By Gary D. Robinson
Luke 12:4-5
Admittedly, a comic book isn't the first place to go looking for spiritual truth, but truth can jump out at us from anywhere. In the 1986 Saga of The Swamp Thing" Annual, the muck-encrusted monster and a demon named Etrigan descend into Hell to rescue the soul of a woman unjustly cast there. Troubled by the existence of this awful place, Swamp Thing asks Etrigan how God can allow it. The rhyming demon replies,
“Think you God built this place, wishing men ill,
And not lusts uncontrolled or swords unsheathed?Advertisement
We’ll return to Etrigan’s statement before we’re through. Right now, however, let’s take the question of Hell’s existence. Is there such a place? Jesus said there was — more than once. We find, for example, His words on the subject in John 5:28-29: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
Notice how Jesus contrasts living with condemnation, and that He places both squarely after what we call death. Again Jesus speaks: "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell" (Luke 12:4-5).
We're all afraid of death; it's our King of Terrors. But Jesus has demoted that king: "Do you think dying is the worst that can happen to you? Think again." We want nothing to do with suffering. Again, Jesus forces us to consider alternatives; earthly suffering is not the worst that can happen: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and be thrown into hell" (Mark 9:43).
Jesus uses language so stark and spare that some have taken him literally, going so far as to hack off their own body parts in a misguided attempt to be holy. This was never His intent. Jesus is stating the principle of “spiritual surgery.” That is, there may be people we'd be better off avoiding, activities we'd be better off without, places we ought not to go, etc. If they hinder our discipleship, we must peel them from our lives. A painful prospect? Certainly. But the alternative is even more so.