What is the deal with Hell?  Is it really there or not?  And if it is there, is it really as bad as we have been led to believe?  And (here's the real question) if it is as bad as they say, why are we not more terrified?

I came to Christ as a non-believer - I didn't believe in God, didn't believe in Jesus, I didn't believe in Heaven, and I sure didn't believe in Hell.  And I didn't want to, either.  But when I got saved and felt the Spirit of God transform my soul, I accepted the whole deal.  I didn't need to see it; it was part of the whole package.

But the rational, analytical part of me has always looked curiously at the whole idea of Heaven and Hell.  It just doesn't make sense.  While I accept it wholeheartedly, it sure would be nice if I could get a glimpse (just to make sure).  Now, I've listened to some people who have seen either Heaven or Hell, and when listening to them tell the vision, I can see in their intensity and depth that they really did see these things.  But I'd just like to see if for myself.

But that's not how it works, does it?  God doesn't offer us great embellishments in vivid details about these two places.  If God was a real estate agent for a vacation resort in Heaven, He'd probably go broke.  But instead of focusing on the destination, God is more concerned with the journey. 

Sure, everybody wants to go to Heaven, so we focus on that, all the while convincing ourselves that we're going there someday.  I've even heard that dogs go to Heaven. 

How?  Well, that really doesn't matter as much to us as the self-assurance that we will most certainly go there.  All our friends will be there.  You never hear someone proclaim at a funeral that their deceased friend is most assuredly burning in Hell right now.  No, we all believe we are going to Heaven merely because we have focused on the destination and have dismissed what it takes to get there.  The stark reality of Hell has become a faded concept, not to be mentioned in polite society ... especially church.

Hell has become a place that is only reserved for really, really bad people, the monsters of our society.  The rest of us aren't really that bad - oh sure, we have a few basic character flaws, but hey, God loves us and He understands.   Just believe in God, relax, sing a few songs about Jesus, and voila, your ticket is stamped!

Perhaps if we put the whole idea behind us, maybe the stark reality of Hell would just go away.  We can worry about it later.  In the meantime, we all have our lives before us, and that looms more in our consciousness than some ethereal specter of a place of torment that we really haven't seen with our eyes or measured with our scientific instruments.  Preachers that attempt to burst our rosy bubble with a message about Hell are derided as hateful and critical, and who do not understand the love of God, but instead, try to force us into an ascetic lifestyle by using fear tactics.  Shame on them!

Now, I'm not sure what preachers they are referring to, because in 40 years of ministry, I haven't found very many of them.  Where are all these hellfire and brimstone preachers that they are talking about?  Or is this just an excuse we use to dismiss what we do not want to face?

I have learned that people will believe what they want to believe in spite of the facts.  As an old friend once said, "People will follow their hearts."  How true.  A Gospel message of the "Good Ship Lollipop" is much more appealing than the stark realities of Eternal Judgment, and with a quick sweep to push those realities behind us, sin appears less sinful and holiness less compulsory.

And yet, Hell is the most prevalent reality there is - much more so than anything else.  Why?  Because most people are going to end up there.  Our preachers don't have the guts to warn us about it, so we remain blissfully naive. Certainly, if God dug a hole just outside our city limits where we could see all the way down to the pits of Hell, there would be many of us standing on the edge of that chasm with a much different perspective on life. But He has not.  He has left it up to us to choose - not the destination, but the path.

But what if? 

If Heaven is supposed to be so much better than we can imagine, what if Hell is far worse than what we can fear? 

What if it really is there, and the countless souls who ignored it are now screaming in agony down there right now? 

What if God really meant exactly what He said? 

What if He has used our vanities as the filter to separate the wheat from the chaff? 

What if our choice of destination isn't what determines our fate, but our choice of the path that leads there?

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.          Matthew 7:13,14