I am frequently asked why anyone (including Jesus, the apostles and countless martyrs throughout the ages) would bother sharing the gospel if there is no hell. Before we even go there, I would hasten to ask, "Who told you there's no hell?" Of course there is.
Now as for the nature of hell, that's another matter. The idea of hell as 'eternal conscious torment' in an everlasting lake of fire is abhorrent to many who've experienced the fathomless depths of God's love, or have at least thought through the irrationality of its contradictions, or studied the competing images of divine judgment within Scripture. But that doesn't mean there is no hell. Have you been inside Burma's borders? Or experienced the front lines of a Middle East war zone? Or visited a sex-trafficking brothel? I know those who have and they assure me absolutely: hell exists.
I'm not a universalist, but I do believe in hopeful inclusivism. That is, we cannot presume that all will be saved, or that any would be lost, but love obligates us to hope and pray that the mercy of Christ would have the last word on the Day of Judgment. If so, what is the point of evangelism?
I think the difficulty in perceiving the point of evangelism if there is a hope that one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess and glorify Christ as Lord exposes something awful about our perception of the Gospel and what Evangelism is.
Linky no worky. (“CLICK HERE to continue reading”)
Thanks for the heads up. Link is now working.
Brillian! It seems that the infernalist idea has blinded us so much that we don’t even know anymore what the Gospel is all about, or why we became followers of Jesus in the first place – though I assume, for some of us it might have been a decision out of fear, a fire insurance so to speak. But what happens when Father’s love casts out this fear? Is this maybe the reason why so many of us have a crisis of faith, especially later in life? Just thinking out loud. Besides, nowhere in Scripture is the Gospel presented of a ‘how-to-get-to-heaven’ scheme. Thanks for clarifying on this question!