The Subject I Wish Would Get Old — The Fear of Hell

Every now and then I wonder if time has caught up with me, and the fear of hell is no longer prevalent to people. Then, invariably, I will be reminded that fear is as alive as ever, and the subject is as important as ever to address. As I wrote in the last blog, sometimes I will come up against sheer rebellion and offense at the notion that the Bible may not support what many of us believe to be hell: a place we could be sent to after we die to burn in torment for all eternity. And further, that the chief reason we would be sent there is for not believing in Jesus.

 The woman I addressed in the last blog, who refused her daughter’s suggestion (made only out of love) that she read What Did Jesus Say About Hell, in essence had told her: “I believe in the Word in the God, but don’t you dare tell me what that Word actually says.” I mean nothing derogatory in that statement, nor am I deliberately being a wise-ass. I am just pointing out the sad truth that even though I say in my Preface that everything I write about hell will be supported by the Bible, which you can verify for yourself, she read just those few pages and refused to even look at the evidence because for her it was very simple: If you don’t believe in Jesus you’re going to be sent to hell when you die. End of story. No need for discussion. 

Now within four days of hearing about that, as I was on a long drive, I saw a giant sign on the side of the highway that said, “Jesus or Hell.” Once again, even though Jesus himself doesn’t actually say that in the Bible—ever—that is what so many of us have been raised to believe. Then our ego and self-protection get involved and we become viscerally opposed to any suggestion to the contrary. 

Last night I was listening to a woman being interviewed about a terrible accident she had in which she almost died. She recounted that she had been raised in a religious Catholic family, but she had become an atheist in her twenties (due to that being a time when there was large scale exposure of priests molesting children going on in her city). Her mother, when visiting her in the hospital, told her that she was most sad because her daughter would be going to hell for being an atheist.

How sad is that?

How many millions of people out there have a similar story? How many people who are gay have been told by their parents or loved ones that they will be going to hell for being gay? That is nowhere to be found in the Bible, but again, it’s just something people are taught that the Bible says. We have certainly heard this rhetoric endless times from powerful, public religious “authorities.” Yet they profess to be ministers for Jesus’ love?

“Believe in Jesus or you will go to hell” is something that started being preached in ancient times, some 1900 years ago, and has not been seriously questioned by Christian society at large since. Why is that? Fear. What else could allow us to not question what we are taught to believe? When we are raised in a set of beliefs, those beliefs become part of who we are—part of our identity. But the truth is, those beliefs are not who we are. We are souls who grow up to have beliefs imprinted upon us. We then believe those beliefs define us and that is why we can become terrified or ferociously defensive to maintain those beliefs at any cost—our identity is being called into question and that can leave us feeling vulnerable or even lost.

How is that Jesus preached a ministry of love but so many millions are governed in our spiritual, social, and even political beliefs by fear? The answer is, again, fear itself. If we believe ours is a God of love, would he ever expect us to be subjugated in fear? Is fear required to love God? Do we believe God is truth? Doesn’t that seem a given? Then how could we ever have anything to fear from the truth? 

If we believe in hell and heaven, what could be of more paramount importance than knowing what the Bible says about them—what criteria will decide ending up in one place or another? How can anyone who believes in Jesus as their Lord turn away from his words concerning hell in the Bible? Whether we are raised our whole lives to believe what he said about hell, or are taught it every week in church by our pastor, priest, or minister, shouldn’t there come a time where we learn for ourselves what Jesus said? Should we believe what others have taught us or what the Bible actually says? If there is disagreement there, who are we to believe… “the Word” or what we are taught the Word is?

I don’t mean to come off as combative, self-righteous, or judgmental when it comes to this subject. It is love that drives me. It breaks my heart to see how many of us are threatened with hell, with statements that are not supported by what Jesus said or what is written in the Bible. It is addressing injustice and standing up for righteousness that drives me to keep on writing about this subject. I have always sought to “preach” to people who are not in my choir on this subject, and perhaps that is always futile. 

I hope with all my heart that you who have been raised in this fear of hell, who really want the facts of what Jesus actually said on the matter, will seek out the truth for yourself. It may be difficult to accept what you find at first—it may differ from what you have been raised to believe, but you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free. 

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