Why would a loving God send people to hell?

The lack of a satisfying answer to this question is perhaps the single most popular reason for people who choose to reject God. God’s justice, God’s love, who knows, we’ll find out one day. Answers like this provide no depth. While some of them are certainly relevant components of the equation, they are not entirely sufficient. The question that people should be asking is “why doesn’t a Holy God send everyone to hell?”

First of all you are not a good person. No matter what you have done or think you have done, you are nowhere near good enough for God. R.C. Sproul said, “Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered.” The only unfair thing that has happened to an authentically good person was Jesus on the cross, and he volunteered. We are all sinners and we all deserve the worst. Anything other than the worst is God’s mercy revealed. This world is so broken and so filled with pain and so evil and so destructive. No man is good enough without the blood of Jesus washing him clean. We are sinful people and God cannot tolerate sin. God is separate from sin and he will not allow it into his Kingdom.

Second of all, God’s mercy has allowed humanity to choose for themselves their own path. What is unfair about letting someone choose which road they take? A person who rejects God chooses hell. No one is sent to hell without choosing it. Romans 1 tells us that creation itself is evidence enough in a Holy Creator that ought to be worshipped. Every human being makes the eternal choice. Luckily for us, God is merciful enough and loving enough to let us choose Him.

Third of all, just to emphasize the key issue, we all deserve hell and need a Savior. Faith and faith alone is the key to receiving salvation from the King of Kings. He died on the cross so that life would be unfair. If life were fair, every human being would end up in hell. Death died and Jesus saved us. 

The Unknown

Fear of the unknown is one thing that every human being can relate to. We long for comfort and things that are familiar. The unknown scares us because there is no assurance of safety that everything or anything will be just as good or better than it was before. Fear of the unknown brings people to a point where they choose to chase illusions and delusions of a distorted reality instead of facing the reality that they shudder at. Taking a leap into the unknown is jumping out of a plane knowing that your parachute only has a 50% chance of opening. With those odds, no one would take that jump. We fear the unknown because have no faith. We have no faith in anything. If you claim to be a Christian, yet fear the unknown, then you lack faith that God has a plan and a purpose. If you claim to be a Christian, yet are scared of what will happen to you after you die, then your faith isn’t strong enough. Thanatophobia. The fear of death. Some people are afraid of being dead while others are afraid of actually dying. The fear of death in general is rooted in the fear of what comes after the life that we are living today. Paul says in Philippians 1:21 that his death is gain. For all true Christians, death is gain. Without death there could be no life.  Life after death is the greatest unknown. Don’t fear the unknown. Faith is the opposite fear. If you trust the Creator of the universe then you’ll realize that to Him, nothing is unknown. Trust God. Don’t fear the unknown. 

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

-   Romans 8:28

This verse in Romans is perhaps one of the most comforting verses in the New Testament to the average reader. You have probably heard sermons and lessons on this verse before, all explaining how even in rough times, God is still working things out for your good. There are 3 important things to note about this verse. The first is perhaps the most obvious. In all things God works for the good of those who love him. God works through good things and he redeems things intended for evil and transforms them into good things. So many things we go through in our daily grind seem to have no significant spiritual value, and it takes a true Christian with true faith to believe and have faith that God is completely in control.

The second part is where things tend to break away from what you’ve heard before. For whom does God work for the good of? Those who love him! All of the sudden this verse just got enormously exclusive. If you don’t love God more than yourself then you don’t really love God. Loving God is the #1 thing we are called to do as Christians, and most people that call themselves Christians don’t even really love God. If you don’t truly love God, then this verse no longer applies to you.

The third part narrows it down even further. Those who have been called according to his purpose. Have you been called according to God’s purpose? Is your life a sacrifice to God? Have you volunteered your life for God’s purpose? If you haven’t, then this verse no longer applies to you.

It is important to remember that the good that this verse speaks of is eternal, spiritual good, not necessarily earthly good. God promises future glory to those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. If you don’t love God and haven’t truly given your life for his purpose, then all things might not be working out for your spiritual good.  

Is it wrong to be glad Osama Bin Laden is dead?

If you are a human being that lives in America and wants justice for the thousands dead because of Osama Bin Laden, then it is probable that you, at the very least, feel some sort of joy that Osama has been killed. Is this joy righteous joy or sinful joy? Is it wrong to find joy in the death of someone who has the blood of thousands on his hands? The Bible makes it very clear in both the Old and New Testaments that we are to love and pray for our enemies. God himself said that the death of his enemies is not what he takes pleasure in, but he takes pleasure in their repentance (Ezekiel 33:11). Yet God knows that some people will never repent. There are also a plethora of verses indicating that the death of an enemy is something to rejoice over.

The difference between an enemy of God and anyone's personal enemy is huge. Many of the passages that appear to be relevant are speaking of personal enemies and have been taken out of context. These enemies being as simple as people we don't get along with or people who cause us to stumble. Isn't there a difference in that kind of enemy and an enemy of the God who has killed thousands of innocent people?

One could argue that God is not willing enemies to death and that their sin has brought it about, but there are dozens of places in the Old Testament and even New Testament where God strikes people or dead or wipes out entire cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah. God is love.  But God's being love makes him a God of wrath as well. He is a God of eternal justice. While, to some, death may seem even too good for Osama Bin Laden, he will receive his due punishment from God.

My conclusion is that God provides justice. Do I think it is wrong for Americans and the rest of the world feel more at ease and safe in their own homes because this man is dead? No. Do I think it is wrong for the world to wish someone were dead? Yes. Has God's justice stepped in and ridded the world of a psychopathic mass murderer? Maybe. God is just. And whether or not that includes the earthly dead (like it does in the Old Testament), I do not think that it is wrong to rejoice in the death of an enemy of God. Was Bin Laden an enemy of God?

With that said, we must also mourn the death of a non-believer, for another soul has been won by the devil. It is not wrong to feel relieved. It is also not wrong to rejoice in God's justice and love.