Here you go, a fuller answer, given to
a friend that was struggling with the idea of an eternal hell. Here’s my answer to him, which I pray is one that
truly helps anyone wondering about the same thing, even if only a little bit
more. Earlier, I was only able to give
that person a really tiny shout out. My
time is so limited and for that, I ask you all to be patient with me and to
forgive me and thanks for understanding. My friends, Christians must understand that
God knows absolutely everything that there is to know. Nothing can be hidden for Him as He is
all-knowing. Hebrews 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before
the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” The ‘big-word,’ theological term for this is, omniscience. (Let that echo through the hills and valleys
for a while.) He knows every bit of
science that there is to know. This
particular principle can be hard for some non-believers to acknowledge, and
they find it troubling or perhaps even unacceptable. They act like, ‘How could God know more than I
do?’ They seem to think that God has to
work and operate within the confines of their understanding to be real. If He thinks, works or acts contrary to what
they want Him to, then they say, “He must be some sort-of sick species of freak
that I just can’t believe in.’ ‘How dare
He not follow my codes, thoughts, understanding and preconceived ideas.’ ‘How dare He work outside of the realm of my
limited thoughts!’ The list goes on. To most of them, the concept of a loving God,
a God that knows everything, knowing that some people whom He created will end
up in hell, just seems absurd to them. ‘Why would God create people who are destined
for hell?’ That is a good question. But,
the answer shows us that there are many unstated assumptions in this question,
which are totally not valid for Christianity. A related question, ‘Why wouldn't God just
create everyone to enjoy the glory of Heaven?’ Answer, He did! Read on.
Here is a fuller look at the context of the
aforementioned verse, "For the Word of God is living and active and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul
and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions
of the heart. And there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do,” Hebrews
4:12&13.
The primary and most widespread, erroneous
supposition made by confused non-believers is that a person who is destined for
hell has been predestined for hell by God. This is so not true! This is completely false. People prefer to go to hell rather than to
surrender their lives to God. We all
have, as a gift from God, been given free will, in fact, we all have
unqualified free will within the confines of our individual personality and
ability. This is provable. Think about two possible courses of action. An ‘A,’ course, and a ‘B,’ course, and just
two decisions will do, something really simple like will you buy chocolate or
strawberry ice cream. Allocate your
chocolate choice a heads-up and the strawberry then will be, heads down. Toss your coin in the air and then go out and
buy the flavor that corresponds with the chance decision of your coin toss. Repeat this as many times as you’d like, but
after a bunch of times, you might want to get diet, or low-fat types of ice
cream: Got to watch the waist-line. This shows that you do have some choice in
life and that you do, indeed, have free will. Now, to really drive that point home, do the
reverse of what the coin tells you. You
can select to do one thing once and a different thing another time. Did God prevent you from doing what you wanted
to do? No! He did not.
God is of course, the only Creator that the
Universe has ever known. But, the second
incorrect assumption is that God alone is responsible for your character and
personality, when He most certainly is not. We are the product of many different choices,
some made by our parents, grandparents, teachers, family members, friends and
other choices made just by us for whatever reason, thought, planning or feeling
that grabbed us at one time or another. Therefore,
God, yes, has predestined us to be born and He has given us heart, soul, body
and mind, yet, we cannot blame Him for creating us to be sent to hell. He is not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to the saving grace of our souls, found only in Jesus
Christ, “ The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people
think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be
destroyed, but wants everyone to repent,” 2
Peter 3:9.
This is not to say that God is not involved at all
in the creation and direction of our lives. He works to help us come to learn the right
things, make the right choices and to live lives that are pleasing to Him and
helpful to others. The universal human
conscience obviously comes from God. The
Bible says that once a new human life is made, God starts working from that
very micro-second of conception and even was involved with our lives way before
that point ever happened. He knew we’d
be coming along. He, knowing how we’d
think, be and act during our lives, even called some to serve Him while we were
still in the womb, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you
were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations,” Jeremiah 1:5. “For You created my inmost being; You knit me
together in my mother's womb,” Psalm
139:13.
Okay, here is even another inaccurate theory many
hold to, thinking that certain people have been destined for hell. This is just not true. This is also false. Every living person has a God-given purpose,
design and call placed upon their lives. Some people will voluntarily work to save
others from going to hell, either intentionally or unintentionally. Working as a pastor, Sunday School teacher,
prison minister of the Gospel, ETC., they choose to be directly involved in
saving souls. Others heading for hell
might be helped, encouraged, and witnessed to by some lay-person of the church,
a family member, friend or co-worker that is already living ready to go to
Heaven. All of us who follow God's plan
are presented with many occasions to help others in their spiritual path. God says that all people are without excuse in
rejecting Him, so He provides witnesses of His plan to give them a chance to
change their minds, all the time! The
reason people end up in hell is that they reject the only way God has provided
for them to escape going to this place, “So what makes us think we can escape
if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus
himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?” Hebrews 2:3. “For ever since the world was created, people
have seen the earth and sky. Through
everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities, His eternal
power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God,” Romans 1:20.
