Insights From The Parable of The Rich Man And Lazarus (Lu. 16:19-31)

Read Luke 16:19-31.

1. Every person is going to die. 
2. Every person, regardless of his lot in life, continues existence after physical death.  There is no truth to the false teaching called annihilationism.
3. Today matters.  Choices made today, especially concerning salvation and holiness, affect your destination.  No one avoids Hell by convincing himself and others that he is a good person.  No one avoids Hell unless he walks the path of holiness!  There is no truth to the false teaching called universalism.
4. What a hindrance money can be.  Beware self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, etc.  A rich person in Hell suffers as much as a poor person!
5. God's Word, not your opinion or experience, is the ultimate witness.  Will that witness be for you or against you on Judgment Day?
6. There are at least fifteen things you will not find in Hell:  grace, mercy, second chance, erasure of memory, relief, adequate excuse, joy, peace, a party, satisfaction, inability to feel pain, loss of awareness, bargaining, silence, change of venue (moving from Hell to Heaven because the sentence has been altered).

If you are a pastor, you could develop a powerful evangelistic sermon from point #6.

Yes, Hell Will Be That Bad

If you fell into a volcano, you might not die the way you think.  That's the argument of an article at Huffington Post.  You can read the article here.

Why are you anywhere near a volcano in the first place?  What are you, nuts?  You're now in the liquid center of a boiling volcano and there isn't any way out.  "It might not be as you first thought" isn't consoling.  I'm no genius, but won't it still hurt?  You're still going to die.

The majority of us sane people wouldn't go near a volcano.  We know better than to flirt with danger.  Here's the truth, though.  Many sane, skilled, and highly educated people are playing with Hell fire.  They trifle with it.  (Come on, you've heard it too.)  "It won't be quite as bad as that."  How about, "My friends will be there"?  Then there's the classic, "God is love.  A loving God wouldn't send people to Hell."

On that last line, you're right.  People send themselves there.  They insisted on playing with fire.  They lived on the edge of the threat, convinced it wasn't that bad.  They got sucked in as the unstable ground crumbled beneath them.  Don't take my word for it.  Jesus spoke about "eternal fire" (Mt. 25:41).  He spoke about a place where the fire never dies (Mk. 9:48).  Was He lying?

Do the sensible thing.  Repent!  Get away from the edge!

Okay, So We Got Him

Yesterday those who didn't know found out that America's Most Wanted, Osama Bin Laden, had been killed.  Yes, justice was served.  I'm okay with that.  Hopefully, this will bring a sense of some closure for the families of the 9-11 victims.

What I can't approve is the over-the-edge celebration in this nation.  As its front page headline, one newspaper in New York City wrote "Rot in Hell!"  Another newspaper had the subtitle "We Nailed the B_____d!"

Chances are that Osama didn't repent, didn't come to salvation in Christ.  If that's true, then he is in hell right now!  How can that be something for celebration?   Let's acknowledge justice served.  Let's praise the heroism and bravery of our troops.  Let's be patriotic.  Let's not go over the edge.

Traditional Teaching on Heaven and Hell Is "Misguided and Toxic"

Here is a quote from a book I started reading last night. I’m not posting the quote because I agree with it. I’m posting it because it’s controversial.

"A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus's message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."
(Bell, Rob. LoveWins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.  New York, NY: Harper One, 2011. p. viii.)

Heaven and hell are both significant biblical themes, so we’d better be careful before declaring historical, conservative doctrine “misguided and toxic” and subversive.