Hell: Joy Quencher?

"It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
- Hebrews 10:31

I attend a weekly event at Reston Bible Church for yound adults called 7:24. Recently, we have been watching a six-part video series by John Piper on God, joy and how to fight for joy in God.

I believe that I experience times of joy in the LORD. However, there is at least one topic that saddens my spirit whenever I ponder it with any degree of seriousness.

It is the doctrine of eternal judgment. Hell.

The word 'hell' is found in the Bible in thirteen verses. Jesus Christ directly spoke this word in eleven out of the thirteen verses. Eight other verses record Jesus talking about a place where there will be 'weeping and gnashing of teeth.' He referred to the wailing place as 'the outer darkness' and 'the furnace of fire.'

Words like these plague my soul.

It isn't that I believe that God is unjust toward sinners. When I examine myself in light of what Scripture reveals about me, I know without a doubt that I am a blasphemer, an adulterer, a rapist, a murderer, a traitor, a hypocrite, a liar, a cheater and worse. In short, an idolator. It would be unjust for God to sentence me to anything less than death, facing the full fury of His wrath. I praise God that He has delivered me from such a terrifying end by His grace alone through faith in His Son. Christ is my propitiation. He has fully satisfied God's demand for justice through His perfect sacrifice on the cross. Considering what I deserve helps me appreciate with deeper sincerity the unmerited favor that God has extended to me.

Nevertheless, I know that most people will suffer the fate of an unrepentent sinner: eternal damnation. And oh how this stark reality torments my soul when I meditate upon it! There are at least two major reasons that the thought of hell is frightening:

1) It is a place of suffering. There will be no parties in hell, no joy, no satisfaction, no love, no freedom, no relief and no peace. Hell might literally be a place of burning fire, darkness and crying and teeth-gnashing, or the imagery could be figurative. Regardless, the message that hell is a place of suffering is clear.

2) The suffering is everlasting - it lasts for eternity (Daniel 12:2, Matthew 18:8, 25:41, 46, Jude 1:7). There will be no 'second chance salvation.' There will be no relief in the form on annihilation. Only inexpressible pain and agony. Forever.

It almost feels wrong to have joy in light of this. It seems like I'm in one room praising God and in another room, there are men and women that are screaming out of sheer pain. And I have no access into the room. How would one find joy in such circumstances?

Or how do I find joy in conversing with an unbeliever about matters other than the Gospel? Imagine standing on a median, talking to someone who is standing in the middle of the road, about to be splattered by an eighteen-wheeler. Could I be comfortable with the standard, "Hey, how are you, Graham?" "Fine, how about yourself?" and then talk about the weather? Should I not say, "HEY, YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE STREET BEFORE YOU DIE!" and not apologize for the intensity of my command because it is uttered out of compassion?

And yet the majority of my conversations with unbelievers resemble the first dialogue.

I know that joy in light of all this is possible. God commands us through His word to rejoice (Psalm 32:11, Philippians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:16). Paul found a balance in his walk with Christ - he described himself as 'sorrowful, yet always rejoicing' (2 Corinthians 6:10).

So what is the proper balance? How does one take seriously the reality of eternal damnation and at the same time not let it quench your joy in God?

What does God foreordain?

Here's a question that has puzzled me for awhile: What does God foreordain?

(Note: Foreordain is another word for predestine. My definition - to determine/will the outcome of an event before it happens).

With the recent posts about God's sovereignty as well as the discussion I had with Truitt and Diesel at Slidell, I feel like this is a relevant topic.

So, does God foreordain:

A) Nothing at all? A Christian holding this view would need to explain God's interaction with the universe. Take weather, for example. If weather is not foreordained, how does it occur? Does God decide the current weather in the present moment? Or does God not have control over weather?

B) Prophetic events only? I ask in response: what makes prophetic events special so that they are the only things that God ordains? Does God allow creation to exist 'as is' and intervene only during significant moments in history?

C) Salvation? Believers holding this idea must explain how this idea harmonizes with human responsibility.

And there are other questions. Would God predestine some to salvation, but still give the non-elect the opportunity to be saved? Then I would ask: why would God have two tiers of believers - the elect and the 'lucky'?

Even more bone-chilling: If salvation is predetermined, but not everyone is saved, does it then follow that some are predestined to spend eternity in Hell? If so, then why would God do that?

D) Everything that matters to God? In this case, I would ask: what is a biblical definition of occurrences that 'matter to God'? Or, perhaps a better question to ask is: what does God not care about?

E) All events? Well then, are people no more than robots? How does one holding this view explain evil? If God's providence extends over all events, can humans make any real choices?

Which is the most biblical response?