Letter to O'Reilly: The Bible's teaching on Hell

Often when I am watching a show on TV, I get quite impassioned about it.  Below I have included a letter that I wrote to O'Reilly.  Now whether or not he even reads it, I don't know.  He's a busy guy, and likely got people who go through his emails.  But who knows... he might just read it! 
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O'Reilly, I reviewed the archived vids on your shows on the reality of Hell. Very much like you said, "Without the reality of hell, Christianity falls apart." Jesus died Passover weekend as the "Passover Lamb" for the sins of all who receive Him by faith. Here's where the confusion comes in. Scripture tells us that there is no one who is innocent. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). It tells us that the "wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:23).


Jesus tells us that in John 14:6 that He "is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him." It is only through faith in the sacrificial atonement of the LORD Jesus Christ that we can be saved.


"For you are saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8,9)


"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believed on His name." Jn. 1:12


12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1 Jn. 5:12


14How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14


So we see here that the Bible says that people cannot be saved apart from hearing the gospel, and believing the truth of the gospel, that Jesus died for their sins, and was raised the third day and reascended to heaven to reign, until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet (Psalm 110:1; Heb. 10:13).


Bill, I enjoy your show, and know that you are a bright man. The Catholic Church teaches that you should be baptized and observe sacraments of the RCC to be saved. This is not what the Bible teaches. 5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5). The prophet Isaiah told us that our "righteous deeds are like dirty menstrual rags" to God (Isaiah 64:6). So your good deeds and works apart from the saving work of Christ are like filth to the Most High.


So what is salvation anyway? Jesus defined it in John 17:3 when He said, "This is eternal life, to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Here Jesus tells us that salvation is a living relationship with the living God. When a person believes on Jesus through faith, they are born again and become a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17).



Jesus taught that at the last day, many would come to Him in the judgment and say: 22"'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'



The key words there: "I never knew you!" Bill, until you have been born into a living relationship with the Messiah, and transformed (given a new heart) into a new creature, He does not know you. And that's not mine, or an extremeist evangelical position. That is the primary message of the Bible!