Problem of Hell: Christian Philosophical Problems
For me perhaps the most difficult Christian doctrine is that of Hell. While it is problematic intellectually, it is particularly hard emotionally. I am in complete sympathy with C. S. Lewis who framed the problem succinctly: “so much mercy, yet still there is Hell” (Lewis, 1962, p. 120). How can a loving God, who supposedly cares for our well-being, consign some of us to ultimate ruin and misery?
I also believe, though, that a frequent objection to Hell is volitional. We don’t want to believe in Hell, because the subject requires us to give up the seductive illusion of our own self-reliance and autonomy.
Intellectuals often wish to believe that we are after all the masters of our fates and the captains of our souls, regardless of the “Horror of the shade” that menaces our resolve to live with what is known as integrity. Bloodied but unbowed, we cling to our independence, intimidated not at all by God’s bullying and threats! No wonder that we, as well as some of our friends and acquaintances not only reject the Christian teaching on Hell, but even resent it as a thinly-veiled attempt to manipulate and control.
Of course, careful scrutiny of this point of view reveals its weakness: it all is based on the assumption that Hell is not real. But what if Hell is real and the biblical warnings about it are motivated not by an attempt to manipulate us but rather to protect us from something terrible? If Hell is real, then all bets are off, our petty posturing is contemptible, and our insistence on vilifying God are simply mean, self-centered, and foolish in the extreme.
The doctrine of Hell is compatible with the overarching idea of choice in the Bible. God gives us choices, including choices about our eternal destinies. The idea of choice is a significant theme in the Bible. A keyword search for “choose” on Bible Gateway (NIV) of the kinds of choices, both mundane and eternal, we humans have. So the idea of human choice with significant, even dreadful, consequence is not incompatible with the notion that the Bible is true and Jesus is real.
Our basic problem, though, is not with choice per se, but the mere existence of Hell. People don’t seem to be as averse to the idea of Heaven as they are to the existence of Hell, and people don’t readily believe that they are destined for Hell, if it exists. According to a 2005 ABC News Poll, about 89% of Americans believe in the existence of Heaven. Of these, 85% believe they are going there. These results remind me of Garrison Keillor’s description of fictitious Lake Wobegon, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” Of course, if Heaven exists, and if God has given us choices with eternal consequences, then there must be an alternative to Heaven. So, let us look at the nature of Heaven first and see if that illuminates anything about Hell.
First, the biblical teaching about Heaven is that it is made for people and that Hell is not. Jesus said that he was going “to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Heaven apparently is specifically and individually designed for us. By contrast, Hell was not made for people at all, but rather for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41; see also 2 Peter 2:4).
My daughter-in-law Eva Wu tells a story of talking with a friend about Heaven and Hell. “I’m a good person,” Eva’s friend informed her, and Eva agreed, basically. “How could God send a good person like me to Hell?”
Eva asked her friend about her pet cat. “Is she allowed in your bedroom?” she asked. “Definitely not!”
“Oh, I see,” Eva responded. “Why?”
“Because she’s a cat and sheds and I don’t want her in there,” her friend responded.
“But isn’t she a good cat?”
“Well, she’s good enough—for a cat. But she’s still a cat.”
“What about your daughter,” Eva persisted. “Is she allowed in your bedroom?”
“Yes, of course!” said her friend.
“Even if she’s been a bit naughty?”
“Yes, even if she’s been a bit naughty.”
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked Eva.
“She’s my daughter!” was the response.
Eva drew the analogy to a close. “God wants his family in Heaven with him. One can’t be good enough to deserve Heaven. It’s only for his children,” she said.
While anyone can choose to be a child of God by receiving Christ, one can’t change the nature of Heaven. It’s for family only. The Bible says “to all who did receive him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13).
Second, God wants us in Heaven with him. Whatever the theological issues of God’s will and his ability to do the impossible, one clear inference is that our salvation was enormously costly to Jesus. “How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” asks the writer of Hebrews (2:3).
Third, Heaven is by definition the dwelling place of God (Heaven). The point of going to Heaven is not to avoid Hell. The real point is to be with God. If friends come to our house to visit, they are not there just to enjoy our nice house; they came to see us. People who don’t like us really aren’t particularly welcome in our home, like party guests who only come in order to enjoy the hors d’oeuvres. God, the source of all joy and peace, has invited us to his great party, but not just to enjoy the treats. He wants us with him, and he paid a huge price, the death of his Son, in order for us to be there.
Heaven is not really “the good place” and Hell “the bad place.” Heaven is God’s home, and we’re invited to enjoy him and the place Jesus is preparing for us. We can accept his invitation on his terms. Hell, by contrast is the “outer darkness.” We don’t really have to do anything not to go to God’s party. We’re already not going by default. We do, however, get to choose whether we want to go to God’s party, whether to accept his invitation to be with him. We get to choose which place we’d like to be and whether we’d like to be with him.
The doctrine of Hell, unfortunately for we who want to delude ourselves with our petty posturing and self-importance, is perfectly coherent with the love of God, the truth of the Bible, and the reality of Jesus. As Jesus said, his whole reason for coming to earth was to save us from Hell’s terrible inevitability, to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
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