The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-01-27
Bv REV. l.. T. WILDS, DID.

. IL DN lllcIl IlSiuSLlN pSS Va AS' w.
is it very pleasant subject. Mel
Their are prisons and penitentiar-
les and crime and disease and
death. But all of these unpleasant
things are facts which have to be
dealt with; and a large portion
of the race are busily engaged in
running our prisons and peniten-
tiaries, tracking down our GRIM
inals, ministering to our diseased,
and burying our dead. Even so
is hell fact that has to be dealt
with; and a large portion of the
race, represented by the Chris
tan church, is busily engaged III
the endeavor to save men from
hell. the place of the future abode
of the God-hating, the ChriSt-re-
iecting, the impenitent wicked.
We might begin by asking,
. WHY MUST WE BELIEVE
THAT THERE is A HELL?
For one thing, because there IS
no place for the wicked III heaven
and there must be some place to
which they shall go; even as there
is no place in decent human So
ciety for criminals and there
must be prisons and penitentiarleS
in which to confine them for the
peace and protection of society.
Again, we must believe in the
fact of hell, because sin always
makes a hell of suffering. Think
of the suffering in the world that
is caused by sin; sins of selfish
ness and greed and envy and
jealousy and hate and drunken
ness and lust: sins that bring
shame and sorrow, that make a
hell of the home, and that MI
the earth with war and its nor
rors. Now then the wicked carry
their sins with them into the oth-
er life and therefore also the sui
ferings of their sins. Moreover, II
is only reasonable to suppose that
they will become evermore WICK
ed there where there are only
other wicked people and where all
restraints from wickedneSs are
removed, the restraints Of gov,
eminent and church and good
people. Imagine what he'll there
would be here on earth unuef
such conditions-with only wick
ed people here preying upon one
another and with all restraints
from sin and crime removed. Ana
in this connection we might say
that here is one reason Tor De-
lieving that future punishment OF
the suffering of hell is everIaSt-
ing: sin will be everlasting in the
lives of those who go there and
therefore the suffering that al
ways attends sin will be everlaSt-
ing. -, :.
Once again, we must believe in
the fact of hell, because we be-
lieve in the righteousness ana
Justice of God that require the
punishment of sin and wicked
ness. We ourselves require 1t, I'M
prisoning for life or sending TO
the electric chair for even one
crime. And shall not the just and
righteous Judge and Governor OF
the race require the punishment
of the thousands of sins that each
of US commits during lifetime?
Surely He will. He demands pun
ishment or the paying Of the pen
atty of the sins even OF Chris
tians or the saved; and, in order
to save them from suffering the
punishment themselves, in grace
and mercy He gave His Son to
suffer it for them. And there is
nothing in justice for Him to do
with those who refuse to accept
this provision of His mercy and
grace but to require them to pay
the penalty themselves, which
they will do in hell.
Our chief reason, however, for
believing in the fact of hell is
that we believe in Christ and in
everything that He said-all that
He said about God and about
heaven and about hell. Read His
words and you will find that He
had a great deal more to say
about hell than He did about
heaven. And why so? Not be-
cause it was pleasant to Him TO-,
do so; but because to Him hell
was a grim and dread reality, be-
cause He had come to save men
from hell, and because He knew
that men must be made to believe
in hell in order to seek escape
from it and that they much more
readily believe in heaven in which
they wish to believe than in hell
in which they do not wish to be-
lieve.
For all of these reasons we be-
lieve in the fact of hell. And we
would say to those who do not
believe in it that their not believ-
ing does not get hell out of the
way nor will it keep them from
going there. We once knew q
man who had been examined by
twelve doctors and had been told
by all of them that he had tuber-
culosiS. But he refused to believe
their diagnosis and to do what he
might have done to be cured; and
he died the horrible death of that
dread disease.
And now, having considered
the fact of hell, the next question
that arises is,
WHAT KIND OF A PLACE
is HE'LL?
And the same Savior who as
sures US of the fact of hell also
tells Us what kind of place it is.
He tells, US that il Is IA nlace of