The Question of Eternality

Eld. William James Carter, The 1st

There seems to be much ado about the hereafter. More specifically, the concern is whether or not the Word of God means what it says or if the reader can lend his own feelings and opinions to make the Scripture more tolerable for those that would rather see the softer side of God. This is extremely prevalent concerning the destiny of the unevangelized and the nature of Hell.

The Bible is extremely vocal on both avenues. Thereis no question that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ (John 10:7-9) Jesus is the Savior and Deliverer. Therefore those that have not been “evangelized” are without hope.

Yet the argument is that a righteous God will not allow people to go to a place such as Hell. This argument is particularly true when those suffering eternal damnation have not heard if there be a Christ. Even so, the Word of God gives no suggestions that those in deep jungles and obscure parts of the world will be exempt from the protocol of salvation. If exemption were the case Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus in John 3:8 is not only void, but gives the entire reason for His incarnation no more credibility than a three-dollar bill.

The fact of the matter is that God truly is Just and desires that none be lost. This is the reason He sent His Son into the world that the world through Him (the Son) might be saved (John 3:16-18). There are no short cuts. There is no bleeding heart God. His Word is applicable to all, notwithstanding whatever positions they may be found in.

Further, if the unevangelized (or unsaved) had cause to make it in, this would seem to make God an unfair god. There are millions upon millions of people that have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and live a life conducive to His teachings. They have made purposeful decisions to accept Christ as Redeemer in full confidence of the Word.

One with good reasoning can liken salvation to the scenario to a group of students that worked tirelessly throughout the school year. Many hours of study and research were used to achieve excellence and promotion to the next level. Within the group are those that chose not to come to school. They spent there time in folly and whatever pleased them. Yet, at the end of the term the entire group received the same reward, graduation. Not only is this unfair, but totally unreasonable. The unjust teacher in the above scenario does not have the option to be moved with compassion. While there is a place for compassion, and God is a compassionate God, He can not and will not allow His word to become void (Isaiah 55:11). This said the unevangelized have no special seat. There are no exceptions. If the rules apply to one they apply to all. There is a place called Hell and to those that do not accept Christ there is damnation.

Still, there is a host of people that say that there is no Hell and that if there is a Hell it is not as bad as all that Christians make it out to be. Others declare that Hell is a fictitious place. After all, the Bible is nothing more than a bunch of allegories and no God would send anyone to a place so egregious.

The supposition, then, is that the twenty-three references to Hell in the New Testament mean little to nothing. This is especially true of the rich man discussed in Luke chapter sixteen. This is a person that found himself in Hell and is described as being in torments. This is a suggestion that there is more than one torment in Hell. One such torment is that it is extremely hot; hot by reason of an undying fire.

Matthew 18:8 is descriptive of the ever burning fire of Hell. Matthew 14:42 discusses wailing and gnashing of teeth. This wailing and gnashing is a direct result of pain. In Hell there is no God. There is no peace. There is torment and more torments. This is further indicated in Mark chapter nine. There are at least three references to worms in the place of torment. And there is darkness. Jesus is light so that without Him there is complete darkness (John 1:1-9) Darkness exists in Hell because there is no God, Jesus nor Holy Spirit. Because of the absence of the godhead it is impossible for light to have place in Hell. This darkness can be counted as complete and total separation from God.

Concerning the unevangelized and the nature of Hell, there is more than enough Scriptural evidence to give credibility to the fact that without Jesus there is no salvation and if there is no salvation there is eternal damnation in Hell. If there is any doubt concerning these matters all one needs to do is search the Scripture and determine the truth of the subject at hand.

© 2007 The Christian Perspective