Saturday, June 30, 2012

What to do when someone says 'You are going to hell!'

Its happened to us all at one point or another. The guy in semi-nice attire with a semi-fanatical smile walks up to you, hands you a colorful pamphlet that you would really prefer not to have, and slams you with an unexpected one liner: 'Hi there sinner, you are going to HELL!' Not quite sure what to do with yourself, you either walk briskly walk away looking at the ground, get into a fierce argument with him, or simply introduce the lower left region of his jaw to your pamphlet clenching fist.

I have found that when most people are told that they are going to hell, they take it as an insult.

But consider this scenario: a doctor walks up to you and says you have cancer. Do you slap him and walk off in a huff? Probably not. The most logical thing would be to ask him if he has done any legit tests to find out whether or not you actually have cancer. If he has, and the tests indicate that you do have cancer, you would probably thank him for letting you know and accept any treatment he could render- hell, he might even save your life.

I think its the same way with people telling you that you are going to hell- at least they care enough about you to let you know. Indeed, if someone believes that you are going to hell and doesn't tell you about it and try to keep the calamity from befalling you, they pretty much hate you. To use the same example as before, lets say there is a doctor who believes that you have cancer. He knows you will die soon, he has treatment that could save your life, and he chooses to say nothing. I think this would be a very sinister form of hate.

This should have some heart wrenching implications for those 'Christians' who avoid sharing the gospel because they are afraid of what people will think about them. If you claim to be a Christian who truly believes in the Bible (including the parts about people going to hell unless they accept Jesus and believe in the gospel), and you never share the gospel with people who don't believe, I think you are the most utterly selfish and hateful kind of person. You would rather preserve your own social status than try to prevent someone from being tortured in hell. Think about your friends who aren't saved- are you their friend if you never try to get them a little salvation? Or are you the doctor who knows they have cancer, and simply chooses to do nothing about it.


While I don't generally consider myself to be an offensive person, I realize that my last paragraph could be very insulting to certain people. Despite this I think that what I said is ok- even necessary. There are cases where it is important to be offensive. If you are one of the people, I would be happy to buy you coffee and have a discussion about this.

Anyway, here's a shout out to all those street evangelists who tell people that they are going to hell! While ya'll may not have the best methodology (and you probably haven't done enough tests to figure out whether or not what you are saying is true), at least you care enough about others to try to do something about the condition you believe that they have! Ya'll are awesome!

In conclusion, when someone says 'You are going to hell!' they aren't being jerks- they are putting their social status on the line in order to try to help you, and that is a very selfless and loving thing to do. So what should your response be? Well, thank them for being brave and caring enough to let you know. Then ask them if they have any evidence.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, this is so applicable for me right now, Josh. Although I am not "saved," I have been spending a LOT of time with Christians, and thus have had to learn to take it was a sign of care when people worry about my status in the afterlife. Surprisingly, I've found that learning to accept it as a sign of care and concern when people tell me that I may go to Hell, has led me to be more open minded about religion in general. I've even agreed to visit a Baptist Church with a friend.

    --Spring

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  2. Hey Spring!
    Thanks a lot for your feedback! I always love hearing from you, and I'm glad that you found this post useful. Remember to send me updates every now and again on facebook. Just our of curiosity, what Baptist Church are you visiting? =D

    -Josh

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  3. I believe in some parts of what this post said, but I do have to bring up a couple things. Although most Christians do believe that you will be going to hell and honestly want to save you when they say something like that, it is different from the doctor diagnosing cancer. I liked the analogy and I thought it was very clever, but having cancer is a fact, verified by multiple tests. People take a doctor's advice because of this. On the other hand, no matter how much a person believes in their faith and no matter how strong their conviction, it is ultimately an opinion, a way of thinking that differs from many people. I do admire the Christians that publicly spread the gospel to a certain point, but it comes down to them having a belief/opinion that they think others should follow. If you look at it this way, who are they to tell me how I should think and that I am wrong? Having faith is simply a personal opinion, and nothing more. I think this is how some of the Christians that choose not to spread the Gospel think. It goes along the lines of "I have chosen this particular path for my life, but who am I to say how others should live theirs?" In that case, not spreading the Gospel comes more out of respect than selfishness. Even though the Bible says the Gospel should be spread by every Christian, I think the thought of having respect for others is very admirable still, and is a good quality to possess.

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  4. Hi David!
    Thanks for your well thought out feedback. I think we have a difference of definition when it comes to Christians. There is a definition of Christians according to the Bible, and then there is a definition of Christians according to popular Christianity. Obviously there could be years of debate as to the differences between the two, and whether or not these two groups are actually separate, but for now let me define them my way for the sake of conversation.

    Biblical Christian: Has absolute conviction the Jesus is God, that God saved them from their sins, and believes the Bible 100%.

    Popular Christian: Lives a Christian lifestyle, thinks Christianity is a good idea, not 100% sure whether or not the Bible is complete truth.

    My post applies only to Biblical Christians- who would have absolute conviction that unsaved people go to hell. The Biblical Christians would treat the Bible to be even more truthful than scientific diagnostics for, say, cancer.

    My post does not apply to popular Christians (but your comment describes their situation very well). I wouldn't blame a popular Christian for not sharing the gospel. However, this means I also wouldn't consider them to be Biblical Christians. If you would like Biblical evidence to back up what I'm saying, I would be more than happy to provide you with it (my case is very solid on this point, and there are simply too many verses on this subject to include in a single comment).

    We also find ourselves needing to make the distinction between fact and belief. If someone believes certain truths to be factual, they have an ethical duty to respond- and this has nothing to do with whether or not the thing they believe in is in fact, factual. If a doctor truly believes a person has cancer, he must respond in kind (even if the person doesn't actually have cancer).

    At the risk of saying something misleading in my last paragraph, I would like to point out that I personally think that determining facts to highest degree of certainty possible is FAR better than just believing in something. (off topic, but just wanted to clarify)

    Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for you feedback David! I should have made the distinction I just made in this comment in my blog post. Thank you for pointing this out, and if I get a chance I'll probably update my blog post to include it.

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  5. Hi David!
    Sorry my last comment was so long, its probably pretty impossible to read, haha. I read your comment again and gave it some more thought.

    The way I look at religions is to examine evidence and determine if any of them are 'correct.' In this way, I treat whether or not a religion is valid like a scientific inquiry. This would mean that in my case, diagnosing a person with cancer and believing that a person is going to hell (assuming Christianity for the sake of this discussion) would be essentially the same thing.

    I must acknowledge that most people don't treat religion this way. For most, religion is merely a lifestyle.

    For the purposes of this blog post, I suppose this would mean that what I'm saying only applies to those who have a strong conviction that what they believe is true. My post would not apply to people who choose religion as a lifestyle and don't necessarily have a strong conviction that what they believe is accurate.

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  6. Hey Josh,
    I may have misspoken when I said the church I am visiting is a Baptist Church. It is called the Greater Works Church of God in Christ. Here's a link to their website. http://www.greaterworkswnc.org/home/AboutUs/tabid/54/Default.aspx
    --Spring

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  7. God is the only judge and as a Christian we should not judge others. Matthew Ch7, 1-5

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