Is was a heinous crime. Hideous. Unspeakable. Atrocious.
A child molester rapes, tortures, slowly kills a young precious female toddler, and casually burns her mutilated body. You see the news, and the tears and anguish of the family. Your heart cries for justice. Justice.
The perpetrator is caught, convicted and sent to prison for life, isolated from the general prison population for his ‘safety.’ The prosecution had DNA evidence but the jury thought it too ‘harsh’ to convict for the death penalty.
So, does your heart cry out for justice for the little girl in a case like this?
Then one day you read that the molester somehow was isolated in the prison during a work detail, and viciously murdered by a group of inmates for this crime. Did you secretly feel satisfaction when the molester was murdered? Did it feel ‘right?’
Whether it’s this sad soul, or Osama Bin Laden, there’s something in human beings made in the image of God that yearns for the rightness of things as they should be. Heaven on earth, so to speak.
So, then, is there a hell? And if so, what does God say about it, if anything? Why did He create it? What can the ‘bad’ people expect?
God’s Mind and His Word – High or Low?
It’s vital to set a firm foundation before we pursue the idea of hell. Don’t skip this part. Stay with me, please, for a minute or two.
People in God’s churches say things all the time about God and His kingdom that have no basis in truth. But how would you know? It might sound good. You may have learned it, as I often did, in a church meeting by folks that were convincing.
In the end, we have only one Truth as a guide. The Word of God, Jesus, His preserved written scriptures, and the voice of the Holy Spirit and His teachers to interpret and apply in our day and age. In this, the mind of God is known, and we can live fruitfully in holiness day by day. That is His way through the ions of recorded time.
So, now. Big question for you. [Read more…]