I've
said this before. I think the worst part of hell, well, one of the
worst parts of being in hell is that there is no way to go back and
warn your family and friends that the thing you were so certain about
(that hell does not exist) was wrong. You've persuaded people to
drink poison and now, no matter how badly you want to change the
course, there is nothing you can do to prevent their deaths.
Peter
Hitchens, Christopher's smarter brother, says, “Those who write
where many read, and speak where many listen, had best be careful
what they say. Someone is bound to take them seriously, and it really
is not good pretending that you didn't know this.”
Now,
in truth, we can't blame those who convinced us of this or that world-view. We all have the same evidence before us and it's up to us
to chart our own course. Yet the guilt for those who have to watch
their loved ones follow them into eternal damnation will be massive –
and eternal.
Jesus warned that one day, evil will be banished from
His presence. Included in this separation will be all those who have sided with evil. Eternal rejection of God begets eternal
separation from God. To convince those you claim to love that what
Jesus said is not true will condemn your loved ones to:
.
The complete absence of Good
. The total, all pervasive presence of evil
. Absolute fear
. Unmitigated hatred and rage
. Total, complete and unending darkness
. Unrelieved sorrow
. Unequivocal alone-ness
. Absolute shame
. Unbounded regret
. Undiluted violence.
. Sheer panic.
. The total, all pervasive presence of evil
. Absolute fear
. Unmitigated hatred and rage
. Total, complete and unending darkness
. Unrelieved sorrow
. Unequivocal alone-ness
. Absolute shame
. Unbounded regret
. Undiluted violence.
. Sheer panic.
. Unrelenting
dissatisfaction
. All encompassing meanness
. Overwhelming stench
. Total betrayal
. There will be no freedom from pain, only total, all consuming, overwhelming pain.
. All encompassing meanness
. Overwhelming stench
. Total betrayal
. There will be no freedom from pain, only total, all consuming, overwhelming pain.
As
bad as that is, nothing will be worse than knowing that I convinced
people I cared about to follow me to eternal destruction.
These are the conditions that exist when the essence of God is completely absent. That is what atheists say they want - the complete absence of God. That is why, as God draws back His hand of protection, little by little, bit by bit our world is descending into a deepening hell of violence and cruelty.
These are the conditions that exist when the essence of God is completely absent. That is what atheists say they want - the complete absence of God. That is why, as God draws back His hand of protection, little by little, bit by bit our world is descending into a deepening hell of violence and cruelty.
Hell
is the destination for people who have finally come to the end of a
journey, the main focus of which, the main direction of which has
been to live a life without humbling yourself before Creator God. If
you long to be free from the presence of God during your life on
earth, then Hell is nothing but the ONLY destination you could
possibly reach given the road upon which you’ve chosen to travel.
What kind of a person would choose that for themselves?
What kind of a person would choose that for themselves?
There is a degree of sadism that goes along with describing your believed fate of non Christians. I doubt that kind of rhetoric is going to work on many atheists, we usually treat it like the homeless man shouting about Armageddon from the street corner: it's all white noise to us.
ReplyDeleteMmm, not sadism. There is much more sadness than anything. Impotence to change anything. And for the very reasons you stated. It's nothing more than noise to you.
ReplyDelete