Basic Christian Apologetics

Does God send people to hell?

How can a good and loving God send His own creation to hell forever?

Most Christians love John 3:16 but when confronted with an unbeliever it is quite easy to quote just verse 16 when the rest of the passage is equally important. 

"For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed." John 3:16-20

The truth is God does send people to hell that's because of the things people choose to commit. We choose to sin, not hell, but when we choose to sin, hell is what we receive as payment for our transgressions. Imagine a man who has been sentenced to prison for murder. When we ask why he is there, we could say that a just judge sent him there. We all recognise that he is in prison as a result of a crime he committed; otherwise, the judge wouldn't have sentenced him to prison. Although the man chose crime over the prison, he was nonetheless punished for his crimes by being sent to prison. Similar to this, we shall argue as to why people go to hell when, in a sense, each individual is sent to hell by the perfectly just judge that is God. Hell is the penalty for the ethical transgressions we choose to commit. The bad news is that a good judge does not ignore wickedness but rather brings about absolute justice by punishing every wrongdoing and God does so too. The good news is that if we put our trust in Jesus, He will take our place and bear the penalty for us. However, without Jesus, we would have to bear the penalty on our own, so either Jesus pays or we do. Yes, God does send individuals to hell; in fact, Jesus said that people are cast into hell; but, this does not sound like they choose to go there. Instead of choosing hell, people choose to sin and end themselves in it because hell is the proper punishment for sin.

Nowhere in the scriptures does God claim to be ever loving God. Don't get me wrong, God is love but when He sees His children committing sins, like a just judge He puts aside His love for His children and executes justice. In our eyes, sin is a mere thing which the culture has suppressed it to be. Our God does not change with culture, hence sin is a serious thing for Him as it separates us from Him. Only through Jesus, we can have no fear of death/hell. 

"As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?" Ezekiel 33:11

Remember, it is not our duty to save souls, we can never save anybody. We just sow seeds and rest God handles it. I really like 'The Living Water's ministry' approach to spreading the gospel and let me know if you tried or know any other better way to preach the gospel without sugar coating it. 

Shalom!

JF_Abraham

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