Should we talk about the "lake of fire"?

Particularly when trying to share our Christian faith with others?

I thought of this because I realize that it's a question that I didn't really address and answer in the sermon on Sunday. If we believe in eternal conscious punishment for those who have rejected the Creator, then we need to warn people about it, right?

My recommendation is to be very careful here... generally, I think we should stick to speaking about the basics of how God has shown His love through Jesus Christ, and that through faith in Him we are forgiven, rescued from slavery to sin and Satan. I don't believe the church's mission is to talk about the lake of fire -- the mission of the church is to talk about Jesus!

Let me support my case here by pointing to how Jesus' first disciples shared their faith -- they talked about the resurrection! Look through Acts -- Peter, Philip, and Paul all point to Jesus' resurrection as the urgent reason why people should put their faith in Jesus! It is often not necessary to elaborate on the punishment people face if they reject Jesus because the Gospel message contains within it the idea that rejecting Jesus means you're saying "NO" to the only hope you're going to have. Consider the famous verse John 3:16:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (NIV)

You usually don't have to go beyond this. But if you're sensing the Spirit's leading, or they ask you about the cost of rejecting Jesus, go on to the next 2 verses!

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." -- John 3:17-18


Above all, pray that the person you are sharing your Christian faith with would see the person of Jesus and that a personal encounter with the Lord Himself would change their heart. In John 16, Jesus tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit is to convince people of the judgment (particularly that Satan has already been judged and is now awaiting his final execution). Jesus talked about hell more than anyone else; if you must talk about hell, it's good to show them His words about it.

I've got more thoughts on this... I'll post tomorrow...