Does Anyone Really Go to Hell Anymore?

I have been performing funerals for over 27 plus years. Over the last 15 years I have noticed a common trend. That is, almost everyone assumes that the deceased person has gone to heaven. I used to think people just talked that way because they didn’t want to be seen as casting judgment upon them. Or that they just couldn’t deal with the thought of the alternative – going to hell. But now I have come to the conclusion, that people today really do believe that everyone that dies goes to heaven; well, there may be a few exceptions like a terrorist, a serial murderer or rapist, a greedy t.v. evangelist, or a corrupt CEO.

If you would ask most people today, “Why you think their close friend or family member went to heaven?” You might here responses along these lines:
~ My uncle wasn’t perfect, but he was a good person.
~ My friend had a good heart and she was always helping others.
~ My dad got baptized when he was twelve years old and I think he really loved God.
~ Of course, God is love and He’s going to let my son into heaven. He was as good as most kids.

As a pastor, these are common things that I hear from most people today who have lost a loved one. The general assumption is that the deceased was a good person, God is love, and that He would never send any one to hell except for the real bad people. When I hear people say these things, I often wonder “Where did they get these ideas from? Is this the way they were raised or did they just make this up? Or is this how people that live in secular culture have come to view death and eternity?"

Now, before I go any further, I have to admit, this kind of thinking or rationalization sounds very diplomatic, even convenient. But the problem is “he was a good person” is a very relative judgment to make about someone. He was good as compared to whom? If you compare the person to Hitler, that makes about 99.9999999 of us eligible to be described as “good.” But if you compare that person to Jesus, then most of us wouldn’t feel qualified to be a good person unless you believed Martin Scorsleezy’s (that’s Scorsese, isn’t it) film, “The Last Temptation of Christ.” So I guess the question is, “How good is good enough?” Who determines whether a person is good or he is not good?

The other common response I hear is “God is love and He would not send them to hell!” Most people say this with an underlying belief that you have to do something really, really bad to go to hell. They see God as a big cosmic Santa Claus who lets about everyone slip into heaven except for the big, bad bully types.

Now I got to tell you, this is the way most people think today and they would rather keep their thoughts and ideas subjective, not given to too much thought to traditional objective sources like the Bible or even the Talmud. They are comfortable with this line of thinking and it helps them cope with the death of close friends or loved ones. But is it the truth? And this is the real issue, if we believe that truth is relative and subjective…if the truth is what I believe no matter what the Bible or any source of authority or wisdom says, then we can easily justify the idea that everyone deserves to go to heaven except for the real bad guys.

But if your old fashion and old school like real Christians are, then you believe that truth has nothing to do with what I believe, but what the Bible or God’s Word says. And when the Bible speaks of salvation, God clearly spells out for us how we can know that when we die we will go to heaven.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and thelife: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

John 3:15-17 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

I could list many more scriptures, but in short the Bible says only by knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord can we know for sure we are going to heaven. Romans 10:9-10, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now you don’t have to believe the Bible, you can continue to believe that what you think is truth if you like. But what if you are wrong and the Bible is right? What happens if you die and stand before God and what you thought was right was wrong?