Sermon Central
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All Dogs Go To Heaven Series
Contributed by Paul Wallace on Feb 20, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: The myth that everyone goes to heaven has gained many followers even in the church.
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Debuking the myths of Christianity
There is a growing belief in the church that somehow some way all people wind up in heaven. The movie All dogs go to heaven simply promotes it in a comical way. It seems that we hear less about being lost forever from the pulpits, and many have exchanged the God of the Bible for a kinder, gentler god that fits their lifestyle. While the myth is not adopted by the faithful, it is being widely accepted by those on the fringe and the unsaved world. Those who believe God exists, but don’t believe all the bible says about him.
Hell has fallen on hard times. A recent George Barna survey found that 67% of Americans do not believe in hell. That means that only 33% of Americans believe in a literal hell.
In a recent survey, it was determined that 35% of Baptists; 54% of Presbyterians, 58% of Methodists, and 60% of Episcopalians DO NOT Believe in a literal place called HELL! 71% of the 8 leading seminaries in the United States Do Not Believe in either Heaven or Hell.
Some people have an image of Hell that is not based on reality. For instance Mark Twain said, “I’ll take heaven for the climate and Hell for the society.” Ted Turner once said “I’m looking forward to dying and going to hell because I know that’s where I’m headed.” People would not be so flippant about Hell if they understood the reality of it. Through the experiences of two men Jesus gives us a glimpse into Hell. It is brief but powerful enough to blow apart many of man’s misconceptions about Hell.
We use the word "hell" glibly or to describe the worst things we know here. Brad Paisley’s Song "I’m gonna miss her" begins...
Well I love her
But I love the fish
I spend all day out on this lake
And hell is all I catch
But today she met me at the door
Said I would have to chose
If I hit that fishin’ hole today
She’d be packin’ all her things and she
be gone by noon.
Hell is defined in the song as being chewed out by your wife.
Or we hear “war is hell”. Or we use it to strenthen our explitives. Instead of NO. It is Hell, no.
This has brought much confusion to many people.
Strangely enough a newer poll conducted by US News and World Report (2000) reveals that more Americans today believe in Hell than they did in the 1950’s or even 10 years ago. But most now think of hell as “an anguished state of existence” rather than a real place. [ US News and World Report. “Hell Hath No Fury.” January 31,2000. p. 46]
In this passage, Jesus pulled back the veil between this world and the next and showed us there is a heaven and a hell. There are only two eternal destinies and everyone in this room will end in spending eternity in either heaven or hell.
I Not Everyone lives the Same 19-21
Some Good and some bad
Jesus does spell it out, but gives clues
In their external circumstances:
• One was rich, the other was a beggar.
• One was clothed in elegance, the other in rags.
• One was fed sumptuously, the other existed on crumbs.
• One in health, the other in a wretched physical state.
• One moved in the high social circles, the other in beggarly isolation.
-In their spiritual conditions:
• One exulted in his wealth, the other content in his poverty.
• One satisfied with his earthly possessions, the other longing for a heavenly treasure.
• One selfish and ungodly, the other a self-sacrificing believer.
• One had great possessions but one thing he lacked and that one thing was needful. The other “
as having nothing, yet possessing all things.”
II Not Every Dies the Same v22
a. Like the rich man - some have great expensive funerals, thousands of friends, people laying gifts and memorials,
b. Others seem to die almost unnoticed, Few if any friends,
III Not Every goes to the Same Place After Death 23-26
Myth #1 Death ends all -Evolutionists believe this -If God didn’t start it He won’t end it.
Hell is nothingness we will just sees to exist, hearing, seeing and feeling nothing.
C. S. Lewis was told about a gravestone inscription that read; “Here lies an atheist – all dressed up and no where to go.” Lewis quietly replied, “I bet he wishes that we so.”
Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago which has over 20,000 people in attendance each week, tells the story of an encounter he had with a young woman.
