"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." - C. S. Lewis
There is a story in Luke’s gospel (Luke 16:19-31) about a man who was rich in his earthly life, who had all of the comforts that wealth could buy, and poor man named Lazarus who sat at the rich man’s doorstep. Lazarus was not only poor but miserable, tormented even by dogs, and yet somehow the rich man was able to ignore him. Then they both passed, Lazarus to the side of Abraham and the rich man to hell, and their roles were reversed.
There are a number of familiar themes in the story but recently while reading Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God that author pointed out something that had never before occurred to me. If you read the parable carefully, you will note that the rich man asks for Lazarus to bring him water, and he asks Abraham to warn his relatives, but he never asks to get out of hell. Keller uses this illustration as part of a larger argument addressing the common question asked by unbelievers about how a loving God could send people to hell. The very idea of hell seems so incongruent with a God of love. If you are wondering about the answer to that question then I really recommend that you read Keller’s book. You will find the answer to that and a lot of other misconceptions about hell and judgment in chapter five. For our present purposes the point we need to focus on is that the rich man does not ask to get out of hell.
This story came to my mind recently because of a news article I read about Stephen Hawking’s new book The Grand Design, due for publication next week, where the author argues that because of the existence of gravity the universe created itself and therefore needs no God to explain it. Indeed, Hawking flatly states that God in fact did not create the universe. Seriously the first thought that crossed my mind when I read that concerned the unbelievable hubris represented in the statement. Later, I marveled at the kind of twisted character that would be required to motivate someone to the tremendous effort Hawking devoted here in an attempt to prove that something, anything, doesn’t exist.
Finally I realized that it offers the perfect opportunity to consider something that is really unpopular to talk about: hell. We don’t like to think about hell but we can’t deny that the Bible talks about it and assures us that some people really are going to hell. How does that happen?
I think the best explanation is found in Romans 1:18-32 where Paul writes about God’s wrath. God reveals himself to all, therefore all have knowledge of God and all are called to acknowledge God as God. Some do not. Rather than offering worship to God they raise up idols (themselves, riches, addictions) and devote their attention to them. By doing so they separate themselves from the only source of life. They surrender the real joy that is to be found in relationship with God for the uncertain and fleeting “pleasures” (and believe me I use that term loosely) of this life. What does God do? He says, “OK then, have it your way.” (Ro. 1:24, 26, 28 “God gave them up…”) Keller describes it this way:
In short, hell is simply one’s freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity. We see this process ‘writ small’ in addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. First, there is disintegration, because as time goes by you need more and more of the addictive substance to get an equal kick, which leads to less and less satisfaction. Second, there is isolation, as increasingly you blame others and circumstances in order to justify your behavior. ‘No one understands! Everyone is against me!’ is muttered in greater and greater self-pity and self-absorption. When we build our lives on anything but God, that thing – though a good thing – becomes and enslaving addiction, something we have to have to be happy. Personal disintegration happens on a broader scale. In eternity, this disintegration goes on forever. There is increasing isolation, denial, delusion, and self-absorption. When you lose all humility you are out of touch with reality. No one ever asks to leave hell. The very idea of heaven seems a sham to them.[1]
The Bible, though not a book of physics or geologic history, captures this reality very well in the first few pages that describe humanity’s descent into sin. The expulsion from Eden
I don’t think Keller’s description requires a lot of commentary but the one thing I do want to emphasize here is that for the person who has chosen self as god there really does not exist any other God. The heart can only serve one master (Mt. 6:24) It’s not like God is sitting up in heaven saying to humans begging for mercy, “That’s it. You had your chance. Now you must suffer forever!” Instead, God, the real God, does not exist for them. So in that sense Hawking is right. Having chosen to worship gravity, for him God really does not exist.
But for me He does. Knowing and loving God does not explain how the universe came into existence, but it makes living in the universe make sense, and it makes it worthwhile. Another cool quote by C.S. Lewis:
There are only two kinds of people – those who say “Thy will be done” to God and those to whom God in the end says, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.[2]
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