Jesus said in Luke 16:10-21: "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores." He begins this story by saying, “There was a rich man....at his gate was a beggar named Lazarus.” I personally do not believe that the account of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable like other stories Jesus told. In this story, Jesus said, “There was a rich man” and he named the beggar by name...Lazarus. In no other parable did Jesus use the actual name of an individual. When Jesus said, “There was a beggar named Lazarus...”, perhaps some of the people in the crowd turned to one another and said, “Yeah, I remember him...”
To deny the existence of hell means that you have to deny the preaching of Jesus. Jesus spoke of hell almost three times more than he spoke of heaven. To deny the existence of hell forces us to question why Jesus came to the earth. He came to die on a cross. Why? To save lost man from his sins and the consequences of those sins.
I agree with Francis Chan, who says in the promo for his upcoming book Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and the Things We Make Up, "We can't afford to be wrong on this issue...So when we begin with an argument with, ‘I wouldn’t believe in a God who would …’ Who would what? Do something that you wouldn’t do? Or think in a way that is different than the way you think? Do you ever even consider the possibility that maybe the Creator’s sense of justice is actually more developed than yours? And that maybe His love and His mercy are perfect. And that you could be the one that is flawed?”
So what if hell is real? As Christians, we must somehow renew our passion to warn people of the impending consequences that await them if they reject a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
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