I lost my 24 year old son to a car accident five years ago. While visiting his grave sight last week, I began reading some of the inscriptions on other grave stones. I read some pretty impressive words on the markers and wondered if God will say the same thing about the person on Judgment Day. Then I began to wonder what I would want written on my grave stone, and what am I doing with my life right now to make the inscription true.

What I am doing right now proves what I believe about the afterlife. If I believe in Heaven and Hell (which I do), that belief will adjust my living in this life here and now. Such is true of everyone.

However, in the last few years, various polls show that the majority of people in America either believe there is no Hell, or they just aren’t sure what to believe.

If people do not believe in Hell anymore, it is because churches are not teaching and preaching it anymore. Why would churches ignore the subject of Hell? Has it gone away? If so, where did it go? Actually, many churches refuse to talk about sin and the consequences of sin anymore because it upsets their congregations. Little thought is given to the fact that ignoring the subject upsets God (cf. Deuteronomy 32:29).

There are many jokes about heaven and hell, but there will come a day when all the jokes will cease. No matter how much we try to push the thoughts about hell to the other side of the universe; no matter how hard we try to ignore thoughts about the coming judgment, the truth remains. Heaven and Hell are real places (Matthew 25:46). And that day will be the most serious day of our existence. Think about it. — Toby Miller

Find the truth about God and become a New Testament Christian. Find out more about New Testament Christianity by running some Internet searches for “church of Christ” and “churches of Christ.” You may also want to visit http://www.abiblecommentary.com for Bible study information.

Remember, in order to be saved and enjoy all God’s blessings (not the least of which is salvation), a person must have faith (Jn. 8:24), be willing to repent (Lk. 13:3), and after confessing Christ as Lord, the final step is water baptism (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13; 1 Pet. 3:20-21). Proper baptism in water puts a person “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3) and results in the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).