One of the executioner guards at the largely unknown Jasenovac death camp in Croatia (the largest extermination camp not operated by the Nazi regime during WW II) once observed that he was going to hell for all the atrocities he had committed. He may not have been a religious person, but he certainly believed in hell. After all, he lived through the hell he and his comrades made for their victims. But today, that guard belongs to a small minority.
Numerous people do not believe in hell, and those who do, assume that either God loves them simply too much to send them to hell or they already did all that is required not to go to hell; thus, nobody believes that they are going to hell. One way or another, everybody feels immune to it. But let me be brutally honest: reality does not care about your beliefs. And reality shall always catch up with you.
Most people are terrified of dying, but paradoxically, not many are scared of what awaits them after they die. So, who is afraid of hell? The short answer is, apparently, no one. But what if dying is the easy part? Any mistakes regarding hell have consequences. After you get there, you stay there permanently! You cannot escape reality through your beliefs. The expression “You are going to hell” is only a fanatical belief, … unless it is true!
So is hell for real? Statistically speaking, Christians and Muslims are the ones believing the most in the existence of hell, with over 70% declaring to believe in it. On the other hand, atheists, agnostics, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are the ones thinking the least about the existence of hell with less than 20%. Although we do not know with certainty what to expect after death, and credible experience in this matter is hard to come by, every single religion agrees on the existence of the afterlife and in consequences for doing wrong. So, unless you are immortal, you better come prepared for Judgment Day, … just in case!
Apart from what some religions affirm and promote, the best evidence for the existence of hell has been pain, suffering, and death during this lifetime. So with such ever-present reality, whenever the word “hell” was mentioned in the past, everyone understood its likelihood. Many still strove for a happier future life. So people were willing to do whatever they had to avoid going to hell in the afterlife. (Not surprisingly, the clergy of every religion took advantage of this situation to control and manipulate the flock. Do as I say, or you will spend an eternity roasting in the fires of hell!).
But today, with all our advances in technology, medicine, and this modern way of life, not to mention the widespread use of painkillers, suffering has greatly diminished. Therefore, the proximity of hell and the suffering of the past are becoming more remote and distant. So we have a hard time understanding the reality of God’s anger toward us and the existence of hell (some form of punishment?). There is a direct correlation between a higher living standard and a decreased belief in punishment and hell in the afterlife. Atheism (secularism) has become the fastest-growing religion in affluent societies, while religion is alive and well in societies where hardship is still common.
Most people, when in intense pain and suffering, do not doubt the existence of hell in the afterlife. After all, they are living in hell at that moment. However, as soon as everything is pleasant again, they eventually forget. In the past, pain and suffering used to be constant and came from many sources, so nobody forgot about it. But at this moment, hardship is usually limited and sporadic, so most people can afford to disconnect themselves from the fear of hell, even if it is through the use of painkillers. Of course, that does not mean there is no hell, but just that the reminder of its existence is gone. And whenever I say hell, I mean some form of punishment rather than a location.
In the case of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (assuming they existed), they did not understand what hell was. Before sinning, they had never suffered a day in their lives, so the concept of death and hell was something alien to them. However, after sinning, death, suffering, and hell became all too real for them. Today, we are starting to behave like Adam and Eve did, before they were kicked out from the Garden of Eden.
A conservative rabbi wrote the book “When Bad Things Happened to Good People” in 1981. This book became a New York Times bestseller with over 4 million copies sold. One of the reasons for this was that many identified themselves with such a title. Why do bad things happen to me if I am a good person? But the fact is that although we believe ourselves to be good, we are not. Just because we self-validate as good means nothing. If we were as good as we think to be, God would still have us in The Garden of Eden, not in this hell we call Planet Earth.
Some religious beliefs also affirm that God loves everyone and that Jesus died for all our sins, so hell is merely a figure of speech; it does not exist. Nevertheless, if the creator had no problem in creating such a hellish place like this world has been in the past, do not assume that he will have a problem casting people into hell either. The existence of suffering in this life indicates what God already has in mind. It is our fault if we are incapable of understanding that message anymore.
Why punishment and hell? If there is an emphasis in the Bible about anything is, that of right and wrong, and reward and punishment for our acts. The biblical God calls himself just and rightful, so if the Creator is indeed who he says he is, we should expect reward and punishment in the next life for our acts. In short, the idea of reward and punishment is firmly tied to the existence and morality of the Judaeo-Christian God. That explains why Christianity has been the leading proponent of the concept of afterlife punishment (a.k.a. hell).
Jesus was a “fire and brimstone” preacher. He spoke of some afterlife punishment many times, which we call hell. And for many centuries, fire and brimstone preaching was a common and accepted theme. But it seems that some pastors have purposefully forgotten to preach about the reality of hell as a punishment. There has been a shift in religious thinking from focusing on what happens in the next life to concentrating on my well-being and prosperity today.
The subject of hell is too negative. So today’s policy in many places is “In this church, we will not say anything that will offend you”. The problem is that the truth is inherently offensive. And the inconvenient truth is that hell is the default destination for all people. That is a biblical truth, believe it or not. Non-religious people conclude that they do not even need God, much less do they care about the afterlife. Most people might only get serious about eternity as they grow old.
However, there is no justice without punishment for crimes committed. Shouldn’t child predators, serial killers, mass murderers, and other despicable monsters who died unpunished pay for their crimes in the afterlife? The idea of hell has to do with punishment and justice more than a specific place. It is not justice that Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin should spend eternity in the same pleasant place as Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa.
In short: many do not believe in hell and, therefore, do not care or worry about the potential consequences of their attitude and behavior. Some others accept the possibility of going to hell but have been told how to escape this by following rituals, rules, or believing in something; a ticket into heaven. An example of this is by just having faith in Jesus. But they still need to understand what it means and why, and then change their behavior accordingly. However, the majority do not. So, I doubt that such a belief, by itself, will solve their problem of hell. They found a quick solution to a future difficult situation, so as not to worry about it. Because of all these reasons, there is no fear of hell anymore. Thus, everyone joyfully goes to their graves.