The Economy Is Growing Because Of Hell

In these gloomy finical times, many are looking to find ways to help booster the struggling economy.  A pair of Harvard researchers recently discovered a link that you may not suspect; hell.  Religion has a measurable effect on developing economies and the most powerful influence relates to how strongly people believe in hell.  Religious beliefs and practices, like belief in heaven and church attendance, had positive effects on economic factors but none were as pronounced as a belief in hell.  Researches postulate that that strong belief that God will punish those that do wrong, lead people to be less likely to engage in deceitful practices and more likely to practice self-discipline and thrift.

These findings seem to me to somewhat ironic given that our ever greedier culture is moving further away from a belief in hell.  A 2008 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, said just 59 percent of 35,000 respondents said they believe in a hell, down from the 71 percent who said they believed in hell in a 2001 Gallup survey. More and more we see hell portrayed by some religious leaders as a “pretend encourager” rather than a literal reality. This is not however the message Jesus taught.

In Luke 12:5 he warns us to “fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; and in Matthew 25:41 he speaks of the wicked going "into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels”   Jesus described hell as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” where the “worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Matthew 13:50, Mark 9:44).  The importance of living right is emphasized by Jesus in Matthew 25:46, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Belief in hell should be taught not for the economic benefits but because it is in the truth of God’s word. Hell is a place of torment that no one would want to be in or have those they love find themselves in (Luke 16:19-31).  That is why Jesus warned us so much about it. It would be better to suffer misery on Earth than to find ourselves in Hell ( Matthew 5:29-30).  Hell is real and we need to do everything to avoid it.