Christian Rachel Held Evans asked a simple question on her site — one that’s been bugging her since childhood: “Did Anne Frank go to hell?“

This was the question that first drew my attention to a little crack in the Christian worldview wall, back when I was just twelve or thirteen years old. That crack would only grow bigger and more troublesome over time, until I was finally forced to consider the possibility that maybe it represented a serious foundation issue. Sure enough, the walls fell down, the foundation crumbled, and I was left alone and trembling in a desperate state of faith, exposed to all the elements. Now I’m busy trying to rebuild, one brick at a time.

Here’s the answer: If you’re a Bible-believing Christian, then (Jewish) Anne Frank is burning in hell.

It’s an easy answer if you believe what the Bible says. Which I thought Christians did…

But the Christians commenting on Rachel’s site are trying oh-so-hard to avoid saying something that wouldn’t be politically correct:

Can I say for certain she is “burning in hell?” No because I am not God. … How do I answer this (very difficult) question? By saying that God is good and wise, just and merciful. Full stop. Whatever He decides is right. He knows and does what is best and good. And if it doesn’t seem that way to us, then we are the one’s who have to change our perspective. So if Anne Frank is in hell, it is because that is what was right and good. I’m hoping she isn’t. … For my own part, I’ll say this. Yeah, like many have mentioned, I don’t know for sure, about Anne Frank or any other person. That said, it’s much more likely that she is in heaven

I don’t get why so many self-professed Christians can’t be honest about their beliefs.

If their beliefs are true, Anne Frank is in hell. She was Jewish. She didn’t “accept Christ in her heart.” She’s still burning as we speak.

It’s cowardly to say, “Well, we don’t know.”

Ask those same people: “Is Hitler in hell?” and they’ll give you a definite answer: Yes. At least you won’t hear many pastors saying, “Sure, Hitler could be in heaven… he might have accepted Jesus at the end of his life.”

Can’t Christians just be honest about their horrific beliefs?

It seems like they’d rather let the cognitive dissonance drive them crazy.

I don’t get the equivocation with their answers.

If you’re Christian, you think Anne Frank went to hell. If you don’t, you’re not a Bible-believing Christian. But you can’t have it both ways.

At least atheists can be honest with our answers regarding death.

Where is Anne Frank? She’s buried somewhere in the ground. Her “soul” didn’t go anywhere. She’s not in heaven or hell because those places don’t exist.

See? Honesty. It’s easy.



