It is often said, as an objection to becoming a Christian that “a loving God would not condemn people to hell”. Throughout scripture, it is not God who condemns, but self. In the Old Testament, God orders the Israelites to wipe out certain peoples. This is seen as a move by a vindictive god who delights in the bloodshed of innocents. However, a more careful reading of the text and understanding of the cultures of that time refutes that view. God, by ordering the Israelites to annihilate a certain people, is ensuring that these people do not turn around and conquer His chosen people. Translating that to the “eternal damnation” warned about in the New Testament, it is not God that chooses to send people, it is the people themselves who choose, knowingly and willingly to reject Christ and eternal life, and accept the punishment in store for them for that rejection.

Some religions, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, reject this biblical view. They preach a view known as annhiliationism, where existence just ceases. They use Ecclesiastes 9:5 as their proof text that there is no consciousness in the afterlife.  For the ones who are “saved”, they will eventually be restored to a paradise, the rest just are gone. There is no real consequence for rejecting their version of salvation. Others embrace a view called universalism, where eventually, everyone will end up in an afterlife of paradise. This is also unbiblical and flies in the face of many scriptures, such as Matthew 10:28. Roman Catholics embrace a form of universalism with their teaching of “purgatory”, an intermediate place where a soul undergoes purification, usually through prayers being offered by the living for that particular soul.

Sheol, Gehenna and Hades are three names for various forms of the underworld. Sheol is described in the Old Testament as a subterranean region where the dead exist only as shadows. It is mentioned in Genesis 37:35 among other places. People in Sheol are not beyond redemption, as shown in Psalm 18 and in Psalm 86. . Hades as the abode of the underworld was borrowed from the Greeks who believed in an active afterlife and the concept of reward or damnation. In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld and the name of his abode. Gehenna, as a reference to an eternal punishment in fire, comes from the trash dump outside Jerusalem where the fires burning the refuse never went out. It is also the word translated as hell in some modern translations of the bible. It is seen as the place of eternal punishment for the wicked and unsaved, including the final place of Satan after the day of judgment. To modern Christians, Gehenna or hell is what is normally thought of as the opposite of heaven. It is understood to be the current abode of the devil and his demons.

I believe the bible is clear on the final destination of the unsaved. There are only two choices that man can make in his life regarding his eternal destination, heaven, where he will be with Christ for eternity, basking in Christ’s light and glory, or hell, where the fire never goes out, tortured for eternity with Satan and his demons. In the gospels, hell as a destination of torture is mentioned repeatedly. Matthew and Luke mention hell as the final resting place of the wicked. Matthew 25:46 is the clearest declaration of eternal punishment for unbelievers and the wicked; “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal”. Contrast this with Paul’s statement in Romans that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:13).

Believing that the unsaved will end up in hell is not terribly popular in today’s world of “tolerance”. It is seen as quite judgmental and “unchristian”. The only time I have been challenged on my biblical stance was by a member of the family who is a Jehovah’s Witness. That was an “argument” I knew I could not “win” as they are well trained to answer any objection I had and counter any scriptural reference I could give, usually by changing the subject. For non-Christians, being told that their rejection of Christ will lead to their eternal damnation usually upsets and horrifies them, but not to the point where they are willing to change their stance on Christ, they prefer to reject Him as unloving, because “how could such a loving God condemn someone?”. I find it necessary to tell them that it is not God doing the condemning, they are condemning themselves by rejecting Christ’s invitation to eternal life.

Fairness has nothing to do with a person’s eternal destination. Each person makes that decision for themselves. Each person has the opportunity to open their hearts to Christ and embrace the forgiveness and redemption He offers. However, there are those who are hard-hearted, who do not want to give up their lifestyle, who think that becoming a Christian is to embrace intolerance, bigotry, hatred, a bunch of rules and regulations that they just do not want to obey. The unsaved do not understand that once they become Christians, they embrace freedom. Freedom to be who God wants them to be, freedom from sins that are dragging them down.

In today’s culture, the doctrines of hell make it difficult to evangelize, due to reasons listed above. However, once a person comes to understand that fundamentally God does not “send” them to hell, and they have the opportunity to avoid that fate, they will usually embrace the gospel whole-heartedly. I know I did.