Clark Pinnock goes even further: 'I consider the concept of hell as endless torment in body and mind an outrageous doctrine, a theological and moral enormity. How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness? Surely a God who would do such a thing is more like Satan than like God.' (7-8)

Martin Luther's definition of a good soldier was of a man who stood and fought where the struggle was the fiercest. (8)

People do not want to hear about hell because it tells them that sin is more serious and more terrible than they have ever wanted to imagine. (12)

Here is a sobering consideration for anyone brought up in a Christian home, but still uncommitted to the Savior. The deepest pits of hell may well be reserved not for the notoriously wicked, but for those who, from childhood, were familiar with the message of salvation, yet never embraced it for themselves. (20)

Hell is where God alone reigns. It is not an independent, self-contained demonic kingdom. God, who 'has power to cast into hell' (Luke 12:15), rules it and has prepared its fires (Matthew 25:41). He is present in hell, for the damned are tormented 'in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb' (Revelation 14:10). (23)

Does the penalty far outweigh the crime? One answer is that we are in no position to criticize the penalty because we have little understanding of the extent of the guilt involved. (25).

Listen to Dagg again: 'If wrath and damnation had been trivial matters, the sending of God's only Son into the world, the laying of our sins up on him, and the whole expedient adopted to deliver us from these inconsiderable evils would have been unworthy of infinite wisdom'. (27)

Let us be quite clear. If we lose hell, we will eventually lose the cross, for if there is no hell, there is no real point in the cross. (27)

People complain about God's warnings when they should fall down on their knees and give thanks for them. It is in love and mercy that he warns us about hell so that we may be delivered from it. (31)

Hell - absolute poverty (all common grace gone; people will have absolutely no good qualities; they will be sinful in every single aspect of their being for God has lifted his blessing from them), agonizing pain, angry presence (God is there and is wrathful), appalling prospect (eternal punishment)

God is keeping you alive even now and, if you are unconverted, he is as angry with you as with many in hell already. You will go to bed tonight in the hands of an angry God. What reason have you to think you will ever awake? (45)

Consider what it is to suffer extreme torment for ever and ever; and to suffer it day and night, from one year to another, from one age to another, and from one thousand ages to another, and so adding age to age, and thousands to thousands, in pain, in wailing and lamenting, groaning and shrieking, and gnashing your teeth; with your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement, your bodies full of racking torture, without any possibility of moving God to pity by your cries; without any possibility of hiding yourselves from him; without any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain. Consider how dreadful despair will be in such torment; to know assuredly that you never, never shall be delivered from them; to have no hope: when you shall wish that you might be turned into nothing but shall have no hope of it…when you would rejoice, if you might but have any relief, after you have endured these torments millions of ages, but shall have no hope of it. After you shall have worn out the age of the sun, moon, and stars…without rest day and night, or one minute's ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being delivered; after you shall have worn a thousand more such ages you shall have no hope…but that still there are the same groans, the same shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be made by you, and that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend up for ever and ever.

The more the damned in hell think of the eternity of their torments, the more amazing it will appear to them; and alas! They will not be able to keep it out of their minds. Their tortures will not divert them from it, but will fix their attention to it. O how dreadful will eternity appear to them after they shall have been thinking on it for ages together, and shall have so long an experience of their torments! The damned in hell will have two infinites perpetually to amaze them and swallow them up; one is an infinite God, whose wrath they will bear and in whom they will behold their perfect and irreconcilable enemy. The other is the infinite duration of their torment.

- Jonathon Edwards "The Eternity of Hell Torments"

Hell and the Believer

1. Putting sin to death - failure to deal with our sins indicates lack of genuine conversion; sin is telling God 'I want to go to hell'
   
2. Contentment - blessing of salvation overcomes all struggles
   
3. Seriousness - in our efforts to spread the Gospel; the concept of hell may be a joke for non Christians but for a believer to treat it in that manner is an insensitive, disgusting attitude
   
4. Appreciation of Christ - Christ experienced hell for us
   
5. Zeal for Evangelism - a lack of zeal indicates a lack of understanding and belief in hell
   
6. Humble acceptance of God's sovereign purposes - the gift of salvation is not in our hands; ultimately responsibility is on each person

Christ and heaven are necessarily linked because Christ brings us to heaven (through initial salvation and Christ keeps us through his intercession which we would immediately fall without), we will see him clearly in heaven, and heaven means being with Jesus.

'If we do not get to heaven before we die,' said Spurgeon, 'we shall never get there afterwards.' [devotions are time with Christ, being with Christ is heaven]

No more sin - never again will we turn from our Savior

The story is told of a thief in Japan who became a Christian. He knew practically nothing about the Bible, but on the first Lord's Day after his conversion he went to a place of worship. All week long he had been wrestling with his life-long habit of stealing. He realized that, as a new creature, he should give it up and yet he was not sure he would be able to. Thieving had been his way of life and he knew no other way to spend his time. How could he change the ingrained behavior patterns of so many years? On the wall of the church building into which he entered were painted the Ten Commandments. The new convert had never heard of them. But, as he walked in, the first words upon which his eyes fell were, 'You shall not steal'. In his ignorance he did not realize that this was a commandment, but took it instead for a promise. His face filled with gladness and he thanked the Lord in his heart for this assurance that he would be delivered from his sin. (99-100) [ commandments are also promises; God will purify us]

With the Second Coming, our physically bodies will be raised and glorified; free from pain, aging, and fatigue.

Every aspect of the earth shall be renewed (i.e. animals, plants, nature, the earth itself).

The family of God in heaven shall be large, varied, perfectly united, attractive (in personality and physically), and satisfying (pure and perfect love for one another).

Special relationships with family members or friends on earth will most likely remain especially valued. "For every good thing will be better in heaven than on earth" (120).

There will be rest in heaven, not idleness. We will be stewards of the new earth, worshipping God by exercising the specific gifts and talents God has given us (many of which are unknown to us).

The quality of blessing shall vary depending on our deeds on earth but all shall be perfectly satisfied.

God has an eternity for us to blossom. Existence in heaven will not be static, but a continual development, for, perfect though we will be, we can still change and grow. (125-126)

We will have eternity to explore and learn and experience.