The telephone rings at 2:12 p.m. I am at work in my study.

“Daryl Witmer speaking.”

“Is this … who is this?”

“This is Daryl Witmer. AIIA Institute.”

“Are you a Christian organization? I get your paper, and I want to know: Do you believe in hell? Because if you do, I don’t want to receive your paper any more.”

“Well, we believe that what Jesus taught about hell is true. What do you believe?”

“I used to be Catholic, but then I became a Christian.”

“You didn’t believe in Christ when you were a Catholic?”

“I don’t believe that God would ever send someone into eternal torment just because they’re not perfect.”

“Well, how do you decide what is true about any spiritual matter? What do you accept as a reliable authority on such things?”

“My deepest feelings are that God would never ….”

“Oh. So you’re telling me that what you believe is determined by your feelings?”

The conversation continued.

She struck me as a thoughtful person, and I told her so.

I cited John 3:16 where Jesus says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

I explained that God had originally created hell for the devil and his demons, not for human beings (Matthew 25:41), but that he probably won’t force people to spend eternity with him if they are opposed to the idea.

We spoke for a total of about 15 minutes. In the end, she asked to continue receiving our monthly thoughtletter. And I continued to think about what people think about hell.

There was a time when the idea of perdition was taken quite seriously. In July 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached what was no doubt the most famous sermon ever delivered in America: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He calmly but graphically described the flames “gathering and flashing” in the “fiery pit.”

Such times now seem to have passed. Today people tell jokes about hell. Mark Twain reportedly once said, “Heaven for climate. Hell for company.” His analysis, however, ignored Jesus’ description of hell as a place of “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

Doesn’t sound particularly conducive to socializing, does it?

God is often blamed for sending people to hell. But where does anyone get that idea? The Bible says the opposite – that he has worked a great plan to save people from that awful place. Yet what will he do with those who decide that they don’t want to spend eternity with him?

C.S. Lewis once talked about how hell may be locked from the inside.

Perhaps at the gates of heaven St. Peter will simply say: “Listen, in order to respect the decision that you’ve already made on earth about not wanting God’s presence or grace in your life, you are hereby granted the right to depart from him forever.”

After all, isn’t that what hell is – eternity apart from the presence of God?

But you may say, “Would anyone really choose to be in torment for eternity?”

Well, I have heard of men who have lost their family, job, possessions, and dignity – all due to alcohol. Yet, lying homeless in a filthy gutter, they would still choose another bottle of liquor over rehabilitation, if given the choice.

Still, is it possible that a man’s perspective could become so warped and his heart so hardened that the torment of hell wouldn’t break him?

In Revelation 19:9 the Bible describes a prophetic scene in which men are “scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.”

How can anyone sink to such lows?

Probably very slowly. Very subtly. Over time. You become too busy for Jesus. You have other priorities. You don’t want to be a spiritual fanatic. You don’t need a religious crutch. The months become years. God becomes a vague distant concept. You don’t feel comfortable even thinking about Him in a personal way.

The idea of hell has also become absurd and remote. This didn’t happen overnight. It’s been a long gradual process. And a deadly one.

It’s been the result of the sort of strategy that one might expect to be advanced by a real master of deception – like the one whose goal it is to populate hell.

The Rev. Daryl E. Witmer is founder and director of the AIIA Institute, a national apologetics ministry, and associate pastor of the Monson Community Church. He may be reached at AIIAInstitute@aol.com and at ChristianAnswers.Net/AIIA. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.