What’s The Plan? (An Introduction)

If, like me, you grew up in what many would call “orthodox Christianity” (for me it was ‘mainstream’ Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations (I’ll mention no names) and an evangelical leaning Church of England congregation) you will have come across the word and place identified as “hell”.

In circles such as these, the term is used to describe a place of fiery, eternal torment that unbelievers (those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour before they die) go to, as just punishment for not doing what God, Our Loving Heavenly Father, has instructed.

As a 7 year old boy I struggled with this concept when I heard it preached at one of the aforementioned Pentecostal Congregations, the one I spent the first 7 years of my known walk with God in.

I say known walk, because as God revealed to one of His Prophets, a Man called Jeremiah, We, like He, are known by God before We are formed.

In that sense there We have walked with God before the walk with Him that We are aware of.

My struggle was well founded - applying pure logic to the notion that God sends everyone who doesn’t believe in Him in this life to a place of never-ending, fiery torment results in the belief that God doesn’t have many people with Him forever because, at least historically, it appears that fewer People have bowed the knee to His Son, Jesus Christ, and joyfully exclaimed that He is LORD than haven’t.

As a 7 year old I found this position unacceptable and around 25 years later I agreed with my 7 year old self and fully resolved the matter.

There is no place of eternal, fiery torment that people get sent to if they don’t bow the knee to Christ while on earth.

In my view, this leaves two alternatives.

One is that God destroys those who don’t believe in Him in this life.

In theological circles this is known as annihilationism.

If someone hasn’t done what God told them to do in this life (ie. acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Saviour), He annihilates them so they no longer exist.

Applying 7 year old logic to this option I find the following.

God therefore wastes a lot of time, energy and resources, knitting together only He knows how many people together in their Mother’s wombs, watching over them day and night, sustaining their lives down to every breath and heartbeat and then says “You didn’t do what I wanted you to, so I’m now going to cause you to cease to exist.”

Such a God is not one I find attractive.

And bearing in mind that both positions, eternal torment and annihilationsism, beg the question “What level of obedience and submission to Christ as LORD is required to guarantee that upon one’s death one can be sure one will not be ending up in a place of fiery never ending torment or cease to exist?”, I can see no possibility of assured peace, joy and thankfulness in one’s walk with God.

That was definitely my experience for the 36 years or so I tried to believe that if I wasn’t good enough, didn’t believe enough, wasn’t submissive enough I would be cast into a fiery pit never to be allowed out.

Thankfully, neither of these options is true.

God has made it clear what the fate of every single human being is.

We are all coming back to Him.