For some reason the issue of hell doesn’t want to die down. Every now and then another ‘theologian’ proposes that the loving God will never send people to eternal hell. Either all people will spend eternity with God in peace and harmony, or the unwilling will be obliterated, blown to smithereens.
# For some reason people cannot grasp that:
- Hell was designed for the devil and his demons, not for human beings. 1
- God provided an escape from hell for all people, regardless of race, education, gender, or whatever. 2
- The choice to accept or reject God’s ‘escape route’ is up to each individual.
# If the unsaved are obliterated, escaping hell, there are some anomalies:
- Why did God go to all the trouble of providing an escape from hell through Jesus? If nobody will be in hell, why provide a Saviour?
- Why didn’t God create man and welcome us into His Kingdom and leave the Bible, and Jesus’ death on the cross altogether?
# God gave each person a choice.
However much we want to deny it, people who do not like God, who don’t want Jesus to pay the death penalty for their sins, will pay it themselves. That means eternal ‘death,’ away from the wonderful presence of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
# Scriptural reasons why hell cannot be argued away.
- Scripture is Truth. It is unchangeable. The new heavens and earth is a future reality, as is hell for the unrepentant.
- All people will appear before the Judgment Throne. 3
- ‘Death,’ as the enemy of man, will be thrown into hell at the Judgement. 4 This means that from then onwards, all people will live eternally, either with God or away from Him with the devil. 5
Conclusion
It is a sad fact that those who deny the existence of God, or refuse His plan of salvation, will be eternally alive in hell. No amount of reasoning can change it. It is a fate the loving God wants all humans to escape. 6
References
- Matthew 25:42
- John 3:16
- Revelation 20:12-13
- Revelation 20:14
- Revelation 21:4
- 1 Timothy 2:3