Ian R Gilpatric
Theology 202-B06 201230
Short Essay # 4
The Destiny of the Unsaved
The doctrine of hell has been a widely debated yet completely miss understood doctrine of the Christian faith. Many hold the view that if God is a God of love then why would He send people to hell to be tormented forever. Some even think that if God would send people to hell then He is cruel and vindictive and thus is no better than Satan. But the question we have to ask ourselves is this. If God is love and sin opposes God then why would He not punish us for our wrong doing? We can view God’s relationship to humanity like a parent child relationship. When I child does wrong and goes unpunished what will that child turn out to be like in society? Will they be a respected person or a person that is devoted to crime and riotous living? If God left sin unchecked it would not be just or right. Because God is righteous and just He has to deal with sin and because he is holy sin cannot stand in His presence. God does not send people to hell because he wants to in fact it is just the opposite the Bible tells us that “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV) So obviously God does not desire that any man spend eternity in hell but the person who refuses to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and the work that he accomplished on the cross then that will be their eternal resting place.
Why was hell created? “God created hell, a real place where real people will suffer real punishment for a real eternity.” So if God created hell as a place of punishment for their sins what will that punishment be? Will they suffer for all eternity? Will unsaved people be totally annihilated? Will the unsaved person make into heaven despite their actions? Is any of this fair for God to put this type of Judgment on the unsaved person? We will explore all of these questions and finally come to a biblical and logical conclusion.
There are several terms through the Word of God that translates into the word hell. Sheol is used in the Old Testament for Hell. It appears that during old testament times there were two levels of hell a place for the Old Testament saints to be held before the coming of Christ where Jacob went (Genesis 37:35) and a place where the wicked went such as Korah and Dathan (Numbers 16:30) The other term that is used for hell is Hades which is the Greek word for Sheol. This term seems to mean a gathering place for all souls. The last term for hell is Gehenna which refers to a place of eternal damnation. Whatever the definition may be hell is a real place where the unsaved will spend eternity this can be seen in the example of Korah and Dathan in Numbers 16:30. “But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.” (Numbers 16:30 KJV)
There are various different views on what happens to the unsaved after death. Some believe in eternal punishment which means that they will spend eternity being tormented for all time while others believe in annihilation which means that the unsaved will be totally whipped out in the end. There are even some that believe in universalism which means that the unsaved will make it into heaven despite their sinful nature because God is love and He is not going to send anyone to hell.
Out of the three views discussed above eternal punishment makes more since Biblically and spells out the fate of those who reject Christ as Savior and Lord. This belief states “that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).”
Whatever doctrinal view one may take the fact of the matter is that God because of His amazing love has to judge sin and has eternal ramifications.
