“The stereotype of a ‘hell-fire’ preacher…cannot be found in the Bible.” D.A. Carson

The God of the Bible is not unmoved by our suffering. He is slow to anger, abundant in mercy. The Jesus who delivers the terrible “woes” to the religious hypocrites of his day (Matt. 23) ends up weeping over the city of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate” (Matt. 23:37-38). The stereotype of a “hell-fire” preacher really letting his hearers have it cannot be found in the Bible. Though the Bible speaks plainly, and sometimes in fury, it never does so without tears. And Christians can never forget that they too, like the rest, are by nature objects of wrath. They never warn others about the wrath of God from a position of superiority, but from the brokenness of experience and the relief of redemption they want to share.

Carson, D. A. "Jesus' Teaching on Hell." How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. 90-91. Print.