Hell: Christianity's most burning issue

It could be a conspiracy of silence. More likely it is an egregious case of conformity to the wider culture. But whatever the reason, there can be little doubt that the topic of hell, once the mainstay of the fire and brimstone revivalist preacher, has been for some time conspicuously absent from the vast majority of pulpits.

Corroboration for the trend comes from my very unscientific polling of seminary students over the last seven years. Every year I ask students in my systematic theology class if they can remember the last sermon they heard on hell. On average only about 1 in 20 (a measly five percent) can even remember ever having heard a sermon on hell. All the other anecdotal data I have collected corroborates this trend.

The fact is that the Christian who is serious about the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus and John of the Apocalypse in particular, must also be serious about the doctrine of hell. It is not a doctrine readily expunged and it is ignored at our peril. Like it our not, we need to consider this doctrine more closely.

So what is the doctrine of hell? Alas, here there is not a lot of good news for Christians aiming to rediscover this forgotten doctrine. Well there is perhaps a bit of good news: the theological tradition is not unanimous on what hell is. And as we shall see in subsequent posts, there is more latitude in interpreting the doctrine than many Christians (and non-Christians) recognize.

But that's about it for good news as a whole lot of bad news roars in the background. Here's the biggest piece of bad news: insofar as there is a mainstream traditional doctrine of hell it is properly described as "eternal conscious torment." It is eternal because it is believed to go on forever; it is conscious because it is believed to involve the ongoing sentience or awareness of the damned individual; and it is torment because it involves that individual being subjected to the most unimaginable agonies.

Christians have disagreed over what it takes to end up in hell. Some Calvinists have affirmed that even some babies (non-elect ones of course) end up in hell, but thankfully most haven't the stomach for that. In recent years even the Catholic Church has distanced itself from the doctrine of limbo. So on the salvation of infants at least, there is a generous consensus. Beyond that, controversies seem to rage.

Through it all questions remain: does anybody deserve such a horrendous fate? Could the doctrine of eternal conscious torment possibly be true? Are those in hell punished by God? Does God torture them? Are the flames of hell literally real? Is hell a place or a state of mind? And, are we really stuck with eternal conscious torment?

Good questions all of them. Too bad Christians over the last several decades have neglected to ask them.