SMOLLETT TEACHES US HELL IS NEEDED

Most of last week I was unplugged from any news, yet people’s outrage so boiled over that there was one event I did hear--the dropping of charges against Smollett. For most, an innate sense of justice brought outrage to a boil, whatever their political, religious, or sexual orientation. Smollett reported he’d been assaulted. As the police investigated, the evidence showed he had staged the alleged assault. The grand jury then indicted him on fifteen charges. Even the prosecutor that dropped the charges did not deny Smollett’s guilt. Folks were outraged over the charges being dropped because of a universal, inherent sense that a wrongdoer should be judged and duly punished. One who has done wrong should not be allowed just to walk away unpunished, regardless of who he is. Some may protest, “Wait! Isn’t that what you Christians laud about God? Don’t you say, that, although you were guilty of sin, when you believed in Christ, that God just dropped the charges and let you walk away free?” No! That’s not what we believe. That’s not what happened. God never dropped the charges. Never. He convicted us of all charges. He demanded we be punished for our wrong. Then, He sent Jesus to bear the punishment of our crimes. Jesus did more than time in prison. Jesus got the death sentence. He died. Executed. No, the charges were not dropped. Our sins did not go unpunished. Justice was served. One thing about salvation is like the Smollett case: We did walk away free—free of guilt, free from condemnation, free from punishment, free from going to hell, free of our past. This is amazingly wonderful, but I do not write to extoll Jesus’ substitutionary death. I write about hell. I cannot really say “extoll” hell. Frankly, hell is so unbelievably, unimaginably awful, I can contemplate wishing there were no hell. Yet, there is a need for hell. There must be a hell. Innately, we all realize that there must be a hell. Why? It all has to do with that outrage we felt when Smollett had charges against him dropped and walked away free. Something cries out that there must be justice for wrongdoing. Both secular and religious liberals have pooh-poohed hell. Hell has gotten a bad rap. Hell, as a reality has suffered major attack—not from the Church seeking to rescue folks from its invading grasp, but from those who would exterminate the very concept of hell. There are huge consequences to getting rid of hell. One huge consequence is that without hell there will never, in many cases, ever be any justice. Folks who die without paying for their crimes would escape punishment for their wrong. Justice would not be served. Without hell, Hitler circumvented any justice for his heinous crimes by committing suicide as the allies closed in on his bunker. If there is no hell, he was never brought to justice. Without hell, rapists, murderers, and thieves never caught, child molesters never discovered, adulterers who’ve never confessed, among many others, will get away with their crimes. No justice will be served. Payment for their crimes will never happen. Recoiling from the thought of its horrors, some too quickly jettison the concept and belief of hell. Before doing so, one should consider that Jesus died so none need go there. He took our punishment for our sins that we could escape hell. Any who felt outraged over the charges against Smollett being dropped should realize hell is needed. And because hell is needed, Jesus is needed. To think of hell and what Jesus has done that we need not go there will cause any outrage quickly to turn into gratitude. Jesus paid it all!

SMOLLETT TEACHES US HELL IS NEEDED

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