Passt eine Hölle ins 21. Jahrhundert? Das ist eine Frage, die in unseren Breitengraden mit vielen zivilreligiösen Menschen beantwortet werden will. Kevin DeYoung hat einige entscheidende Fragen gestellt, die es wert sind zu bedenken:
Will God save everyone? Does everyone go to heaven no matter how bad they were and no matter what they believed? Is Hitler there next to Bonhoeffer enjoying the same eternal bliss? What kind of God would that be? How would we make sense of Jesus’ strong language about hell or the chilling scenes in Revelation? Would that God still be holy and just?
And what would that do to our understanding of the gospel? Would Jesus’ death still be necessary? Would faith in him really be that important? Why would we still send out missionaries and evangelists? What would be so good about the good news if, in the end, there is no bad news? And if there is no hell, or we can’t really be sure anyone is there, why have almost all Christians in all of history believed there was such a place of eternal suffering? Have we found something that historic orthodoxy has missed all these centuries?
What if the things you’ve heard recently are not the truth about Christianity? What if the warnings in Scripture are real warnings? What if God is purer than we thought, we’re worse than we imagined, and hell is as real as the nose on your face? What if the “only way” means the only way? What if God is glorified in salvation and judgment? What if the God of love and the Father of mercies is also a righteous Judge, a holy Sovereign, and a conquering King?
Justin Taylor ergänzt mit weiteren Fragen von J. I. Packer:
Why, in that case, does God leave multitudes who know the gospel to go to hell as unbelievers before he calls them to faith?
And more searchingly, why do Christ and the apostles give no hint that God intends to lead every member of this fallen human race from the cradle to the crown, via hell if need be?
And why do they speak instead, with such strong emphasis, as if each person’s decisions made here determine their state hereafter, so that unbelievers face irremediable eternal loss?
Is not the New Testament viewpoint on this issue clearly expressed, consistently maintained, and constantly enforced?
Is there not then something heretical about the universalist account of God’s plan of love, which parts company with the Bible so radically?
Ich las heute morgen Paulus’ Worte an die Ältesten von Ephesus. Er hätte Schuld auf sich geladen, wenn er ihnen nicht den ganzen Ratschluss Gottes verkündigt hätte:
Darum bezeuge ich euch am heutigen Tage, dass ich rein bin vom Blut aller; denn ich habe nicht unterlassen, euch den ganzen Ratschluss Gottes zu verkündigen. (Apostelgeschichte 20,26+27)