More Deserving of Hell: Bin Laden, Gandhi, or Me?

Since President Obama’s announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death there has been an awakening in the discussion of hell which was first ignited because of Rob Bell’s recently released book, Love Wins. In the book, Bell puts forth the idea that God will eternally give the opportunity for people to repent of their sins and turn to Him for salvation. He will not cause (or force) them to do so (as in universalism proper), but will allow them to choose Him freely. This way- in Bell’s understanding- in the end love wins. What’s interesting about this round of discussion (or proclamation) on the subject of hell is that it comes from those who assume hell’s existence because of such wicked men.

In the first chapter of his book, Bell talks about a rather blunt comment someone at his church made because of a quote from Gandhi, the comment suggested that Gandhi is in hell. Naturally, Bell shows disgust at this comment, because what man could really know the state of a man’s soul? No doubt there are many people who would say that the good works of Gandhi give us hope that God’s work moves beyond the technicalities of naming Christ. They would say that there is room for replacing right faith with right action.

On the other hand we have men like Bin Laden, Hitler, and countless others who have done such horrible deeds as to be deserving of eternal punishment, no questions asked. The argument on this side goes: if Hell doesn’t exist, these men are only held accountable for their actions by the mere finite justice systems of man, which in many cases means they got off the hook completely.

What is so sad to me is seeing so many people being deceived by slight of hand when it comes to this subject. Believe in hell or don’t believe in hell, if your reasoning is focused where Satan wants it to be focused, you’re being deceived. The fact is hell does not exist merely to pay for crimes committed against man, and heaven doesn’t exist to reward good works performed to help man. All sin is first and foremost committed against God. We must understand this; not so that we can figure out who’s going where when they die, but so we can better understand the gospel and the grace that has saved us from our state of wickedness which was just as bad as that of Bin Laden.

When Paul writes out his comprehensive dissertation on the gospel in the book of Romans, the issue isn’t how people have treated fellow human beings; it was whether we have worshipped our Creator. Romans 1:18-23 serves as the foundation for Paul’s argument that man is totally depraved, utterly sinful. It is not concerned with how people treat each other, in fact, sins against other people don’t show up until verse 29, and that is treated as the consequence for idolatry. Throughout the first three chapters of Romans Paul speaks of our treason against the infinitely holy God and finally sums it up in 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

This has profound implications on the topic at hand. It means that Bin Laden’s condemnation wasn’t merely in murdering Americans; it is in hating God and rebelling against Him. However, it also means that if Gandhi was trusting in his own righteousness in order to be right with God, he was just as bad off as Bin Laden; he simply did a better job of hiding his sin*. This isn’t to say that I know the state of these men’s souls before they died. It could be that they put their trusting in Christ before they died, however, I am saying that if they weren’t trust in Christ before they died, we know their fate.

*Though almost no one can claim to know less about Gandhi than me, I have read that his life was much more explicitly sinful than we are usually told (this article contains some content that is not suitable for children).

My encouragement to you is to keep things in the right perspective. Yes, we glory in the fact that God is just as will punish the sins of Osama Bin Laden. But we must also remember that it is only by grace that we did not commit such sin, and it is by grace that God would even save a sinner like me.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen