Not Ashamed of the Gospel Part 2

I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, even the hard parts that I don't understand. In my last blog post, I left off asking, "from what are we saved?"

If we are saved, we will not perish.

For God so loved that world that he sent his one and only son so that all who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:3)

We will avoid spiritual death.

The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23b)

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Revelation 2:11)

 We will not experience the torment of of fire.

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 4:1)

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. (Mark 9:43)

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)

Without Christ, there would be continual destruction and utter separation from God.

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (1 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

We will avoid eternal pain and anguish.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42)

Those who are saved will not go to hell.

Jesus says, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing, has the power to throw you into hell. (Luke 12:5)

If I am completely honest, I don't like the aforementioned verses at all. I don't like thinking about hell or what it would feel like being there. And I certainly do not want to imagine any of my loved ones there. It would be SO much easier to believe that everyone will go to heaven.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke make it clear that few will enter into heaven and many will go to hell.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ (Luke 13:23-27)

And then there's the story of the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:

Basically, Lazarus was a destitute man, covered in sores and hungry for a bite of food from the rich man's table. Eventually the beggar died and was carried to Abraham's side in heaven, while the rich man was in torment in Hades. The rich man cried out for Abraham, " have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." Abraham answers him, (and this is very important) "between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

In other words, hell is eternal, and there is no possibility of of entering into heaven after going to hell. This means that the ideas of Purgatory and Ultimate Reconciliation are completely false and unbiblical...

...which means that Rob Bell is a heretic.