Fools Rush In

The danger is not the president but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than who is president and a mere symptom of what ails this nation. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a mistake of a president. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools.

Myth #5 Hell is for Bad People

This is the most dangerous of all the myths about hell. “Hell is for bad people.” Of course, this is a tricky one, and it depends on what we mean when we say “bad people.” In my experience “bad people” simply means “other people.” People who have done worse than us, at least in our own estimation. Hell is for the bad, the worse, the worst. Hell is for Hitler and Hussain, John Wayne Gacey or Kim Jong-il. It’s not for us regular people. Good people. The one point of agreement we should have with this myth is that hell is for bad people. And we are all “bad.”

Jesus said no one is good, but God. The Apostle Paul wrote that no one is righteous, all have turned away from God and become worthless. Yes, we are all bad and worthy of eternal condemnation. While one woman might be practically worse than another, or one man’s sin might be more heinous than another’s, we are all equally sinners and in desperate need of God’s mercy.

Hell is for bad people, if by bad people we mean people like us. Our hope is not that we will become good people, or even better people. Our confidence before God is not that we will somehow stand out among the evil people in the world. Our hope and confidence before God is the gospel– the good news that everyone who believes in Jesus is united with him, counted righteous in him, and forgiven through him of all sin.

So, in one sense hell is for bad people, but in another sense so is heaven. The former receives those who have rejected the truth of God, while the latter receives those who have received Jesus.