The Questions People Ask: 8

QUESTION # 8: How can such a loving God send good people to hell?

 

ANSWER: My dear reader, God does not send good people to hell, they go there by their own choice. The sad truth is, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?”  (Prov. 20:6). To begin with, the Biblical record stands, “There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3; 53:3). The Lord Jesus Christ “did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matt. 9:13). Isaiah solemnly declares that “all our righteousness are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). The apostle Paul, writing to the church at Rome makes this solemn observation of man’s hopeless condition apart from God’s grace in redemption: “There is none righteous, no, not one…For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:10, 23). Sin is so deeply a part of man’s nature that he is so proud that he is convinced that his own self-righteousness merits favor with God! This explains why man finds such Scripture passages as quoted above offensive.

 

            There are those who scoff at the doctrine of hell, stating that there is no proof that hell even exists. They also say that the doctrine of hell was created by religious leaders to control people. Whether scoffers say there is no proof of a literal hell. The truth remains: the existence of hell can neither be proved nor disproved. However, God declares in His Word that there is a literal hell. Consider these following Scriptures Matthew 25: 41; Mark 9:44-48; Luke 16:19-31; Revelations 20:11-15, etc. Since the record of God’s Word is wholly reliable, then we can trust that there is a literal hell. Whose word are you willing to trust; man’s passing opinions or God’s perpetual Word.

 

            Yes, God is a loving God. Because of His love, He cannot overlook the dreadful effects and consequences of man’s sins. Sin must be judged, if God is to remain consistent in His just character in love. God is holy. Therefore, His love is holy. So the truth is –God’s love and sin cannot co-exist together! Thus, the unforgiven sinner cannot co-exist with God in heaven. Every sin must meet its necessary fate: exclusion from heaven. So if you choose to glue yourself to your sins, then you glue yourself to that fate! The nature of God’s love is holy and just –so I say again, He must judge sin. To not repent is to eventually seal your fate in hell. The wonderful Good News of the Gospel is that God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to bear the judgment of our sins on the Cross at Calvary. Dear friend, because the consequences of our sins are eternal, It took an eternal God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to come into the world to pay the infinite debt of our sins. He paid the debt for our sin on the Cross. For God’s salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). Will you not fall on your knees and humbly acknowledge your sins in repentance and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour?

 

             So as we have observed, whether the unbeliever just honestly wants to know if God will send good people to hell, or if he does not believe that hell even exists, God’s record stands sure “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).