Recently a brother of a brother's friend passed away. I did not know this kid. But clues and conversations lead me to believe that this kid wasn't a Christian. And that is the single most depressing thing in the universe.
Even before this incident, God has been putting the idea of Hell in my mind. The reality of Hell. The pain of Hell. The eternity of Hell. I believe in a literal, existing Hell. And that frightens me beyond anything; not for my sake, but for my friends who I know to be unbelievers. I find it confusing and, quite frankly, irritating, when people will dance around the idea of Hell or a person's fate. "Don't worry about me, I don't have a strong relationship with God, but I'm not going to Hell". "Oh, he did some things before he died, but he can't be in Hell". These words are like an alarm clock when I hear them, as if God's saying, "You hear that? This person's confused. That's your cue to due something."
As Christians, we believe in Hell. Jesus talks about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible. And let's assume that we're not sugar-coating our friends' attitudes and behaviors, and know without a doubt that we have non-believer friends. Shouldn't we be compelled more than anything to beg and plea for that friend to accept Christ? Are we really so concerned over offending people, when we should really be concerned about offending God? Here's my big idea: if you're avoiding spiritual confrontation because of the risk of losing a friend, your friendship is based on a self-indulgent, self-serving grounds, because what that person offers in your friendship together is more important than that person's soul.
If actions speak louder than words, than my fear is that our failure to act proves that we don't really believe in Hell.
I was talking to a non-Christian friend who believed in God, but didn't want to give his life to Jesus. And when we got to this topic of Hell and afterlife, It literally brought tears to my eyes. Because I can't bear to see him, and all my friends and family who don't trust their lives to Christ perish forever in an eternal Hell. The only thing that would make that worse is if I knew that there was something I could have done with my words to prevent their suffering.
If you believe in Hell, and you have friends who you know to be unbelievers, what are you waiting for?
"The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" -Matthew 13:41-43
In Christ,
Peter
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