Hell

I lie in bed at night thinking about the afterlife. I imagine the red hot glow of hell and the interminable screams. I wonder what the suffering must be like. The complete absence of hope. The incomprehensible length of eternity…

At least in life we can always hope for death. We know that no matter what there is a way to end our pain and sorrow, but the idea of a never-ending suffering seems daunting to me. The weight of that alone, of knowing that you will spend forever in darkness and intense agony, that frightens me.

As a Christian we are assured eternal life through our salvation in Jesus Christ. This truth is where I cling. However, I have friends that I want to share this truth with, but they don’t want to hear it. They are distracted by the things of this world, caught up in the lie that there is either no afterlife or no hell. That there are no consequences for their actions and when you die, that’s it. While that may be true, I think the evidence shows otherwise. And if there is life after death, then wouldn’t you want to be sure that you had really given this some serious thought instead of just wasting your life away chasing after money and pleasure?

Revelation 20:11-15 says this:

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

So no only is there death and hell, but there is a second death and a lake of fire and those people who are not saved will be cast into the lake of fire along with all of hell.

If you are not a Christian, I pray that you will take a moment to seek after truth. Don’t just accept this worlds lies or what your parents believe. Don’t just float through life, but be intentional with it. Make the search for truth your lifelong purpose, your unending journey. At the end of that search you will find one thing that remains constant, the Love of God and the unwavering truth found in the Bible.

When it comes to faith and religion you need to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. It’s a free gift. All you have to do is believe and trust in your heart and you will be saved. Such a simple thing to do and it comes with so many rewards – not requirements and responsibilities. Christianity is more about enjoying the Love of God and the blessings he has to offer than following a list of commands and laws.

Finally, to my atheists friends, I wish I had your confidence, but I do not. Since God cannot be proven to exist or not exist then I will spend the rest of my life with the knowledge that has come from experience – not emotion or intellect or infinite reasoning and possibilities. I will continue to search for truth.  Atheism to me seems the easy and lazy way out. Life becomes nothing more than a quest for material gain and comfort. What is the point of helping your fellow man? Why is there a need for taking care of old people? If life is nothing more than the survival of the fittest then why bother with the weak? Shouldn’t we just euthanize people once they reach an age where they become a drain to society? Shouldn’t we do the same to hand-capped or disabled? Who decides what is moral? What is this concept of right and wrong? I’ve heard all of the non-believers answers to these questions, you can spend forever arguing, but in the end the same questions still arise – where did we come from? You cannot make something from nothing.