Most Christians I’ve met say they believe in hell. Typically, it’s reserved for non-believers who have never heard the name of Jesus. Worse yet, though, is the hell former believers – apostates, reprobates, back-sliders – will experience. You know, because we are deceiving the masses, and all that.
I’m here today to call B.S. on this. I don’t think most of these people actually believe in hell as eternal conscious torment. Either that, or they are sociopaths.
Why do I say this?
Because when we fall away, when we deconstruct our Evangelical faith, they treat us like the main character in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Poof. Ghosted. They are out of our lives faster than Usain Bolt runs the hundred.
But if they really believed that hell is everlasting, how could they do this? Wouldn’t it torment them that their friends and family are going to be tortured for all eternity? Any loving person would be distraught at the thought.
Yet, here they stand, not really giving two shits about our fate. In fact, many of them even mock us. Like Tertullian nearly 2,000 years ago, they brag about how they will look down upon us with glee as we writhe about in the flames.
Sick, I tell ya!
Most, however, aren’t this disgusting. Most just walk away and pretend like we never existed. Out of sight; out of mind. This is still pretty gross, though. If we are truly bound for hell, shouldn’t they at least do something other than offer up “thoughts and prayers?” Shouldn’t they show up at our doors and beg us to return to the fold. If we are the lost sheep, why are they content to just kick it with the other 99?
Again, I think it’s because they don’t actually believe in hell. Sure, some of them probably do, but in the heart of hearts of the rest, I doubt it.
I remember hearing about how one of my former pastors nearly lost his atheist son due to a mountain climbing accident. He was worried like any of us would be, no doubt, but not about his son’s ultimate fate. Yet, he claims to still believe in eternal hell. If it were me, and I believed in this monstrous doctrine, I’d be torn up beyond recognition. Everlasting torment?! For your child?! Honestly, I’m not being hyperbolic when I say this, but this thought would drive me to the point of suicide.
But maybe I’m just projecting myself into the picture here. Maybe these folks all believe in hell but are just cold hearted. Maybe they are numb inside. Maybe their belief in this horrific doctrine has stripped a huge part of their humanity and they are now forced to zombie-walk through life – robotic shells of their former sentient selves.
I don’t know.
And frankly, I’ve stopped caring. Folks are gonna believe what they believe. And if they say they believe their loved ones will one day sizzle atop God’s Weber, I guess I’ll attempt to believe them. The problem is, this turns them into monsters because again, how could you not do anything about it? If you saw someone drowning, would you not at least jump in to try to save them? If you saw someone in a burning building, would you at least not dial 9-1-1? I guess the answer is no, and all we get is their perfunctory “thoughts and prayers.”
Consider me unimpressed.
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