Question:
OK, hear me out.
God has infinite love, wisdom, and mercy. He is everything good. As Christians, we know this. The thing I can't comprehend is that God would ever allow his any of His creation to be eternally damned. How does that make sense?
If someone is sent to hell, and they suffer for years, how could God not accept their repentance? And if someone is sent to hell, that means Satan has won. And if God is all-powerful, then Satan cannot win permanently, right?
I know this isn't in the Bible, and yeah, this is an unconventional idea. All I'm asking for is a well-reasoned response. I'm not criticizing Christianity or any religion.
Granted, an atheist can say, "No one will go to hell because it doesn't exist." But I would rather you look at this from a Christian perspective.
God has infinite love, wisdom, and mercy. He is everything good. As Christians, we know this. The thing I can't comprehend is that God would ever allow his any of His creation to be eternally damned. How does that make sense?
If someone is sent to hell, and they suffer for years, how could God not accept their repentance? And if someone is sent to hell, that means Satan has won. And if God is all-powerful, then Satan cannot win permanently, right?
I know this isn't in the Bible, and yeah, this is an unconventional idea. All I'm asking for is a well-reasoned response. I'm not criticizing Christianity or any religion.
Granted, an atheist can say, "No one will go to hell because it doesn't exist." But I would rather you look at this from a Christian perspective.
My Reply:
This is actually a belief by many who call themselves "Christians"...and it's also wrong:
- Jesus talked about separating the good from the evil, children of God and children of Satan, and a place where many will go where there will be gnashing of teeth, torture, and fires some 1000 times hotter than anything we can imagine here. To say there's no hell or that nobody will go there is to call Jesus a liar.
- Most of all, if there's no hell, then Jesus' death on the cross was in vain, His resurrection was pointless, and there's no reason to believe in, follow, or witness about God (an atheist's point, I'm sure). Also, the Apostle Paul said that if Jesus hadn't been resurrected, then we'd all still be dead in our sins and our ministry would be void (and we'd be worse off than atheists, for we'd be preaching something that puts us deeper in debt).
Although you are correct when you say that God doesn't wish for any of His creation to perish in Hell, for Hell wasn't even created for humans, but for Satan and his demons. In fact, God's love for all of His creation is what led Him to die for us in the first place. But with that same love, God also gave us a choice...spend eternity with Him, or without Him, and our decision must be made in this life.
So if one is to say that they're a Christian, but they don't believe there's a hell, then they can't actually be a Christian, for such belief is a contradiction of the Gospel, as well as the whole point of it. To believe in no hell, no judgment, and no condemnation is to believe there's no reason for salvation. For them, the account of Jesus' death and resurrection is not "Good News", for they don't believe that because Jesus saved them from anything.
---Pastor Andy G.
