On Going to Hell

This is a book about going to hell.  

If you are like me, ending up in hell is usually something you wish on others during your worst moments. If someone makes me mad enough, I have been known to wish that they will go to hell in revenge for whatever they did to aggravate me. It's small-minded, I know. But I take some comfort in the truth that I have no real power to send them anywhere. I get a moment of comic relief as I imagine their panic at roasting in the eternal flames, and then I forget about it and move on. Imagining them in hell helps me not need to stew about what happened. It's kind of a stress reliever, although I confess that it doesn't pass muster and please God. 

The prospect of hell is more than a stress reliever, however. As I grow older - I'm 79 - I am reflecting more seriously on what my life will amount to in God's eyes. How have I done as a person and as a pastor? What have I made of the tremendous gifts God's Spirit has bestowed on me? What will be the legacy I leave on earth, and what will I experience at the day of reckoning with the One who created me? These are truly serious questions to me right now. Indeed, they are questions I believe we all should ponder. 

Which brings me to the reason I am writing this book. Hell is a place most Christians believe in. (Gallup polls confirm this.) The certainty of God's judgment and the possibility that God, through Jesus, will send us to hell is a big point of emphasis in Jesus' teachings and is featured in other parts of the New Testament. As we all agree, hell is not the final destination anyone wants.