PROOF OF HEAVEN AND HELL

A militant Facebook atheist charged: “Christianity teaches kids they are no good, they are broken and need fixing, and they can't fix themselves, and deserve hell fire. And then they invented a fix.”

I responded:

“If heaven and hell are realities, then we need to be warned even more than if there is a shooter on our street.

Do you have any evidence against these realities? I haven’t heard of any yet. If we are convinced that they exist, we are morally responsible for not warning.

What has convinced us that heaven and hell exist? Let me list a few reasons:

·       Intuitively, we know that divine punishment exists. This is why are obsessively trying to prove that we are good and worthy people, even as we deny these eternal realities.

·       There are many reasons – miracles, fulfilled prophecies, internal and external consistency - to regard the testimony of Jesus and the writers of the Bible as reliable sources. The Holy Spirit working through the truths of the Bible has changed many lives and nations. Don’t you think it odd that believing in “fairy tales” has proven to be quite adaptable! In comparison, communist/atheist nations are all failed experiments.

·       There is a lot of evidence for the demonic world. Not only do all the major world religions acknowledge them, but many of us have had direct experiences with demons. My extended atheistic family had all observed our two little girl cousins working a Ouija Board, even blindfolded. None could even provide a single naturalistic explanation. The evil we had observed close-range for hours was utterly overwhelming. What we had seen and heard confirmed the Biblical revelation, at least for me.”

He responded: “The purpose [of hell] is to scare people into church and to keep them there. Because an eternal punishment for nothing else but unbelief makes absolutely no sense.”

I responded:

“You don’t know their purpose. Instead, the Apostles were concerned about faithfully reporting the history of Jesus. They portray themselves in such a negative light. This demonstrates that they weren’t pursuing their own self-serving agenda. Besides, many or all died as martyrs without ever recanting what they had written. Had their motives been self-serving, they assuredly would have recanted.

You also claim that an eternal hell makes “absolutely no sense.” Perhaps this is true from your own limited perspective. For others, it makes a lot of sense:

·       It is because we are convinced that God will judge that we don’t retaliate against those who have hurt us. Instead we love, knowing their final fate, if they continue to refuse to repent of their sins.

·       Although we lack an exhaustive picture of either heaven or hell, it seems likely that our judgment is primarily self-chosen (John 3:17-20) – the perfect justice. People chose what they want. They hate the idea of God now (as many atheists have admitted). Therefore, they will hate Him even more afterward, when His scrutinizing Light is even more intense. Consequently, they will flee from His presence to a place of torment, perhaps even self-torment.

·       Intuitively, we know that we deserve punishment (Romans 1:32). This is why we spend our lives trying to prove that we are good and worthy people. I think that this is also the best way to understand masochism (self-punishment). Since we know that we deserve punishment, self-punishment has been shown to reduce stress, at least for a little while.

·       A number of studies have shown that the belief in an eternal judgment reduces criminality.

·       Knowing the reality of this hell (perhaps of self-torment, as I had experienced for years) makes us more grateful for the gift of Life and willing to serve our Master.

I also wanted to add, “You won’t believe no matter what I say because you don’t belong to Him,” but I didn’t.