Piper Jr., TikTok & Hell

Abraham Piper is the son of one of the most renowned orthodox preachers in America: John Piper. Abraham has a TikTok account with nearly a million followers and distances himself from the faith he was raised with. Particularly, the doctrine of hell was a major stumbling block for him. How can a God who “so loves the world” maintain a hell? Abraham finds this irreconcilable.

Psychologically Impossible

But Abraham Piper goes even further: he claims that the vast majority of pastors and Christians who profess belief in a literal hell don’t truly believe it. For if they genuinely did, they wouldn’t be able to live normal lives. Who could ever relax on vacation or enjoy time with friends, knowing that many people around them are heading towards an abyss of sheer misery, from which they will never escape for eternity? After all, hell is described as a place where one will dwell endlessly in pain and remorse without hope. Abraham Piper asserts resolutely: living with that belief is psychologically impossible.

Hardened

What Piper Jr. claims here, I fully endorse. What loving parent could bear the thought that their child is in hell? Never-ending and hopeless?! Who could even be cheerful for a moment if (most) people around you, including many you love, are destined for this dreadful fate? Such a doctrine can only be tolerated when it’s merely a theory, without awareness of its consequences. People accept the doctrine much like they agree to website cookies: having no idea what they’re consenting to. Conversely, those who consciously affirm the doctrine of hell must have a hardened heart—a callous layer on the soul. The concept of a hell that is inherently hopeless is a “teaching of demons” (1Tim.4:2). Only “the liar from the beginning” is capable of devising such a notion and attributing it to the Creator of heaven and earth. It’s a repulsive caricature of Him who, by His own declaration, never forsakes the works of His hands.

Scripture Versus Church Doctrine

Yes, the GOD of the Bible is not to be mocked. His judgments can be severe. But they are always a ‘necessary evil,’ never final, and never from the heart (Lam.3:33). Compared to His lifelong lovingkindness, His anger lasts only a moment (Ps.30:6). The Bible does not speak of ‘eternity’ but of ‘aeons’—world ages that have both a beginning and an end. Moreover, Scripture doesn’t mention ‘hell’ but speaks of Gehenna, that is the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. What Scripture teaches in this regard is of an entirely different nature than what church doctrine has made of it.

Abraham Piper does not know the Gospel. However, he does recognize that what was presented to him as the ‘gospel’ is not good news. In this, the ‘apostate’ Abraham perceives sharply what his father John misses in his preaching…

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