The “Aunt Edna Objection” to Hell

John Ortberg calls it “The Aunt Edna Objection”--

When the subject of Hell comes up, often someone will say something along these lines:

What about my Aunt Edna?
She’s a nice old lady.
She’s never hurt anyone.
She pays her taxes.
She bakes cookies for the grandkids.
She’s kind to stray cats.
I think she’s a good person.
She’s just never gone in much for the church thing,
or the Bible thing,
or the God thing.
So, do you mean to tell me that because she’s not a Christian,
she has to spend an eternity frying in Hell?
I believe in God, but my God—the God that I believe in—
is a God of love,
a God of compassion,
and He would never send someone like my Aunt Edna to Hell.

So, I want to think for a moment about Aunt Edna, because here’s what has happened in her life. When she was young, every once in a while—maybe at Christmas or at Easter—she would hear the story of the God who loved her. God would whisper to her through the story of Scripture,

You can learn more about Me,
if you want to.
I’d love for you to.
I’d love for you to be my child.

But she made a little decision. It may not have been overt; she may never have verbalized it; it may not have been real conscious; but she made a little decision:

I’m not going to do that.
I will use my mind to pursue other things, not God.

And then there would be times in her life when she would look at a sunset, or a tree or the ocean, and God would whisper to her through Creation,

I made this.
I made you.
You didn’t get here by yourself.
You know that, and you can know Me.
You can say “Thanks.”

She made a little decision:

No.
I will not acknowledge You.
I will not give thanks.

There were times when she did something wrong, because Aunt Edna is no more perfect than you or I. God would whisper to her through her conscience,

You know you can be forgiven.
You know you need it.
You can get a fresh start.
I’ll do that,
if you’ll confess and acknowledge and repent.

Jesus said that there is a presence of God, and that one of the things the Holy Spirit does is convict us of sin. But she made a little decision:

No. I will not bend my knee.
I will not repent of sin.

As she grew older, more of the people she knew began to struggle with health issues, and they began to die. At every funeral, she was confronted with her own mortality, and God whispered to her through her experience,

You cannot beat death,
but I have planted Eternity in your heart.
This fear of death and the longing for something more…
it’s there in every human being.
And if you ask Me—if you say “Yes” to Me—
you can be with Me forever.

But she made a little decision:

I will not ask. I will not say “Yes.”
I will be the captain of my own little ship.

She gets to the end of her life. Maybe she never said it outwardly, but the truth is that she has said “No” to God a thousand times. She has locked the door of her heart over and over again. She doesn’t want to confess to Him, submit to Him, worship Him or serve Him. All she wants is to be left alone by Him, and being left alone by God is what the Bible calls “Hell.”

Read the whole thing.