Why would a God of love send anybody to hell?
God doesn't send anybody to hell. They go because they refuse to accept God's offer of forgiveness in Christ. Many people live all their lives by their own standards. When they hear of sin and heaven and hell, they mock. All sorts of people have different ideas, they say. Who knows? Besides, nobody ever came back to tell us. (Are they sure?)
God sent His Son to be a sacrifice for sin. Jesus was murdered. He was clearly, incontrovertibly dead. Then He came back to life. Hundreds saw Him. He ate food with His disciples. He told them "A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
He told one "Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jesus didn't just talk about eternal life. He demonstrated it.
The Christian who has experienced forgiveness of sins knows he is forgiven and is certain that he has a home in heaven. He has God's promise. He has a hope - not in the sense of "I hope so," but a sure hope, a certain hope. He has tasted a little bit of heaven down here. He knows that because Christ lives, he will live also.
If you don't have the assurance of sins forgiven, if you don't know you have a home in heaven, let me ask you a question in all sincerity.
Have you examined the evidence of Christ's resurrection?
Howard Storm tells a remarkable story. At 27 years old, he was a professor of art at an American university. He was also an atheist.
At 38, he was leading a tour by art students in Paris. He was talking with his wife and one of the students in a hotel room when he suddenly dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. His duodenum had perforated.
He was admitted to hospital in a potentially fatal condition, but because it was weekend, no doctor could be found to treat him. After some hours, he lost consciousness.
He found himself standing in the room, looking down at his own body on the bed. He had no pain. He spoke to his wife and another man in the room, and couldn't understand it when they didn't appear to hear him.
Then he heard voices calling his name. "We've been waiting for you," they said. "Come with us. It's time for you to go. Hurry up."
He went with his guides on a very long journey through a grey space that got darker and darker as they went. He realised that he didn't trust his guides and became so terrified he refused to go any further. His guides attacked him, biting and tearing at him until he was ripped apart, unable to move.
A small voice inside his head said "Pray to God." He thought "I don't even believe in God." The voice persisted. He didn't know how to pray, but he decided he was going to pray anyway. "Jesus, please save me!" he shouted.
Storm claims that Jesus appeared to him. He saw his life appear before him - his heavy drinking, his adultery and the rest. He talked with Jesus for a long time, then was told he was to go back to the world and live a different kind of life.
He awoke back on his hospital bed, less than 30 minutes after he lost consciousness. A doctor had been found, and the necessary surgery was done.
As he regained strength, he began to devour the Bible. He attended theological seminary, and was ordained to the ministry.
Howard Storm is now involved in missionary work in Belize.
You can read the full story here.
General Richard Dannatt, until his retirement Britain's Chief of the General Staff, is a committed Christian.
Writing in the Guardian, he says the military needs to have not only good leadership and sound morals, but a spiritual dimension to sustain the soldiers. He quotes a British private who had just shot his first enemy fighter in Afghanistan:
"Afterwards, I sat there and I thought 'Hang on. I just shot someone.' I had a brew and that. I didn't get to sleep that night. I just lay there all night thinking, 'I shot someone.' It's something strange. A really strange feeling. You feel like, you know, a bit happy with yourself - I've done me job, it's what I've come here for, know what I mean? He's Taliban and I've got one of them. You feel quite chuffed about it.
"Then you're feeling like, you know, well you know, sad. You're thinking. . . well, you know. . . you know, the, the geezer's another human being at the end of the day, like. Then you get the feeling, well, you know, it's either him or me. And then you're thinking. . .
"I think people get, like, you know, religious then as well. You're thinking, well, in the bigger picture, if there is a Geezer up there and a Geezer downstairs, what does that mean to me now I've just shot someone? Is that me done for? Am I going to hell or what? And all of that went through me mind that night, for hour after hour after hour."
Young soldiers may not understand the politics that led to war or the ethical considerations involved in their doing what they're doing. They may not have a Christian background, but they still have, it seems, an awareness of the value of human life.
