One day a conversation with my 7-year-old and my 4-year-old daughters went in a direction I was not anticipating. By the time I realized this, it was too late to turn back.
Olivia: “. . .’Hell’?” “What is ‘hell’?”
Me: (thinking, “Oh Lord, here we go!) “Hell is a place you go after you die if you don’t believe in Jesus.”
Olivia: “Ooooh, that’s going to be baaaad!”
Gabrielle: “One of my classmates said she doesn’t believe in Jesus.”
Olivia: “Ooooh, that’s going to be baaaad!”
Me: “Gabrielle, this classmate is still alive. You can pray for them to one day come to know and accept Jesus as their God.”
Gabrielle: “I already did.”
Me: “Great! Let’s keep praying and see what happens.”
Olivia: “OR, it will be baaaad!”
I sat and listened as the girls went on to talk about life in Heaven with Jesus. They described how good it will be to “see Him” and “be with Him.” Olivia said she will miss their mommy. Gabrielle assured her that I would die before them. Olivia found relief in that and they carried on about how fun Heaven will be because “Jesus and God are there.”
I have never had a conversation with them about hell. I have never told them about any flames or the devil. They both decided it was “baaaaad,” not because of any eternal darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. All they know is that Jesus is not there.
Their motivation for going to heaven is not “so I don’t burn in Hell.” Their motivation was “so I can finally see Jesus.” They wanted to pray for a lost friend, not so she doesn’t experience eternal darkness, but so that she too can one day see Jesus.
I love that mentality: “I may not know a whole lot, but the little bit I do know has me excited!” Oh that more of us would embrace such an approach to our faith in Christ. There is so much we don’t know, understand, or agree with in this life. The refreshing reality is if we hold on to the truth of what we do know about how big, faithful, powerful, loving, gracious, and true Jesus is, any “detail” we come to know later will only solidify our faith, not crush it.
Yes, Hell is real. Yes, going there will be “baaaad.” But, guess what? Heaven is also real. Going there is an option and a good option at that!
That evening at the dinner table, I was reminded that I don’t have to wait until I know all there is to know about Christianity and what happens when we die. There is so much to be thrilled about right now. It should not take the threat of torment to get excited about Heaven. The promise of being in the glorious presence of the One True God will do!
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
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