I just can’t believe that a God of love would send good people to suffer in hell for an eternity because of sin; why would God do that if He is all loving?
Q) I just can’t believe that a God of love would send good people to suffer in hell for an eternity because of sin; why would God do that if He is all loving?
(A) The answer to this question does not depend on our human reasoning. We need to look at this issue from God’s perspective. God will give us the answer to this question if we are open to, and looking for the truth.
This question seems to be a problem for a lot of people. I hear this train of thought coming from those who have attended church services most of their lives, but unfortunately they have never come to the knowledge of the truth on this subject.
First, we need to know that our God truly is a God of love. I John 4:7-8 & 16: 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Next, we will look at three scriptures referring to “good people:”
(1) Psalms 14:1,3 1(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
(2) Matthew 19:17: 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but ONE, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
(3) Romans 3:12: 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
As you can see from the above three scriptures, God say’s that no man or woman on the face of the earth is good in His sight. How can God say, “there is none that doeth good, no, not one?”
In the beginning, God made man with free will. He was made with a free moral character to choose either to following God, the Creator, or the god of this world (Satan). In a nutshell, he was free to choose between good or evil. But on the heels of what men choose in the liberty given by God, there is enacted righteous justice. Men believe erroneously of a god of their imagination, not the clearly defined God of the Bible. They do not understand the distinction of a God of love, a God of judgment, a God of justice, nor a God of consuming fire that is a direct result of that liberty.
Yes, God is love, and He loves each and every one of us, but He is not going to ignore His justice just because we say we don’t like His plan. God’s plan is the only plan. We are all FREE to accept it or deny it, but if we deny it, don’t blame God for the judgment that will surely come. He has made every effort to save all who will come to Him through His Son. If I may make it very clear, those who put all their faith in Jesus Christ will live with Him for eternity in Heaven. Those who do not will be judged by Him and assigned to the lake of fire for eternity. WHY?
Sin is the problem. What is sin? 1 John 3:4: 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Romans:3:23: 23 For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Sin has a price, but you and I cannot pay the price by anything we can do. There are no amount of works we can do that will make us righteous enough to qualify entering Heaven, so someone else had to pay the penalty for our sins. Sin earns the sinner the death penalty. “Good people” cannot of themselves do anything to pay the price for their sins. Sin not paid for at the time of death will earn the sinner eternal damnation in hell.
So Is God unjust then if He sends someone to hell who is a “good person” but still in their sins at the time of their death? God hates sin and He will not ever allow anyone still in their sins to enter into His perfect Heaven.
Yes, anyone still in their sins when they die will be sent to hell, even if they seem to be “good people.” However, God has provided a way to escape hell and His coming wrath.
Romans 1:19-20: tells us about the wrath of God:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
You and I were given liberty to choose the god of this world, or cast it off and believe in the only Begotten Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world. You who have believed and exercised your faith in God, to you, it became so simple, so easy that you cannot understand why not all of the world doesn’t see it…the very simple reason, liberty.
1 Corinthians chapter 1:1-25:
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
You who read these warnings and examples of the coming wrath of Almighty God, where do you stand? You, like all of us, have been given liberty to choose. Will you stand for good or evil, life or death? To choose this life and all its trappings of sinful pleasure, is to choose death, but to give your heart and soul to the Creator of your soul and spirit, by believing on the only Begotten Son of God, is to choose life.
It is a free will decision. God will not beat you about the head into submission and He will not wait forever. He wants you to fall in love with Him and follow Him out of your own free will choice, not out of coercion, but because you see Him as He is, Almighty God and you long to be with Him and return to Him that gave you life, and He will grant you life eternal!
Ephesians 2:8-9:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
And again, Paul tell us about what our Lord did for you and I in Romans chapter 5.8-11:
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
Take that God given liberty, your free will choice and make that commitment to follow Him, Jesus Christ, wherever He may lead you. Do it today, because to stand before Almighty God without being clothed in the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ at judgment day, you will only receive: THE WRATH OF GOD!
Let us not think we can live apart from Jesus now, and live forever with Him in Heaven when we die, thinking we were “good people,” It won’t happen.
Some faith is necessary to understand God’s character. Scripture tells us that He is loving and merciful, but it also says that He is holy and just. “The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9.
He is constantly reaching His hand out to unbelievers, in whatever way He deems necessary.
God cannot tolerate sin, but neither does He want us to suffer the penalty of our sins. Look how far He went to make a way out for us! We can never understand the fullness of God’s ways. We must simply have enough faith to believe that, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
However, He has made it clear that no one comes to Him but through His Son Jesus.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” John 14:6.
So should we stop talking about hell since Jesus is love and He is fair, He would not send anyone to hell who is a “good person,” right?
Jesus had a great deal to say about hell, actually more than He did about Heaven. Don’t you think He just might want all of us to know about this place of torment, so it can be avoided by coming to Him in faith? Jesus gives eternal life and a home in Heaven, to all who come to Him. To the contrary, Satan entices as many as possible to his future home, hell, which will be transferred to the lake of fire at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ. How does Satan entice us? He does so by convincing people they do not need to come to Jesus because they are okay, they’re good enough, Jesus would send no one to hell, and many other excuses.
Dare I avoid the bad news of hell, simply because it may not be pleasant to hear? It is only unpleasant if you choose it over Heaven. You see in liberty, it’s up to you to choose! God does not want you to end up in hell, but if you make the wrong choice, you will send yourself to hell because of your liberty.
Sin came into the world from Satan by our original parents, Adam and Eve, Revelation 12:9: 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Remember, sin must be judged, Romans 6:23. All mankind has sinned against God, Romans 3:23.
