Hell is One Hell of a Belief!

In response to a comment I made about my reluctance to believe in hell as traditionally taught, a young man responded by saying: 

“Well I too would be reluctant to believe in hell if it weren’t for that passage about the sheep and the goats.” 

The parable of the sheep and the goats is found only in Matthew 25:31-48. In context we find Jesus judging the nations. The parable’s punch line is the young man's point: 

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Now there are some things we need to consider about this parable.

First, it’s a parable and not to be taken literally. 

To read the parable of the sheep and goats with such literalness is to read it in a way that would have been unfamiliar to its original listeners. This is important.

Second, the main topic of this passage is the judgment of all the nations and not the salvation or lack thereof of individuals. 

It is important when we interpret the meaning of this passage that we understand why Jesus is judging the sheep (on his right) and the goats (on his left). He is separating out those who have faithfully seen God's presence in the faces of the unfortunate ones in life from those who have not recognized it.

Third, he is not teaching concerning what happens to saved and unsaved folks.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard evangelists and preachers use this text as a tool to frighten people into making a decision for Christ. This simply is not a text concerning our personal salvation. It’s not an evangelism text. 

It’s a text on how to faithfully live out one’s faith in relationship with the unfortunate ones in life.

Fourth, we will be judged by our ability to recognize the presence of God in the faces and lives of the poor, the hungry, the strangers, the sick, and the imprisoned.

This is a parable whose central theme is recognizing the presence of God in all people, particularly the unfortunate ones in life.

Quite frankly this parable is not about dying and going to heaven or hell based on one’s decision to accept Christ as Savior in this life. To read such a meaning into this text is irresponsible. Those who first heard it would not have understood it in such a way; they would not have understood Jesus teaching a doctrine of eternal torment in this parable. That is something that was imposed on this text much later in the history of the church. It was not this parable’s original intent.

There is more to consider: 

Jesus was reported to have made some pretty outlandish statements in all of the Gospels. For emphasis Jesus often resorted to hyperbole and excessive exaggeration. This was a common  teaching technique for first century Rabbis.

Consider for example the following teaching found in Matthew 5:

“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump” (The Message).

Fortunately his listeners would have immediately picked up on the intended hyperbole and exaggeration, otherwise most of them would have died with less than one hand or maybe two and certainly with less than the two eyes allotted to them. I say this knowing human nature as I do.

Hell is one hell of a belief. 

I personally can find no Biblical support for such a horrible doctrine. I don’t apologize for rejecting the doctrine as hell, traditionally understood that is. It serves little purpose in reflecting the presence of God’s unconditional love. It does little to nothing in reflecting the grace of God towards all humans. 

To claim that God loves the whole world yet is willing to consign billions of humans to everlasting torment because of a bad decision in this life, or no decision at all, just does not accord well with the God Jesus revealed.

Finally, I have heard it said so often that Jesus taught more on hell than any other topic. 

Well, this is simply not true. 

In fact, a careful and responsible reading of the Gospels will reveal that Jesus taught much, much more on how to live in this life than he did about the afterlife. Check it out for yourself. 

Hell is one hell of a belief. 

It needs to be dispensed with once and for all. It does nothing to grow God’s kingdom here on earth. It serves no value in enticing people to accept Jesus. It simply serves to satisfy our human need for  justice, which is far different from God's justice.

 Hell is one belief we all can do without, or at least I can do without it.