Whenever we plan to devote a large number of pages to a particular topic, we consult two important resources: our senior editors and our research department. Several months ago our senior editors acknowledged that while entire books have been written on heaven and hell, most people still want to know two things about both places: what will it be like and who will be there?
We then asked our research department to find out what CT readers believe about heaven and hell. The results were somewhat surprising. While most of you (89%) believe heaven is a real place where redeemed people will enjoy eternity, only slightly more than half of you (53%) believe that hell is a place of real suffering—physical, emotional, and spiritual—the natural consequence of the choices people make. Thirty-one percent believe that hell is a place in which “real fire burns to torment lost souls,” and 14 percent believe that it is “a metaphor for the intense spiritual suffering that comes from being shut out of heaven.”
Apparently there are also a few cynics among our readers. Two percent believe hell is just an idea used by the church to scare people into being good. Hmmm.
Our Christianity Today Institute supplement on heaven and hell begins on page 29. If you read the articles carefully, you will come away with a clearer picture of both eternal destinations. And although the authors identify the conditions of entry for both places, we suspect that many of us will be a bit surprised to see who made it. And who didn’t.