We must know that this present life is being used,
if I may, as a gauge for both recompense and sentence. Every single person who accepts Jesus Christ
as their personal Lord and Savior will truly go to Heaven. You will not get there and then have to worry
about being kicked out. That just isn’t
going to happen to anyone. But the
amount of gifts that we’ll be given in Heaven will be directly related to how
closely each of us followed God's will in this life. Likewise, all those who choose to refuse Jesus
Christ will go to hell and will be penalized to the degree of how much evil
they committed in their life. This is
why God consents to people making their own choices. “Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is
more than I can bear,” Genesis 4:13.
Not all people are equally bad. Sincerely, all God-haters and Christ-rejecters
deserve damnation because all are sinners, nevertheless, different people have
committed different degrees of sin. So,
if Jesus speaks of greater condemnation for Chorazin and Bethsaida than Tyre
and Sidon, that’s probably just what He means, Matthew 11:21-22. One slave
received more punishment than another, Luke
12:47-48. The one who delivered
Jesus to Pilate has the greater sin, John
19:11, and therewith, a harsher price to pay is reserved for those who
squash underfoot the Son of God. Then,
one might suppose that greater sin means greater punishment in hell? Yes, the
Bible seems to indicate that it does. “I
will give unto every one of you according to your works,” Revelation 2:23. “But if
your work is burnt up, then you will lose it; but you yourself will be saved,
as if you had escaped through the fire,” 1
Corinthians 3:15, (This verse only refers to people in Heaven). "How terrible it will be for you, scribes
and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater
condemnation!” Matthew 23:14. I just know that God will judge everyone
without favoritism and will also chastise all unrepentant sinners justly. I can rest my heart on the fact that it is
all going to come out in the wash, it will all end-up being moral and upright. No doubt.
"My thoughts are nothing like your
thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you
could imagine,” Isaiah 55:8. I ask this of my students when they start
criticizing the works of God, I tell them, ask them, explain to them, how odd
it is that we want God to think like and act like a man does. We limit Him to judge only like we do. We won’t allow Him to be anything more than
what we are. How unfair that is to Him? He has got to know more than we could ever
know. He’s got to be smarter than we
are, on all levels, at all times and in every situation. I wonder why it is that when He acts, thinks,
works and governs like an All-Knowing God that we can’t handle it. It makes me wonder about us, not Him. Why do we have to limit Him and make Him in
our image and after our likeness? No
good answers to these little problems.
God had to give us free will. He didn’t need, want, nor could he have used a
bunch of pre-programmed robotic-type humans in His plan. And, He just couldn’t have put all the people
directly into heaven. As many just do
not want to be there. They sadly,
honestly and amazingly, hate God and Jesus and just don’t want to go to Heaven.
Don’t ask me why, as I don’t know. But, I know that they don’t want to live for
Him. That’s all too obvious. I guess only God knows the answer to some
questions about Mankind’s rebellion, "The human heart is the most
deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it
is?” Jeremiah 17:9, God did give us perfection at the beginning, He
placed Mankind in a perfect world and even spent time with the first couple. He came to visit with them, talk with them,
instruct and teach them and He gave them things to do in this paradise, “The
LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take
care of it,” Genesis 2:15. Many think that God never did anything up
close and personal with us, but He did and it still didn’t work, we still
sinned. See, Mankind, from the beginning
chose to go to hell. We are some pretty
stupid beings. It’s not His fault, it’s
ours.
God might be considered to be unjust, that is if
His actions were not based upon our bad choices and ultimate rejection of the
one and only Savior of the world, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward
him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world! “ John
1:29. “Salvation is found in no one
else, for there is no other Name under Heaven given to men by which we must be
saved," Acts 4:12. We are some real distasteful characters, most
of the time.
If people thought profoundly about their
never-to-be-faulted strategy about what God should and shouldn’t do, they would
soon realize that there are innumerable and immeasurable logical problems with
their ways of thinking. What most people
would create, as a god, would be at best a lame android, programmed by their
extremely limited and senseless and baseless intelligence that would simple
act, think and rule the Universe, like they thought it should be run. And, if they did that, we’d all shortly be
suffering in a living hell, created by men. How loving is your computer? How alive is your computer? Can your computer save your soul? You cannot honestly have a very satisfying
relationship with a machine.
The problems about a loving God sending people to a
one-level and one-size-fits-all hell, put forward by Bible skeptics, rests
entirely upon several invalid and uneducated assumptions. Their ideas are based on an unfounded and
groundless perception of how great God's foreknowledge is. He simply knows everything. They seek to eliminate the Divine character of
God, demanding that He act only like a human being and nothing more. How sad it is that men always need to have a
god around them that is smaller, dumber and stupider than they are.
