Dear God:
      I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there is no hell. Papa says "If you see it in The Bible it's so". Please tell me the truth; is there a hell?
Virginia

Virginia,

      Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

      Yes, Virginia, there is a hell. It exists as certainly as God and Jesus and the Bible exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! the Lord Jesus Christ would be a liar if there were no hell! And Virginia, we know the Lord Jesus speaks the truth (John 14:6). Jesus said hell was "everlasting fire" (Matt 18:8, 25:41), "eternal damnation" (Mark 3:29), "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt 8:12, 22:13, 25:30), "place of torment" (Luke 16:28), "outer darkness" (Matt 8:12, 22:13) and "everlasting punishment" (Matt 25:46). Virginia, if there are the joys and beauty of heaven, certainly there must be the horror and torment of hell. They both come from the same book. If there was no hell, there would be no Calvary, no gospel, no purpose, no Saviour and no hope.

      Not believe in hell! You might as well not believe in Jesus! You might get your papa and read your Bible asking God to reveal to you hell is real! Because Virginia, if hell is real, nothing in the world, no joy, no sin, no beauty, no pleasure, nothing — absolutely nothing — would be worth forever burning in the torments of hell! Virginia, the Lord Jesus Christ said, in Mark 8:36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

      No Hell! Yes, Virginia, there is a hell. But God does not want you to go to hell. Virginia, hell is not for you. It was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41) — not Virginia! But Virginia, when your great-great...grandpa Adam sinned you became a sinner (Romans 5:12). And because God is holy, sin must be cleansed. And Virginia, because God loved you so much, more than our little mind can possibly understand, He gave His Son to remove your sins. Jesus shed His blood to "cleanse" your sins. Revelation 1:5 says, ". . . Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"

      Yes. Virginia, there is a hell. But thanks to Jesus, Virginia, you don't have to go there.

      Virginia, a hundred years from now, where will you be?