The Broad Road

Reflection: Is It Unloving to Tell Someone They Are in Danger of Hell?

One of the major obstacles in telling someone that if they don’t put their trust in Jesus as their Savior they will go to hell for eternity is that we don’t want to be perceived as unloving or offensive. All of us desire to be loved and accepted by those around us. If, in a moment of extreme anger, we tell someone to “go to hell,” that’s considered one of the greatest insults we can give.

If we truly believed that Jesus was telling the truth about this awful place of eternal torment, then we would never wish anyone to go there. So it stands to reason that if we believe in what Jesus repeatedly spoke about, we should do everything we can to make sure that our loved ones, acquaintances, and even total strangers are warned about this dreadful destination. If we saw one of our children about to put his hand on a hot stove, would we just shake our head and turn away unconcerned? Of course not!

English theologian John Blanchard relays this story in his book Whatever Happened to Hell? On December 12, 1984, dense fog shrouded the M 25 near Godstone, in Surrey, a few miles south of London. The hazard warning lights were on, but were ignored by most drivers. At 6:15 a.m. a lorry carrying huge rolls of paper was involved in an accident. Dozens of cars were wrecked. Ten people were killed. A police patrol car was soon on the scene, and two policemen ran back up the motorway through the heavy mist to stop oncoming traffic. They waved their arms and shouted as loudly as they could, but most drivers took no notice and raced on toward the disaster that awaited them. The policemen then picked up traffic cones and flung them at the cars’ windscreens in a desperate attempt to warn drivers of the danger. One told how tears streamed down his face as car after car went by and he waited for the sickening sound of impact as they hit the growing mass of wreckage farther down the road.

The Motive of Love

The plight of lost souls is so terrible, the power of sin so great, and the horror of hell so fearful, how can we possibly do nothing to warn people of their dangerous predicament and point them to the Savior? Far from being unloving when telling someone about hell, we are expressing love in its fullest sense. Love does not concern itself with temporary embarrassment. Neither is love telling someone what they want to hear. Real love is being concerned about someone’s well-being and doing something about it. True love wants others to have what you have: the treasure of eternal life. Genuine love is doing the hard thing for the ones we care about, even if a “witnessing encounter” causes us a few moments of uneasiness.

Would you consider it unloving if, after an examination, your doctor informed you that unless some intervention was taken, you were certain to die rather soon? Your reaction would be one of gratitude to him for not only finding what ails you, but also recommending a cure. You would no doubt follow with serious discussion as to what must be done so that you might be cured.

The Great Physician has clearly stated that unless we accept His cure, we are doomed for all eternity. We have a choice when we hear this news. We can either become upset at the diagnosis, call Jesus a fraud, and go on living like we know better ourselves, or we can believe what He says and gratefully accept the cure that He has provided on our behalf.

Possibly you have seen the Seinfeld episode where Elaine finds out that her boyfriend regularly listens to Christian radio; he then informs her, in an offhanded way, that she is going to hell and he isn’t. She is quite upset about the manner in which he gives her this information and that he is so nonchalant about it. Later, she forcibly exclaims, “If I am going to hell, you should care about it.” Our friends have a right to ask the same question: “If hell is real, why haven’t you told me about it? I thought we were friends.”

How do we tell someone in a loving way that they are in danger of hell? Is standing on a soapbox and yelling the “bad news” effective? Would buying an ad on a major television network depicting flames of fire with people being tormented help viewers positively respond to the reality of their lost condition? Certainly not.

Example of Jesus

The best course of action is to follow Christ’s example. We need to get involved in people’s lives. We need to earn the right to speak. Befriending people, showing interest in their earthly concerns, and loving them unconditionally will cause them to be more open as you speak of their spiritual condition.

Charles Spurgeon said of our responsibility, “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies: and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay . . . If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.” More of us need to apply Spurgeon’s exhortation. We need to ask:

In whose way are we intentionally standing while trying to get their attention to warn of their impending doom?

Whose legs are we grabbing to prevent them from traveling on to impending disaster?

In what way do we stand in oncoming traffic and try to warn travelers of the catastrophe that lies ahead of them?

For whom are we wearing out our knees, beseeching God for the deliverance of their eternal souls?

Do we shed tears as we see family and friends headed down a road that we know will end in eternal torment?

Do we really love others, or do we just turn our backs and say, “Sorry, that’s your problem”?