Monday, March 18, 2013

How can a Loving God send someone to Hell?

A question that has worked it's way through the ages.....  Anyone that has been involved in a college ministry has probably heard this at some point.  If you have ever tried to share just a tid bit of the Gospel to a non-believer, you may have heard this.   " I just can't believe in a God that is supposed to be so Loving but yet condemns people to Hell....."  and there are obviously other variations of the same phrase.  How do we answer a statement like this?  Carefully!  If you get too "Apologetic" in your response, the conversation can get heated quickly.  If you're too wishy washy, you look like you don't know why you believe. 
My response has been something along these lines.  It's not God that wants to send people to Hell.  He is responding to the desires of the Human heart.  As a Loving God, He wants us to seek a relationship with Him and provides a means to do so.  We as a free willed human can either pull God close or we can push Him away.  In either action God will honor our desires.  So it is not God sending a person to Hell, it's that person doing it to themselves......God is just honoring their desire to be away from Him. 

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

God is not pushy in trying to develop a relationship with us but He is consistent.   God doesn't force anything on us.  We can either enter into a relationship with Him or we can push Him away.  Jesus will continue to knock on the door of our hearts......but it's up to us to invite Him in.



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