TEACHING HELL AND CHILD ABUSE

 

 

An ex-pastor had written that it is child abuse to teach a child that:

·       God…will send a person to eternal conscious torment (Hell) as punishment for them not believing and following a prescribed set of beliefs or practices. In my view, teaching this to a child is psychological abuse.

 

Such attacks on the Christian faith are common, and I think that they need to be answered.

 

Is teaching children about hell child abuse? It would be abusive if there was nothing that they could do about avoiding hell, but the remedy is simple:

 

·       If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8–9)

 

Simple, right! But if teaching about hell and eternal life are abusive, certainly teaching that death ends everything – mom, dad, and family – is even more abusive. Why? There is absolutely no remedy, no eternity, just the heartless grave.

 

Is it also child abuse to teach our children to not take candy from strangers who pull up in their car? Is it child abuse to teach them about other threatening dangers? It depends upon whether these are really threats that can be avoided.

 

Is the eternal punishment “eternal conscious torment” as this ex-pastor had claimed? There is far more in the Bible about the finality of perishing, death, and destruction. In fact, I have not been able to find one clear and unequivocal verse teaching “eternal conscious torment.”  If there is such a verse, please let me know! Perhaps our Lord is not the “beast” that some say He is?