacrificial system, not a description of endless torment. The smoke from the sacrificial system represents complete and utter destruction under God’s wrath, not endless torment. I believe these two verses from Revelation are the only ones remaining that don’t elsewhere have a fully developed annihilationist interpretation. Many have proposed different solutions as to what the symbolism in these verses represents, but none have been able to make a very strong case to support their theories. If you or your readers would be interested in seeing the full evidence, you can easily find “Hell is Made Holy” for no green using just my name, David Aaron Beaty and “Hell is Made Holy”. Thank you again for your article and God bless you, your readers, and your ministry.
Thank you, David for your thoughtful comments. I will check out your book. I see you have studied this topic in depth.
Okay thank you Pastor Srock. Please let me know if you have any questions about the content of the book while you’re reading.
“Hell Is Made Holy” mentioned above can specifically be found for no green here https://go.davidaaronbeaty.com/hellbook