In this regard, the language of the revisionists is particularly instructive. Any God who would act as the traditional doctrine would hold would be 'vindictive,' 'cruel,' and 'more like Satan than like God.' Clark Pinnock has made the credibility of the doctrine of God to the modern mind a central focus of his theology: "I believe that unless the portrait of God is compelling, the credibility of belief in God is bound to decline." Later, he suggests, "Today it is easier to invite people to find fulfillment in a dynamic, personal God than it would be to ask them to find it in a deity who is immutable and self-enclosed."

Extending this argument further, it would surely be easier to persuade secular persons to believe in a God who would never judge anyone deserving of eternal punishment than it would to persuade them to believe in the God preached by Jonathan Edwards or Charles Spurgeon. But the urgent question is this: Is evangelical theology about marketing God to our contemporary culture, or is it our task to stand in continuity with orthodox biblical conviction—whatever the cost? As was cited earlier, modern persons demand that God must be a humanitarian, and He is held to human standards of righteousness and love. In the end, only God can defend himself against His critics.

Our responsibiulity is to present the truth of the Christian faith with boldness, clarity, and courage--and defending the biblical doctrine in these times will require all three of these virtues. Hell is an assured reality, just as it is presented so clearly in the Bible. To run from this truth, to reduce the sting of sin and the threat of hell, is to pervert the Gospel and to feed on lies. Hell is not up for a vote or open for revision. Will we surrender this truth to modern skeptics?

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Dr. Mohler is the author of a major essay published in Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment, edited by Christopher W.Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, published by Zondervan.  Dr. Mohler's essay, "Modern Theology: The Disappearance of Hell," is the first chapter in this important new book, available at your local bookstore.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For more articles and resources by Dr. Mohler, and for information on The Albert Mohler Program, a daily national radio program broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, go to www.albertmohler.com . For information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to www.sbts.edu . Send feedback to mail@albertmohler.com .