OPINION:
Pope Francis came under fire this week for seemingly to say that hell doesn’t exist. The Vatican quickly denounced the report, explaining the pope was wrongly quoted. But the media coverage gives rise to an important matter, and one that’s been bandied about the squishy faith factions and new wave spirituality circles for years — one that poses the blunt question: Is there really a hell?
Well, let’s just clarify that right now. It is Easter, after all.
Yes, indeed, there is a hell, a place where unrepentant souls go for eternal suffering. And really, thank God for that — because without a hell, there’d be no heaven.
How could there be? Put aside for the moment even what the Bible says about the matter. Logically speaking, a right hand without a left hand would just be called a hand.
A right turn without a left turn would just be called a circle.
See where this is going?
Now add the Bible back in to the mix and consider: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all the liars — they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur,” Revelation 21:8 reports. “This is the second death.”
Sounds pretty hellish, in a location, location, location kind of way, yes?
That’s just one of scores of biblical teachings about the fate of the unrepentant sinner on planet Earth. Look it up; you’ll see.
Of course, free will allows for plenty of room to twist and turn that path of truth.
New wavers like to sell the notion that hell is either nonexistent, or it’s the here and now — that we’re all living the life of Hell Riley now, marked and tainted as we are with child molesters, rapists, murderers and so forth.
Atheists like to mock the entire notion of not just heaven but hell, as well, as figments of brainless imaginations, fantasies of the intellectually deluded, inventions of the money-grubbing churches.
But that’s to be expected. All that fits their general views. Denying hell is compatible to both new wavers’ and atheists’ denial of God, the afterlife and of the inerrancy of the Bible.
The real sorry and sad moment, though, is when Christians shoulder-shrug the idea of hell, saying Jesus is just too gosh-darn loving and kind to condemn His creations.
Pew Research Center reported a few years ago that 82 percent of evangelical Protestants said they believed in hell, while 11 percent didn’t and 7 percent just didn’t know. Sixty-three percent of Catholics in this same survey said they believed in the existence of hell, compared to 29 percent who didn’t and 8 percent who weren’t sure. Sixty percent of mainline Protestants did — 29 percent didn’t; 82 percent of historically black Protestants did — 12 percent did not; 59 percent of Orthodox Christians did — 31 percent did not.
These are some eye-opening stats.
They show the watering down of faith in America, the filtering of faith among even the Christians, the ones who should know better. And on that score, they explain a lot — they explain in large part why American society has fallen into a secularized pool of cultural and political rot.
After all, if hell is nonexistent and heaven guaranteed, what’s the motivation to live a life of morality and godly principle? If it’s all good, where’s the bad? What’s the bad?
No, mark biblical words, hell is as alive and real a place as heaven. It’s how God ordained it. It makes sense. And any idea that individuals can live their lives free of consequences for their actions is something of Satan — who wants to erase the sacrifices of Jesus on the cross — and not of God.
Happy Easter. Let’s celebrate this year with truth.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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