CHAPTER 1

Hell HasFew Friends

"There is one very serious defect to my mindin Christ's moral character, and that is thatHe believed in hell. I do not myself feel thatany person who is really profoundly humanecan believe in everlasting punishment."—BERTRAND RUSSELL (ATHEIST)

"Even the most ardent advocates of eternalpunishment must confess shrinking fromthe idea of hell as continuing forever. It isonly natural to harbor the hope that suchsuffering may be somehow terminated."—DR. JOHN WALVOORD (TRADITIONALIST)

Hell, as traditionally conceived, has few friends, it seems.

Atheists find the doctrine to be a strong deterrent to theirbelief in the God of Christianity. Charles Darwin, a former theologystudent who turned agnostic, cited this doctrine as one ofhis reasons for rejecting Christianity. Darwin wrote, in his autobiography:"I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wishChristianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the textseems to show that the men who do not believe, and this wouldinclude my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, willbe everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine."

Darwin's biographer, Gertrude Himmelfarb, commentingon the above remark, wrote: "There may be more sophisticatedreasons for disbelief, but there could hardly have been a morepersuasive emotional one."

Darwin speaks for many, no doubt, who would concur thatthe traditional doctrine of hell is a compelling emotional reasonfor disbelief. Defenders of the doctrine imply that the severestpossible view of hell must provide the best incentive for the conversionof unbelievers. On the other hand, we may never knowhow many people's conversions have been prevented by their reactionto the doctrine. Many react negatively to the doctrine froma conviction that any God who could concoct such a monstrous"remedy" for evil does not qualify as either good or just. RandyKlassen wrote: "It is claimed that Nietzsche, Marx, and Leninare among those whose revolt against the establishment and thechurch was in part based on the teaching of hell."

Some Christians might be tempted to write off the objectionsof unbelievers as being due to their hostility toward Godor their lack of sympathy for God's revealed sentiments. Such acavalier dismissal, however, would fail to take into account thefact that many fervent Christians, who love God and acknowledgeHis wisdom and justice, also express the very same distastefor the doctrine. For example, the following statements all comefrom adherents to traditionalism:

"No evangelical, I think, need hesitate to admit that in his heartof hearts he would like universalism to be true. Who can takepleasure in the thought of people being eternally lost? If youwant to see folk damned, there is something wrong with you!"

—J. I. Packer

"The saddest day of my life was the day I watched my grandmotherdie. When that EKG monitor flatlined, I freaked out. Iabsolutely lost it! According to what I knew of the Bible, she washeaded for a life of never-ending suffering. I thought I would gocrazy.... Since that day, I have tried not to think about it. Ithas been over twenty years. Even as I write that paragraph, I feelsick. I would love to erase hell from the pages of Scripture."

—Francis Chan

"There is no doctrine I would more willingly remove fromChristianity than [hell], if it lay in my power ... I would payany price to be able to say truthfully: 'All will be saved.'"

—C. S. Lewis

"The thought of hell, then, can carry no inherent attraction tothe balanced and coherent human mind."

—Sinclair B. Ferguson

As seen in these quotations, many staunch defenders of thetraditional doctrine of hell also express the revulsion they feeltoward the doctrine—though they also feel compelled, from theway that they have understood Scripture, to affirm and defend it.

Even stronger objections to the doctrine are raised by evangelicalspokesmen who have abandoned traditionalism in favorof some alternative view. John R.W. Stott wrote: "Emotionally,I find the concept [of eternal torment] intolerable." Similarsentiments were expressed by Stott's fellow conditionalist, JohnWenham:

Unending torment speaks to me of sadism, not justice. It is adoctrine which I do not know how to preach without negatingthe loveliness and glory of God. From the days of Tertullian ithas frequently been the emphasis of fanatics. It is a doctrinewhich makes the Inquisition look reasonable. It all seems aflight from reality and common sense.

Another critic of traditionalism, Dr. Grady Brown, expressedhis disapproval in the following manner:

The doctrine of "endless punishment" has for centuries beenthe "crazy uncle" that the Church, with justifiable embarrassment,has kept locked in the back bedroom. Unfortunately,from time to time, he escapes his confinement, usually whenthere are guests in the parlor, and usually just at the timewhen we are telling them about a loving God who gave HisSon to die for their sins. It's no wonder that the guests runaway never to return.

Even traditionalist John Gerstner, whose book on...