You
mentioned hell. Do you really believe in that?
What do you think hell is?
I gather it's supposed
to be a place of punishment that never ends. Why in the world would you believe
in that?
I believe in hell because Jesus says it exists (Matthew 5:22,29,30; 10:28;
11:23; 16:18; 18:9; 23:15,33; Luke 10:15; 12:5; 16:23). Late in Jesus ministry
He taught His disciples that there would be a day of judgment for a people, and
that on that day, His followers would be granted eternal, joyous life in the
presence of God, but that those who rejected Him would "go away into eternal
punishment" (Matthew 25:46).
But how could a good and
loving God permit anyone to go to hell?
It's good that you noted that God is both good and loving. God's goodness cannot
abide the presence of evil, so only those who have been made good by Jesus can
be with Him forever. Those who refuse to accept the righteousness of Jesus on
themselves have chosen to be evil forever, and so have chosen to spend eternity
separated from God. It is not God's choice that they go to hell, but their own.
Hell is one consequence of moral freedom. And that separation from God will mean
unimaginable suffering, since man was really designed to spend eternity with
God.
But how can God
permit them to make that kind of choice?
Earlier I quoted from a man named C.S. Lewis, who became a Christian after years
as an atheist and then as an agnostic. Lewis, too, struggled with the idea of
hell. "I would pay any price," he wrote, "to be able to say truthfully, 'All
will be saved'. But my reason retorts, Without their will, or with it?' If I
say, Without their will' I at once perceive a contradiction; how can the supreme
voluntary act of self‑surrender be involuntary? If I say ‘With their will', my
reason replies,'How if they will not give in?"'
If we are to preserve the freedom of man, I don't see anyway to write off the
existence of hell.
I guess I can accept
that I don't like it though.
Neither do I. But there are lots of things that are true and real that I don't
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This
is all beginning to make more and more sense to me. But something's bothering
me. If Jesus was so great, why was He crucified instead of building an empire
that would rule the world? Why if He was God, did He allow Himself to be killed?
Why couldn't He stop them from crucifying Him?
No doubt Jesus could have prevented the crucifixion had he wanted to (John
18:4‑6; 19:11 Matthew 26:53). But He didn't want to. Indeed, He had made it
clear from the start of His ministry that He Intended to be crucified to bear
the sins of the world. But an earthly kingdom was not Jesus' concern. His
concern was to reconcile people with God. That was done through sacrifice, not
conquest.
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