Does God Really Send People to Hell?
For starters the first group mentioned is somewhat correct. God does not send people to Hell. People choose to be there themselves. It is not God’s desire that anyone should end up in Hell. That is not God’s choice for anyone. God created each of us for relationship with Him. A good God sent His Son, Jesus to suffer and die in our place. Jesus paid the penalty for the sinful things we do, so we can be reconciled to the good God Who created us. God loves every human being. He created them and throughout their lives reaches out to them with the reality of Himself and the way to be with Him forever. However, forced love is not love at all, so God also created each one of us with freewill. For those who choose to love God in return and accept His gift of an eternity with Him, that is exactly where they will be.
Those who spend their entire life rejecting God and His offer of reconciliation through Jesus, will also have their choice honored. If the people who spend their entire life not wanting anything to do with God’s will or His Son, then why would they want anything to do with God in eternity? Although it breaks God’s heart, He honors their wish and lets them spend eternity apart from Him and His influence. Those who refuse to say to God, “Your will be done,” will get to hear God say, “fine, your will be done.”
That begs the question, why would a good God create such an awful place? Hell is an eternal place that is completely devoid of God, His goodness, His rules, and His blessing. It is a place that is filled with beings who have disgust for God, rejected His rules and way of life. Add to that those who inhabit Hell are completely absorbed with their own will, how can this place be any good at all? There are those who believe that a place completely devoid of God would be a blessing in itself, until they get to live there…forever. Then it will be too late.
Much of the torment will come from inside them as they constantly replay all the opportunities they had throughout their lives to respond to His offer of complete forgiveness and reconciliation, and yet snubbed Him and those who cared enough about them to let them know. There will not be one being in Hell that has a single care or shred of compassion for another. Add to that the fact that Hell will also be populated by Satan and all his demon followers. Any such place completely devoid of God would have to be completely evil.
There are those that believe that there is such a thing as Hell on Earth. They believe that this world is Hell. While this world has its problems and people who do evil things, it is a far cry from a place where God is completely absent. Imagine the worst atrocities and evil this planet has seen. That is a glimpse of what Hell is all the time.
With Hell being such a place, there is no doubt there will be no partying with one’s friends. To say so, or to look forward to such a thing is to be completely blinded as to the harsh reality of Hell. However, once there, none will be able to complain that they somehow got the short-end of the stick. No one enters Hell blindfolded. As stated above, it was their heartfelt wish to spend eternity separated from God who pursued them their entire life.
No one deserves Heaven. Every person throughout history has sinned and fallen short of the perfection they would have to attain on their own if they were to “earn” their way into Heaven. God laid out His commandments so that we can use them as a form of measurement. If anyone thinks they are a “good person” all they have to do is look to the Ten Commandments. People say it is impossible to keep those all the time. For us, yes it is. God intended for those to be a reminder to us all that we are not so good on our own after all. The commandments are like a straight edge that you can hold up to a line. Holding it there doesn’t make the line straight, it simply reveals how crooked the line is. The entire purpose of the law is to show us our need for help.
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus”. ~Romans 3:19-26
The only reason anyone gets in is because God sent His Son, Jesus to come in human form, live without sin, and then take on the punishment we all deserve. If you want that forgiveness, all you have to do is respond to that offer and accept His gift. However, it requires that you make an admission. You have to admit that you have sinned and need help. The only thing that keeps people from accepting is pride. They refuse to accept that they don’t deserve the best. However, in the quiet moments of life, everyone has the thoughts of things they did wrong. Everyone has, at one time or another, had remorse, guilt, and feelings of something they shouldn’t have said, or wished they could take back something they did. Anyone who denies that has just sinned because they are lying, or they are just plain crazy! Those are the moments they can hear God whisper in love to them. Calling them to Him.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” ~Romans 10: 9-13
Many people believe that all religions are about the same, that they are just variations on a theme. Nothing could be further from the truth. Religion is man trying to get to God through works, deeds, sacrifices or some other man made ritual. The one True God is not about religion. He is about relationship. Instead of us sacrificing and working to get to Him, He already knows we are broken and imperfect. Instead, God reaches out to us in love and sacrificed Himself for all of us. Any parent who loves their children knows that this is not some foreign concept. Once someone accepts that gift and places their faith in Jesus, God begins a work in that person of changing them from the inside out. The Bible tells us that at that moment we are a “new creation.” ~2 Corinthians 5:17 This is what Jesus meant when He said we must be “born again.”
Reach out and respond to the God who loves you with every part of His being. Get to know Him. Jesus said,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” ~Revelation 3:20-21
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