Innocent Bystander

I have been a huge M.A.S.H. fan since I was young boy. I watched the reruns on TV everyday. It was one of the few programs I looked forward to. Even as an adult now, I still love to sit down and watch the episodes over again. Recently, I was able to get the entire series on DVD. One of the episodes,War is Hell, had an interesting discussion on war and hell. It was between a Catholic priest (Father Mulcahy) and a Doctor (Capt. Hawkeye).

Hawkeye: War isn't Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse. 

Father Mulcahy: How do you figure, Hawkeye? 

Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell? 

Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe. 

Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander. 

As I was thinking about this quote, I realized that Hawkeye, was close to something, but not quite right. In war many innocent people are casualties. But what about his view of Hell. Yes it is true that sinners go to Hell, but how many of those sinners are people who never heard the gospel? Innocent children, teens, and adults, who have never been reached out to?  How many people do we have in our lives that could be considered innocent bystanders? Do we have those in our lives that we don’t know for sure if they are going to Heaven or Hell? Are we sharing the gospel with them?  After all, there is a spiritual war going on, and we, God’s people are called to share with those who don’t know the gospel. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as thogh God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). It is up to us to make sure that Hawkeye’s statement is true, “There are no bystanders in Hell.”