Ask Dr. E: Questions of heaven and hell

OPINION:

Dear Dr. E: Perhaps the best way to ask my question is to put it in context. I do not doubt that there is a God, and I have no reason to believe that he is not good. I also believe that each of us has a conscience and that we all intuitively understand right from wrong. I don’t have a problem accepting your thoughts on this matter. But here is where things sort of fall apart for me. If our God is good and generous, what will happen to the huge number of those who do good but are not Christians? It’s impossible for me to believe that a good God would simply dismiss those souls. — Sincere Questioner from Oklahoma
 
Dear Sincere: I’m sure my feeble attempts to respond to questions that have plagued humanity from time immemorial aren’t likely the end of this conversation. It would be just a tad bit presumptuous for me to think otherwise. But let me give it my best shot anyway.

Let me start by citing the story in the Gospel of Mark that personally brings me great comfort.

It’s the story of the Roman centurion who approaches Jesus to heal his daughter. Standing before the very creator of the universe, this man had the honesty to admit, “Lord, I believe, but please help my unbelief.”

For me, this is particularly powerful. I think we would all do well to humbly stand with this soldier and even with the blind man at the edge of the Pool of Siloam and admit that we don’t know how to answer all the questions, but there is one thing we do know: Sight comes from the savior! “We were once blind, but now we see!”  
 
Christ is the reason I can see anything. My only recourse for finding answers to unresolved questions is to go back to him as my teacher and see what he says. Put another way: as C.S. Lewis said, Christ is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is Lord, and if he is who he claimed to be, i.e., the Lord, then his word on basically everything is the final Word.

So, on the question of heaven and hell, there are some things that I just don’t understand, but my questions aside, I can say this: If there are those on the face of the planet who have lived such good lives that they need no forgiveness and need no grace, I’m sure not among them.

I defer to the words of the apostles Paul and John: “All of sinned. None are righteous, and if we claim to be without sin, we make God, himself, out to be a liar.” Or in the words of John Newton, after all is said and done, “There are two things I know — ’I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior.’”

I don’t understand many things, but I know of my sin, I know that I need to be forgiven, and I know there is no viable way for this to happen except through Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Especially if I believe he is who he claims to be.

After all, Jesus clearly said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes unto the Father but by me.”

So, along with the centurion, the blind man, and the young pastor in George MacDonald’s classic “The Curate’s Awakening,” I’m “casting my lot with those of the Crucified” and trusting him with my soul as well as all the questions I cannot answer.