Eternal Fire

Verses I wish weren't in the Bible: Matthew 25:41

The sheep and the goats. One to the right; one to the left. Left is bad.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ... Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.' ... Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'"

I hate hell. I hate that it exists. I hate that people go there. I hate the finality of it. I hate the eternity of it.

Some have tried to show that hell isn't permanent. They see it more akin to the idea of purgatory but for everyone. I wish I could believe that.

But the way I read it, the way I understand it, the situation seems clear: Those who have rejected the Savior will be rejected by the Savior. He may give some people chance after chance, but in the end everyone has a last chance.

As much as I hate hell, though, as CS Lewis put it, God hates it more. If I would give anything to keep people from going to hell, He gave everything to keep them from going to hell.

But, truth be told, I wouldn't give anything to keep people from going to hell. Some days I can't even manage to walk across the street. It's so easy to expect that tomorrow will present another opportunity. Sometimes it doesn't, though.

I hate hell. But sometimes I don't hate it enough.