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Back in college, I had an art appreciation professor who cornered me on my definition of Christianity. When I said that Jesus saves us from Hell, he cut me off with, "Hell is never mentioned in the Bible." His smugness told my 300 classmates that he won the day. My takeaway was that he was an idiot.
About a month ago, Brett was reading the headlines at breakfast when he sat back and announced, "Oh look. The Pope has declared he doesn't believe in Hell."
Now if this had been RC Sproul or John Piper, or my pastor, or one of my close friends who made this declaration, it would have been shocking. But this was Pope Francis. Francis, who announced in a May, 2013, mass that if atheists 'do good, we will meet one another there,' (there being Heaven). This is Francis, who in December of 2015, opened a 'door of mercy' (I am not making this up) in St. Peter's Basilica, granting an indulgence (and you thought they died with the Reformation) to those who passed through the door. Unfortunately, the good Pontiff closed that door in November of 2016. (I...I...wow.) If I were Catholic, that would be a chilling click indeed.
So, no. I was not in the least surprised to find that Francis declared he didn't believe in Hell. I just sat back and waited for the dust-up. Sure enough, Vatican spin doctors kicked it into overdrive in the following days, telling us what Francis did or did not mean by his comment. After all, even Catholicism has a doctrine of Hell, albeit a flawed one. But here's one glaringly important detail: Francis did not himself ever offer clarification. What's a poor girl to think?
I just shook my head. Not my pope. Not my problem. But it was quite interesting to then attend Together for the Gospel 2018, where 12,500 gospel Christians gathered to be reminded of this one glorious truth: we are distinct from the world.
Ligon Duncan, chancellor of the Presbyterian Reformed Theological Seminary, and R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, presided over a session to discuss the current theological challenges to the gospel. And those challenges?
Sin.
Wrath.
Hell.
My own observation is that these challenges have been going on for many years. I have a friend from a rather liberal denomination who told me about fifteen years ago that her church never talks about the devil. To my friend's credit, she acknowledged that this was probably ill-advised, but she explained that the church's position was that the devil is not a positive topic. And we all know Rob "Love Wins" Bell, who can't imagine a loving God sending anyone to Hell. So let me say right now that this is hardly a 'Catholic' problem. But let's be crisp. Anyone who denies the existence of sin, wrath, and Hell is an enemy of the gospel.
Listen up. It is one thing to be an atheist art prof and deny Hell. But denying the existence of sin, wrath, and Hell while simultaneously claiming identity with Christ is like singing the praises of reading while denying the existence of the alphabet.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 2 Corinthians 2:2
If Paul thought he should know and proclaim not just Jesus Christ but Jesus-Christ-crucified, then there must be something critical about 'crucified' that cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. What in the world would make a compelling need for something as hideous and awful as crucifixion?
Sin.
Wrath.
Hell.
I am currently reading through Revelation with my kids. Yesterday, we were reading about the wrath of God being poured out on the peoples of the earth. I asked the kids if they could think of any distinctions between the words "anger" and "wrath," to which my 13 yr old replied, 'Yeah, anger is inside you, but wrath is when you want other people to feel it. It is outward.' Out of the mouths of babes.
Hell exists because it is the consequence of God's wrath. God's wrath exists because of our sin. And sin exists because of our first parents. Hence the need for Jesus-Christ-crucified, who bore our sin, absorbed God's wrath, and saved us from Hell.
Is this really that difficult?
Mamas, teach sin, wrath, and Hell. Teach them to your children with the same intensity and the same commitment with which you teach them the alphabet. When they ask you if sin, wrath, and Hell exist, respond in the Scripture-believing, Gospel-preaching, Christ-exalting, Truth-loving affirmative.
Sin. Yes.
Wrath. Yes.
Hell. Yes.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 2 Cor. 2:14-16
