Category: Hell
Are Christians watering down hell to make God more palatable?
In our age of “love is love,” “live your truth,” and “don’t judge,” many people, Christians included, are hesitant to speak the truth. We don’t want to upset people, make situations uncomfortable, or scare anyone, so we either dodge opportunities to speak the truth about God, or we soften biblical concepts in hopes that they will be more palatable.
There’s never been a subject Christians tend to temper more than hell. “It’s becoming a little more trendy now to try to dumb down the severity of God’s wrath on those who reject Him,” says Rick Burgess, BlazeTV host of the biblical spiritual warfare podcast “Strange Encounters.”
On this episode, Rick lays bare the truth about hell and what it means to reject God.
Sometimes “even people within the faith [think] that maybe somehow what scripture says about God’s judgment on the unredeemed — maybe we have it wrong. Maybe he’s even going to be gracious and merciful to the unredeemed, even though they’ve rejected the only way to to receive God’s grace and mercy,” says Rick.
Others think that “maybe somehow hell isn’t as bad as it sounds in the Bible. Sure, they’re going to be punished, but it’s not going to be an eternal punishment.”
One prominent Christian figure who Rick says is “easing into this camp” is American actor, evangelist, and author Kirk Cameron.
Recently, on his podcast, Cameron rejected the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment — the belief that hell is a place or state where those who die without salvation in Jesus Christ experience ongoing, conscious suffering and punishment forever, without end or annihilation. Kirk said that while he once accepted this doctrine as true, today he leans more toward annihilationism – the belief that the unredeemed face judgment, possibly limited suffering, and then total destruction.
“It fits the character of God in my understanding more than the conscious eternal torment position, because it brings in the mercy of God together with the justice of God. It doesn’t leave judgment out. It is just, but it also fits with the Old Testament picture of the fate of the wicked, which is to be destroyed. It is to die, and it is to perish, not live forever in an eternal barbecue,” Cameron said.
“If conscious eternal torment is not a thing, that’s actually a great relief, and I would have joy in correcting somebody who says that the reason that they’re not a Christian is because of this merciless God who tortures people forever, and I could say that’s not what the Bible teaches. Good news. Still not good. You don’t want to go [to hell], but there is mercy even in His judgment,” he added, noting that this is what he believes “the scriptures teach.”
While Rick says he has “great respect” for Cameron and believes without a doubt he’ll “spend eternity” with him in heaven, he believes Cameron has some confusion about the character of God.
“It’s like he prefers God to be a certain way. And I really, really think that’s very shaky ground. … He doesn’t want that to be true because what? That makes him think less of God?” asks Rick.
When people try to soften scripture, they’re essentially believing that “God needs a PR agent” to say, “Hey, God, I really think people will get upset with you with this eternal conscious torment thing. You probably want to go with the annihilation of the soul and just kill these people because that’ll make you look more merciful,” he says. “I got a real problem with that because I think that God has gone on record about his mercy and grace because of the cross.”
“He’s been so gracious and so merciful, He has allowed you to become fully righteous, and the sacrifice and the wrath that should have been poured out on us was now poured out on his son,” Rick says.
But “if you choose to reject God’s grace and mercy, then all you’re going to get is his wrath and judgment, and that judgment from Him, because He’s perfect, will be correct.”
To hear Rick’s full breakdown, watch the episode above.
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Mamdani’s false Tolerance Boulevard ends in darkness
Everybody knows the real victims of 9/11 weren’t the 3,000 murdered Americans or their grieving families. No, according to the new progressive hierarchy, it’s Zohran Mamdani’s second cousin — thrice removed, four times hijabed — who claims she was once offended on the subway. Allegedly.
So if you’re keeping score at home in the “words are violence” sweepstakes, here’s the latest update: Something that probably never happened is righteous if it helps an Islamic socialist become mayor of America’s largest city. Meanwhile, Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general gets a pass for fantasizing about the murder of a Republican lawmaker and his family.
Nothing new under the sun. Just another civilization sprinting toward its chosen darkness, proud all the way.
You’d think New Yorkers might have enough self-respect not to be played so easily — especially when it comes to one of the most fateful days in American history. But no. Apparently Loki was right. They were made to be ruled — and by the very people who treat the ashes of Ground Zero as a holiday display.
I’d wager real money that at least one family member of a 9/11 victim will vote for Mamdani next week. Loki, it seems, must have read John Calvin at some point in his multiverse journey: When God wants to punish a rebellious people, He gives them wicked rulers.
The worldview beneath the wreckage
We can’t outrun our worldview. Because worldview is destiny. When a people deny reality, they descend into madness. That’s what’s happening to those voting for Mamdani. They are largely godless, and once you reject the author of reality, you’re on a short, steep slide toward hell.
Hell, for its part, knows how to work with human nature. The devil discovered long ago that our fallen desire to shake a fist at God rivals even his own. That’s how you get from watching the Twin Towers fall to, just 25 years later, electing a man who shares the same ideology as one of the hijackers.
Not secretly. Not reluctantly. These voters are proud of it. They’ll call friends and family “racists” and “Nazis” for disagreeing. Such is the will to power when you reject God: The world must be turned upside down and morality twisted into a hall of mirrors.
When even Ayn Rand saw the abyss
Ayn Rand, no friend of Christianity, at least saw the problem. In an interview late in life, she told Phil Donahue that without some objective truth in the universe, nothing else made sense. Why do we reason instead of acting on instinct like animals? Rand recognized, however dimly, that a world without truth collapses into nihilism.
But that clarity is rare. Rand was a unicorn. Most people in her camp never do the math. They end up voting for their captors, praising their murderers, and calling it freedom.
The short version is simple: If you’re not in Christ’s camp, you belong to chaos. There are no neutral parties. Hell is happy to let you think otherwise — right up to the moment the darkness slams the door shut.
The believer’s tension — and the city’s choice
Every true believer wrestles with the tension between judgment and mercy. We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, mind, and strength — and to love our neighbor as ourselves. You can’t be “nicer than God,” but you must strive to let mercy triumph over judgment whenever you can.
RELATED: Zohran Mamdani’s Soviet dream for New York City
Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
New York doesn’t care. The city long ago chose the darkness, which knows no such tension. Evil allows the illusion of tolerance until the moment comes to plant its flag.
By all means, take one more stroll down Tolerance Boulevard, Big Apple, and see where it ends. You’ll find it’s a one-way street to annihilation.
The math checks out
New York has made its peace with godlessness. First it worshiped the idol of corporate power. Then it voted for Sandinista Bill de Blasio’s Marxism. Now it’s ready to give the false god of Islam a chance to shatter its soul completely. The math checks out every time.
Nothing new under the sun. Just another civilization sprinting toward its chosen darkness, proud all the way.
God help us all.
