Why Don’t People Believe in Hell?
A recent study found that 72% of American adults believed in heaven, while about 58% believed in hell. These numbers are down from past decades. The concepts of eternal rewards and punishments are just not as accepted as the once were – but why?
In particular, the reality of hell is something that many people in the 21st Century are just not willing to believe. Again we might ask why. After doing a good deal of reading and research on the opinions of those who do not believe in hell, the following seem to represent their most cited opinions:
· An eternal place of punishment seems like an unjust consequence for sin.
· An all-benevolent, all- loving God would never send His created children to everlasting torment.
· The concepts of hell were not in the original writings of Scripture but were added by the church.
· The teachings of hell are only for the purpose of trying to scare people into religious submission.
If one were to engage in further study and conversation with those who do not believe in hell, they would discover a multitude of additional reasons why some have consciously decided not to believe. Now remember, what was listed are just a few simple reasons given by non-believers as to why they, in their opinion, do not believe in hell. Now I would like to offer my own reasons why I think some people don’t believe in hell:
· Believing in hell means giving up control of our own carnal desires and wishes and brings us into a realm of responsibility for our personal actions that leads to an uncomfortable accountability.
· Hell is incredibly inconvenient for the sinner.
· Hell is seldom preached and therefore is seldom believed.
· People allow the media, society, and things that are currently PC to shape their religious views, and anything that seems judgmental, harsh, or intolerant in today’s world is basically rejected.
· Even many of the most well-educated people have not studied the Bible in its entirety. They do not know about the origin of the text. They do not know about the content of the text.
· People in our world today base their religious views more on feelings than facts.
· Many first decide what to believe and then seek any evidence or opinion that will agree with them.
· People don’t know the true Jesus. They don’t know what He preached about hell. They don’t understand His true purpose for coming to the earth.
This short article could turn quickly into a book. Perhaps that can be written another day. But the discussion of this topic addresses an important point: Whenever a false doctrine or belief prevails in the world there are usually two reasons why. 1. People believe what they want to believe. 2. People are misinformed. This is why God chose “…the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21).
As an interesting side note, the study conducted on beliefs in heaven and hell revealed that even a small percentage of agnostics and atheists believed in both. It is just a part of human nature to consider what exists beyond the grave. In reality, what lies and moves deep inside of each one of us was simply never made for here. And that is just hard for anyone to completely deny.
“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matthew 25:46
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
