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.