The conclusion is, unless there is some way to avoid judgment all mankind will end up in hell, because of our sins and because of our works. Our sins condemn us, and our works are never good enough. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities,” Isaiah 64:6.
So what are we to do? Yes, God is love, but He is also absolute righteousness, and uncleanness cannot dwell in His presence. Since He is just, sin must be judged, and the judgment is eternal damnation in an eternal hell. Then death and hell will be cast in the lake of fire where all who reject Jesus will exist forever outside the presence of God. It is my opinion that there will be different degrees of punishment in hell, but alas, it is still hell. That’s no comfort. Again, what are we to do?
There is one way out of this mess we find ourselves, and better yet, there is actually a wonderful blessing if we take this only way out.
God looked down on mankind in eternity past, and said to Himself, “I know that all mankind will be corrupted by Satan, but I’ll provide the way back to Me for those who will come by the method I provide.” He went on in His thoughts. “Someone who is absolutely perfect could pay the price to redeem those who will come to Me. Nothing less will work.” So God looked down through time to the furthest point of mankind’s future, and could find no one who was perfect. There were many “good people,” but none who could pay the price for sin. So He said, “There is only one. It must be my Son. He can do it.”
So who does God send to pay the price for our sins (and our worthless goodness)? He goes Himself. He takes on the flesh of His own creation, man, by placing Himself in a virgin’s womb, and is born and lives as a man. In the flesh of man, He is called Jesus. He left His throne in Heaven, and fulfilled everything His Father asked Him to do. He lived a sinless life, and allowed a mob to beat Him and crucify Him on a Roman cross. Thankfully, that wasn’t the end. He rose from the grave exactly as He said He would. He paid the price in full. When He returned to Heaven, He sent His Spirit to live within each person who would be born-again (1st time physically; 2nd time spiritually) in Him. Each of these who come to Him, believe in Him enough to follow Him, even if it means persecution and death to do so.
So should I speak about hell? Should others? Oh yes! If Jesus thought it was important enough to warn us of this place, then it must be important. But listen! That is only one part of being quicken (or made alive) in Jesus. He lives within us while on this earth, cleans us up, helps us to live for Him, gives us a peace that the world cannot give or understand, instills joy that others strive for but cannot find, takes away the fear of death, comforts us in our sorrows, gives us His strength when we are weak, provides us a home in Heaven where we will live with Him for eternity, and so much more. Think about this, because without it we are doomed. He gives to those who believe on Him, His own righteousness. God has unconditional love for us, meaning He doesn’t love us because of who we are, or what we have done. He loves us because of Who He is. Even while we are His enemies, He died for us, Romans 5:10. He walked the talk for us.
Open your eyes and see that warnings are given through love. If God did not warn us, would He love us? Surely, the answer is clear. In His mind-boggling love He has for us, He has made it very, very clear that there is only one way to Him and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. If we think we’re “good enough,” what else can He do? If we think our way is better, what else can He do? We have been warned, and the alternative is to abide with Satan in hell. May we choose instead to live with Christ in Heaven.
If it were not for the love of God, we would all march right into hell. If God had not followed up on His love, and sacrificed Himself on our behalf to satisfy His righteousness and justice, we would all spend an eternity in hell. Bad people and good people go to hell when they die for only one reason, they deny the only way to God, Jesus Christ.
To say that “I’m good enough”, “I’ll be alright”, “God would never send me to hell”, or all the other excuses that come up, is a slap in the face to God. Why is that? To reject the most precious gift that He could ever give, His Son, is to spit upon God, and say “My righteousness is just has good as His, so no thanks, I’ll do it my way”. If we want to do it our way, that’s fine, but our way will send us to a devil’s hell. In other words, we make our own decision to choose hell. So quit blaming God for your own pride and hard-heartedness. He has done all He can do. Now you need to decide. So what is it going to be, His way, or your way? In His great love for us, He has provided the way to Him, and warned us of the outcome if we choose another way. That is the love of God.
If one soul is saved from hell, or one Christian inspired to put their faith in Jesus Christ as they should, the angels of Heaven will rejoice, and I will too, right along with them. It is so tragic that some cannot see this, and are out to glorify only themselves (blindness and pride).
Pride was the downfall of Satan, and it is also the downfall of mankind. The love of God cannot exist in a heart filled with false pride. Dear friends, if we want the love of God to live in us, how can it happen, if we don’t care enough to warn others about hell? How can we have the love of God when our pride is in the way?
Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Our loving God will not override our free will; He allows us to choose our own destiny, be it right or wrong. Just know that there will not be any “good people” in heaven by their own righteousness. God has provided the one and only way to escape the horrors of hell through His son, Christ Jesus, Romans 3:24-26: 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
All people need to put their complete and total trust, faith, and belief in the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved, Acts 4:12. Read the gospel of our salvation in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Make no mistake, any who believe they are “good people” and have not been washed clean by the blood of Christ at the time of their death, will receive their just reward, eternity in hell, and after the judgment, the lake of fire which will be worse than hell.
My hope is that you the reader of this article will heed the warning, God is love, but God is also a God of judgment, a God of justice, and a God of consuming fire. God’s love will not save you if you do not make a personal commitment with Christ and ask Him to cleanse you from all your sins.
Please don’t think you will be in heaven by just being a “good person.” It will never happen!
Take these things seriously and the God of all love will help you make the RIGHT choice. You will never, ever be sorry for putting your faith in Christ alone!
May God’s love touch your heart; put your trust in Him, and you will be eternally thankful.
John