The Bible describes Jesus as the loving Savior of mankind.
His ministry was filled with love.
He often said things like,
"These things I command you, that you love one another,"
or, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love."
Because Jesus's life and death were so filled with love,
some wonder how Jesus could preach and teach about Hell,
a horrible place where people will suffer eternally.
Did Jesus really teach about Hell, and if so, what did He teach about it,
and how does the idea of Hell fit with Jesus's love?
The answer to the first question is very clear.
Yes, Jesus often taught about Hell.
The word translated, "Hell," in English, is the Greek word, "Gehenna."
It's used 12 times in the New Testament, and Jesus used the term 11 of those times.
You see, it's a fact that Jesus mentioned the idea of Hell
more than any other writer or speaker in the New Testament.
So, what did Jesus teach about Hell?
Now, look at a few scriptures, and the Bible shows us that as well.
In Mark chapter 9, Jesus repeatedly tells
His listeners to rid themselves of anything that's keeping them from following God.
He concludes each statement by saying that it would be better to lose an eye
or a hand than to go to Hell into the fire that shall never be quenched,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
On another occasion, Jesus mentioned the fate of the wicked by saying,
"These will go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life."
Jesus taught that Hell was a place where
the wicked would spend eternity in fiery torment.
Some people have tried to deny that Jesus taught this,
but an honest reading of the New Testament shows that
Jesus believed Hell to be a real destination that would last forever.
He declared that the wicked would hear the words,
"Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels..."
That brings us to the third question.
How can a loving Savior teach about an eternal place of fire and punishment?
The famed agnostic, Bertrand Russell, struggled with this idea.
He once said, "There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character,
and that is that He believed in Hell.
I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane
can believe in everlasting punishment.
Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did believe in everlasting punishment."
Russell recognized that Jesus taught about an eternal Hell,
and he considered Jesus to be immoral for this teaching.
The fact is, however, that Russell's statement couldn't be further from the truth.
If there really is a Hell, and people are going there,
then a truly moral person would do all he or she could do to keep them from that.
One atheist named, Penn Jillette, was confronted by a Christian who
attempted to convert him, what Jillette called, "proselytize him."
Jillette mentioned that some people think that trying to convert others is wrong,
but Jillette defended the man and said,
"...if you believe that there is a Heaven and a Hell,
and people could be going to Hell or not getting eternal life or whatever...
how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?
How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that
everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"
You see, people choose to sin, which separates them from their Creator.
The only solution to God's justice is that a person's sin has to be paid for,
and Jesus's death on the cross did just that,
and that's why Jesus said,
"For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved."
Jesus preached about Hell because He loves the world so much,
He wants all people to know that in spite of their sin,
they can be saved for all eternity through His sacrifice.