Immortality Options

We begin with twin lies: "You shall not surely die; you shall be as gods." The one who told these lies is also convinced of God's great anger against sinners. Put these three components together, and you have hell.

Most people have bought into these lies. Accept them, and a number of options present themselves. Here are just a few, of which some overlap:

1. God is a revengeful tyrant; I dread and hate Him.

2. God is a revengeful tyrant; I admire that, and become like God, a revengeful tyrant.

3. I cannot reconcile God's love with his treatment of immortal sinners. I confine these contradictory concepts to separate mental compartments. I am sometimes aware of my mental gymnastics. I cannot love God with my whole heart and soul and mind. I become a part-time Christian.

4. Hell is inconsistent with the character of a loving God. I must choose one or the other. I reject hell. None will be lost; all will be saved. I become a Universalist.

5. I am a sensitive person who takes hell seriously; I become obsessed, depressed, and lose my reason. I become mentally ill.

6. No sane person can accept the doctrine of hell, which I believe to be the teaching of the Bible. I cannot trust the Bible, and reject its inspiration. I become a humanist.

7. The Bible is the chief evidence for the existence of God. Yet bad as I am, I know I'm not as bad as God is said to be. If the Bible cannot be trusted, God does not exist. Death is an eternal sleep. I become an atheist.

8. I believe that the essential me is an immortal soul or spirit. I feel free to ignore or deprive the body as only a temporary prison for my spirit. I become an ascetic.

9. I believe that saints and ancestors are not dead. They can still help me or harm me. I worship them in preference to God alone. I become a spiritualist or Shintoist.

10. The saints and ancestors are friendlier and more understanding than is God. I ask them to intercede with God on my behalf. They may offer miraculous revelations. I become a spiritualist or an idolater.

11. I am inherently immortal. I am not dependent on God for my existence. I am myself a god, or may in time become one. I become a Mormon or a New-Ager.

I conclude that the biblical doctrine of our human nature is basic to many other important concepts. It protects us from many errors. We are greatly indebted to God's revealed Word for an understanding that makes so much good sense.