Warning: Jen Hatmaker Says Rejecting Hell “Rescued” Her Faith. Jesus Says Otherwise.

[David]

​

Warning:​

There are times when a public teaching is so clearly contrary to Scripture that it needs to be answered plainly and publicly. Paul said of Peter, “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2:11, KJV). Paul did not do that because he enjoyed confrontation. He did it because the truth was at stake and other people were being affected.

That is where we are with Jen Hatmaker.

Hatmaker has publicly said that laying down her belief in Hell did not destroy her faith, but “rescued” it. I want to be very clear about why that is serious. This is not a disagreement over some small doctrinal point that Christians can argue about all day without it affecting anything important. Jesus Christ Himself taught about Hell and final judgment. When someone tells a large Christian audience that rejecting what Jesus taught actually improved her faith, that needs to be challenged.

The question is not whether Hell makes us uncomfortable. Of course it does. The question is not whether we would have designed final judgment differently if God had asked us. He did not ask us. The question is simply this: What did Jesus say?

Jesus said, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46, KJV). You cannot honestly read that verse and keep the eternal life while throwing away the everlasting punishment. Jesus put them together in the same sentence.

He also said, “It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:43, KJV). Revelation 20:15 says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Paul wrote of those “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9, KJV).

So this is not about defending some church tradition. I do not care what tradition says if Scripture says something different. This is about defending what the Bible actually says.

Jen Hatmaker is also not some unknown person posting her private thoughts where hardly anyone will see them. She has spent years building a very large following as a Christian author, speaker, podcaster, media personality, and influencer. Her books, interviews, speaking, social media, and other work have reached a huge number of people. That is exactly why this matters. False doctrine does not become less serious because the person teaching it is popular. A large platform simply gives the error a larger audience.

What concerns me even more is the idea behind the statement that rejecting Hell “rescued” her faith. Think about what that really means. If my faith has to be rescued by removing something Jesus taught, then what exactly is my faith resting on? Jesus and His Word, or my own idea of what God ought to be like?

We do not get to remake God into someone we are more comfortable with.

A faith that has to be rescued from the words of Jesus is not being rescued. It is being changed into something else.

This also reaches much farther than one doctrine. Once we decide that a teaching can be rejected because we cannot reconcile it with how we think God should act, where does that stop? What happens when Scripture confronts us about sin? What happens when Jesus says something else we do not like? What happens when biblical morality collides with the culture around us?

Sooner or later the real authority becomes us.

That is the danger.

Scripture says, “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4, KJV). That includes Jen Hatmaker. It includes me. It includes every pastor, preacher, author, theologian, influencer, and denomination on earth. Nobody gets a free pass when what they teach contradicts the Word of God.

And Hell is not some unimportant side issue. Judgment matters because sin matters. God’s wrath matters because the cross matters. Salvation matters because sinners really need to be saved.

John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” That is serious language. Jesus did not come merely to make us feel better about ourselves. He came to save sinners.

Remove judgment and you begin gutting the urgency of the gospel. If there is no wrath, no judgment, and nothing to fear from dying in our sins, then why did Christ warn people the way He did? Why did Paul say, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11, KJV)?

We should also be careful here. There can be legitimate discussion about how some of the imagery surrounding final punishment should be understood. But that is not the same thing as denying final judgment altogether. Scripture gives us room to study difficult passages. It does not give us permission to erase them.

Paul warned that the time would come when people “will not endure sound doctrine” and would “heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2 Timothy 4:3, KJV). That warning should make us especially careful when a well-known Christian voice starts removing the very doctrines the world finds offensive.

I am not interested in attacking Jen Hatmaker as a person. This is about her public teaching. When someone publicly teaches something contrary to Scripture, especially to a large audience, that teaching needs a public answer. Paul did not remain quiet when Peter’s public conduct affected the truth. Neither should we remain quiet when influential teachers contradict the clear words of Christ.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35, KJV).

That settles it for me.

Jen Hatmaker does not have the authority to correct Jesus. Neither do I. Neither do you.

So here is the warning: Do not follow Jen Hatmaker, or anyone else, away from the words of Christ because the alternative sounds kinder, easier, or more acceptable. Test everything by Scripture. If our faith has to be changed in order to escape something Jesus plainly taught, then Jesus is not the one who needs correcting.

“Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4, KJV)

My thoughts: I can see how this fits with what she has already embraced. In 2016, Jen Hatmaker publicly affirmed same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, which directly contradicts what Scripture teaches about sexual relationships and marriage. Once someone begins setting aside clear biblical teaching in one area, it becomes much easier to set it aside somewhere else. Rejecting Hell also makes Christianity more acceptable to the world and removes one of the hardest warnings Jesus gave. Whether that helps sell more books is something I cannot prove, but it certainly makes the message easier for people who want the broad road instead of the narrow one. Jesus warned, “wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction” (Matthew 7:13, KJV).

This is the article that made me think about this subject:
Jen Hatmaker rejects belief in Hell, claims doing so ‘rescued’ her belief in God