AC/DC's "Highway to Hell!"

Are You On The
Highway to Hell

I was recently watching and old BGT. A 68 year-old woman sang “Highway to Hell.” I was amazed how the entire audience immediately jumped to their feet, clapped along and sang the chorus. I decided to break down the lyrics and view them in light of what the Bible says about HELL. The lyrics are from the original AC/DC song. The 68 year-old made some changes and only sang up to the chorus. The lyrics will be in RED ALL CAPS.

My blog on a related topic: "The WT does not teach an Eternal Hell--Does the Bible?" is here.

LIVING EASY, LIVING FREE. It is easy to be on the Highway to Hell. All you have to do is live your life the way you want to live, following your own rules for what is right and wrong. This is Israel in the book of Judges, “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.” Since everyone starts life with a sin nature and does their own thing, everyone starts out on the HIGHWAY TO HELL.

SEASON TICKET ON A ONE-WAY RIDE. “It is appointed unto man to die once, and then comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) Once judgment comes, your eternal fate is set and IT IS a one-way ride to your final destination with no second chance (See Got Questions on a Second Chance here), just as the rich man found out in Luke 16. He did not plead for himself, for he knew his fate was set upon his death, he pleaded for his brethren.”

ASKING NOTHING, LEAVE ME BE. This is sinful man. Let me be, let me do my own thing and with a sin nature a person’s own thing is to sin against a holy God. The holiness of God demands that sin be punished and not winked at. In US courts a rapist may get off with probation—not so in God’s court. God will also punish idolatry, liars, covetousness, lust, theft, etc. (Go here to Got Questions for a larger list of sins.) And the punishment—“the wages of sin is death,” separation from God for eternity. Why an eternity? In our courts, we judge crimes against humans more heinous than crimes against animals. How much more should we judge the crimes against a Being of infinite goodness and holiness? Crimes against an infinite Being deserve and infinite punishment. Therefore, eternity in Hell is a punishment that both accounts for the inherent nature of the crime (thumbing your nose at God’s law and God’s provision for forgiveness, Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the cross) and the One whom the crime is committed against.

TAKING EVERYTHING IN MY STRIDE. As a sinful person walks (strides) through life and as a self-determiner of what is right and wrong, they take or reject everything based on their own moral standard. However, we are not judged by our own individual standards but by God’s standards. You might review the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) to get a hint of what God demands. Also read how Jesus took these commandments to the Nth degree in Matthew 5.

DON'T NEED REASON, DON'T NEED RHYME. Jesus Christ, more than anyone else in the Bible warned us about the realities of hell. In fact, Jesus talked more about hell than about heaven and warned us to do whatever it took to avoid hell. So, Jesus asks us to reason, weigh the awfulness of hell against the glories of heaven and come to a reasonable conclusion.

AIN'T NOTHING I WOULD RATHER DO. A person who is his own moral compass and having a good time doing what he wants to do, is not going to change the path he is following. Only through sorrowing over sin and the new birth (born again, John 3) will a person seek to do God’s will and turn from their sin to the Savior.

GOING DOWN, PARTY TIME. This is the conventional wisdom of our day, started and perpetuated by Satan, that all your friends will be in hell and it will be one big, feel good party. Just like the parties you experienced on earth—only it lasts for eternity. The Bible describes hell as outer darkness, a lake of burning fire, a blazing furnace, a fiery lake of burning sulfur, where a person will be weeping and gnashing teeth, not participating in a good-time pool party where your friends are bopping to the music and playing an air guitar.

MY FRIENDS ARE GONNA BE THERE TOO. Birds of a feather flock together. If you are headed to hell, more than likely, so too are your friends, who think and act as you do. All will end up where there is “everlasting torment.”

I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL

ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL

HIGHWAY TO HELL

I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL

NO STOP SIGNS, SPEED LIMIT. God has tried to stop you. He has made his presence known by the wonders of nature. He has given you a conscious which tells you right from wrong. But every time you ignore your conscious, it is seared so that eventually you don’t hear it at all—all stop signs are gone and God turns you over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28) and gives you what you desire—an eternity without God.

NOBODY'S GONNA SLOW ME DOWN. In America, the Gospel is preached on TV, on the radio, on the street corner but you know what you know and your conscious is no longer pricked by the voice of reason. No one is going to slow you down and turn you from your sin. You ignore all gospel preaching on your way to hell for YOUR standards of right and wrong are being met by YOUR actions.

LIKE A WHEEL, GONNA SPIN IT. The Bible teaches that God is love, holy and just. He has holy standards, there is no room for sin. He is just and sin must be punished. And He is loving, so he provides a Savior who will take on our sin and give us His righteousness, if we turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior and turn away from our sin. But people spin this God into a love only God and since He made me he will love me exactly the way I am—sin and all.

NOBODY'S GONNA MESS ME AROUND. A sinner likes the way he is. No need to change, to turn around from his sinful ways, since he follows his own moral code.

HEY SATAN, PAID MY DUES. “The wages of sin is death”—eternal separation from God. Since your standards are not God’s standards you are building up wages that will result in eternal punishment.

PLAYING IN A ROCKING BAND. God has the same standard for entrance into his kingdom whether you are a butcher, baker, candlestick maker or in a rock band. “You must be born again (John 3).”

HEY MAMA, LOOK AT ME. If it was possible for your mama to look at you and she looks approvingly, she will end in hell also. If she looks at you sadly, she will probably be with God and all the saints.

I'M ON MY WAY TO THE PROMISED LAND, WHOO! The sign says, “This Way to Heaven.” But the sign is being held by Satan, dressed and acting 'Oh so religious', however, the road leads to hell. You are there with a ticket purchased by your own sinful works and punched by your own standards of right and wrong. You will reap what you have sown in this life with an eternal reward.