Ex-atheists

"If hell is just 'separation' from 'God' and nothing else, big deal. According to you we're in that state now." Reynold

This perceptive atheist has raised an issue that I have spoken about for years, in a message called "Where has the Passion Gone from Our Preaching?" Modern preachers often use the unbiblical phrase. They say that if a sinner dies in his sins he will be separated from God forever. I call it a "fear of man cliché." It’s a substitute for the word "Hell." There are a number of other unbiblical phrases that the modern church has invented that are in the same category, such as a "Christless eternity" and a "lost eternity." Hey, the godless didn’t want Jesus Christ in this life, so how is that threat of being without Him in the next life going to awaken them? Modern preachers have fed the sinner the lie that there is an alternative to Hell, when there’s not. It's not easy to say, but if a sinner dies in his sins, he doesn't go to a Christless eternity, he goes to a place called "Hell." Death is a mere down payment for his sins. Hell is his full wages.

I am so thankful that when I stand before God, I am not guilty of failing to preach “the whole counsel of God” (see Acts 20:26-27). I know that if my eyes meet the eyes of an ex-atheist on that Great and Terrible Day, I am free from his blood.