Why Preachers are Afraid to Talk about Hell and Homosexuality

I banned a very nice orthodox priest from my Facebook page recently. He was polite, kind, respectful, friendly, and it seemed that he was always talking about the importance of love and forgiveness. However, after one of my posts he asked, “Why do you bring fear into the gospel?” The question was a little strange, so I asked if he believed in the existence of a literal Hell. After some hedging he revealed that he believed that Hell was “the fire of God’s love,” and he linked me to an article that said that it was disgusting to go around warning people about Hell. Up until that point I had already banned 1,449 atheists for cussing, and when the friendly priest joined them, I was suddenly flooded with angry protesting atheists who loved him. I told them that they were very welcome on my page, but even any professing Christian who betrayed the cause of the gospel would be banned.

There are many preachers in pulpits that are like the popular priest. One atheist spoke of one when he commented, “I went to church four days ago. I liked the preacher because he didn't yell and scream and tell me I was going to Hell. He smiled the whole time he talked. Why can't more of them be like that?" I told him that it seemed that his smiley preacher (like the friendly priest), either didn’t believe the words of Jesus, or he didn’t care that people who die in their sins would end up in Hell.

These are, however, difficult times for the average preacher. If we warn of Hell or speak of the Bible’s stance on homosexuality, we are quickly accused of hate speech. But there are ways that you and I can talk about the reality of Hell and reach homosexuals with the gospel, and have it make sense.

One reason preachers avoid speaking of Hell isn’t because they don’t believe in it. It’s because they misunderstand the purpose of the moral Law (the Ten Commandments). God’s Law shows us that the One we must face on Judgment Day is morally perfect, and that He considers lust to be adultery (see Matthew 5:27-28) and hatred to be murder (see 1 John 3:15). It is because of this perfect righteousness that He abhors evil and warns that a day of ultimate and perfect justice is coming. Any human judge who is good must see that justice is done, and God’s goodness will see to it that ultimate justice will be satisfied. Murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, adulterers, etc., will get what is due to them.

When preachers don’t use the Law to show God’s absolute righteousness, and instead talk of His love and kindess, adding “But He will send you to Hell if you don’t trust in Jesus” makes no sense. It paints God as a vengeful tyrant. So any such talk is avoided.

However, when Paul reasoned with Felix, we are told that he spoke of sin (which is transgression of the Law—1 John 3:4), righteousness (which is of the Law) and temperance, and Felix “trembled.” In the light of his own exceeding sinfulness and the perfect righteousness of God, the self-indulgent governor understood that he was in big trouble. He trembled because Hell suddenly made sense. The Law makes Hell reasonable.

When I speak with a homosexual, I avoid talk about his sexual orientation. This is because I don’t want him to be offended before I share the gospel. So I simply ask if he thinks he’s a good person. When he predictably says that he is, I take him through the Ten Commandments (because scripture says that the moral Law was made for homosexuals--1Timothy 1:8-10)). Has he lied or stolen? Has he blasphemed God’s name? And when I ask about looking with lust, I deliberately don’t mention any gender.

Before seeing his sin, he was proud and self-righteous (thinking he was morally good), but now he’s humble of heart. That means he is able to be reasoned with, without being defensive. So I tell him that to be saved from Hell he must repent of all sin and trust alone in Jesus. I then show him what “sin” is, by referring him to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” I then lovingly tell him that if he has a problem with the list, he should take it up with God, because it’s His list, not mine.

I want to see adulterers, fornicators, thieves and others on that list avoid the terror of Hell, so why should I exclude homosexuals because I’m afraid of being accused of hatred. Love cannot do that.

Great preachers of past centuries understood the necessity of doing what Jesus did—using the Ten Commandments to bring the knowledge of sin (see Mark 10:17). A failure to do so has resulted in the Church being filled with false converts, and this has dissipated its ability to be salt and light in a dark and sinful world. It has relegated the Church to irrelevance in the eyes of the world (see Matthew 5:13). It’s time to go back to biblical evangelism. -Ray Comfort