Chapell on Hell, Part 1

Here is another passage on the subject of hell (see the 3/15, 3/28, 4/2 entries). These comments come from Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO. I had the opportunity to meet Bryan at this year's Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago. He is an alumni of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, having completed the graduate program in Speech Communications. It's always great to meet a fellow Saluki. This excerpt is from his book The Wonder of It All. Bryan writes: "I was once asked to speak about church growth at a conference. So I spoke about hell. The preachers at the conference thought I was kidding. Maybe it is hard not to think so. In today's world, the mention of hell-indeed, the very notion of it-embarrasses some of us and hurts others. It seems there could hardly be a less winsome topic, and yet, if we want to grow with the spiritual vitality that God intends, we must not neglect the grace implicit in Jesus' clear warning of the eternal consequences of sin. I will not try to prove here that there is a hell. Jesus himself says that there is...That certain knowledge ought to give us intense concern for the final disposition of those whose lives touch ours. Yet the potential destination of our unsaved friends, co-workers, and family members rarely burdens our hearts. We seldom go to great effort, or any effort at all, to introduce those we know to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And if we do exert ourselves in this regard, it is often only to prove ourselves to others, to endear ourselves to God, or to build our church's numbers rather than out of any real desire to save souls from hell. There is something corrupt in our faith if the prospect of souls in hell concerns us little."