Atheists are right about Hell

I am a Christian but I do not believe in Hell. Many of my "brothers" if that is indeed what they are find this idea to be repulsive. There's nothing repulsive to me about Hell as much as it is unbiblical. The Bible does speak of the Lake of Fire but this must be understood in the vernacular of when it was said. A very grammatical-historical approach I think. Dispensationalists have trademarked this form of interpretation but prefer not to use it when it flies in the face of orthodoxy the same way Christians pick and choose what parts of the Bible they agree with.

Grammatical-historically, the lake of fire referred to was Gehenna, a landfill. When it is said in the Bible that the soul goes to Gehenna, or, the Lake of Fire, that is to say the person goes into the ground to rot and become compost. I can use an allusion to demonstrate this: When you throw away your baby diapers and empty Cheeto bags, which Americans are so well-known for since they have a healthy appetite with one head and no responsibility with the other, to borrow and alter a line from Reagan, they go to Hell. They go where the other heaps of trash go and that is it for them. No recycling reincarnation, no heavenly paradise awaits it, simply just a dump. That is what will happen to the souls of the wicked when the end comes.

Jesus said, "...that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Biblically, when read within context, you see that there is no lingering into eternity facing eternal conscious torment. Some have used the phrase conditional immortality which is what it is. If you are of the redeemed, you go on to eternal life. If not, then your life is cut off.

I lean mostly towards anihilationism. John Stott felt that those who hold to the infallible view of Scriptures could sincerely hold to this belief. Anglican theologians have come out in support of anihilationism and it is something that I think we need a frank discussion on, but we won't, because pastors hold to the mistaken belief that it will scare people into going to church. In fact, atheists have a lot to say about this issue.

Atheists argue that at the end of one's life, they go into the ground, they're done, poof, out of here. I've got news for you atheists: You are absolutely correct! You will be out of here, 'from dust thou art and to dust thou will return' [Genesis 3:19]. You will end your last days on this earth and then afterward there will be no more of you. Good riddance I say because some of you are the most awkward people I have ever dealt with, arrogant and way overestimate your own intelligence. You post these stupid little bumper stickers on your car, one of which says, "Come the Rapture We Will Have the World to Ourselves". (I don't believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture either and Christians are waking up to that lie too in my generation). Many of your own thinkers have shed light on why holding to a belief in an afterlife is for people who are too scared to face the reality of death. The atheists are not afraid, they say. Very good for you, good boy, we're happy for you that you're not afraid. Because that is where you're going. Yes, you are going to wind up much like Jimmy Hoffa, probably in a ditch that when Christ returns He will pave over with streets of gold, just like Hoffa allegedly wound up under the George Washington bridge. Many years from now, the beautiful flowers which arise from the compost of your decay will be enjoyed by young girls and boys as they run through the fields, make shapes out of clouds, and play with the animals of the earth, who will all live at peace with one another. Is that something you suggest we should be terrified of? There's nothing terrifying about this vision of the future at all. On the contrary I see yours as being rather bleak.

Voltaire, one of your great philosophers, wrote in Candide that Lady Cunegonde was traded between several men as a slave, finally falling into the hands of Don Issachar the Jew and the Grand Inquisitor. Candide kills Don Issachar and the Inquisitor and Voltaire writes that "His Eminence was buried in a beautiful church, and Issachar was thrown into the garbage dump." That is Hell. Your body will be cast to the ruinous heap and you will be done, just like Don Issachar.

In conclusion, I will end with a couple Bible verses.

Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."

That is to say in Hell, you die, and you are done. The soul will be killed.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..."

If you die and you are one of the wicked, then you are done and gone.

Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

You also see here, there is no talk of eternal torment. If you die as one of the wicked then you perish, you are dead.