Would a loving God send anyone to hell?

‘If God is all-loving, and He loves the world so much, why would He send anyone to hell?’ This is a question that you are either asking or have been asked.

It is important to get an answer to this question because:

1. It will help us understand the nature of God better.

2. The truth and reality about eternal damnation will be properly communicated.

3. The plan of God to save man from eternal damnation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will be understood as God’s greatest display of love; and

4. It will help with evangelism against universalism (a belief that everyone will be saved and God would not condemn anyone to eternal punishment).

   
   

The problem of sin and death began in the Garden of Eden. Every day that Adam ate of the other trees in the garden, he chose God. The day that he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he chose the enemy. The consequence of that choice of man was death – eternal damnation Genesis 2:15-17.

This consequence was passed on to all humans because we were all in Adam at the beginning. Think of it this way – the same way a child can be born with a birth defect because of the parents’ choices and not the child’s action, is the same way we were born with the body of sin and the consequence of eternal damnation because of Adam’s choices Romans 5:12-14.

God loves us so much that He does not want anyone to perish and be eternally condemned, so He puts a plan in place. First, God sends the first man out of the garden so that Adam will not eat of the tree of life in his fallen state and become irredeemable Genesis 3:22. Then, before man even knew that he needed saving, God decided to take man’s place in death so that man can be saved and receive His eternal life Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Now, just as man made a choice to choose the enemy, man must also now decide to choose God, by believing in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

John 3:16-18 says,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Did you notice that the text says, “he who does not believe is condemned already?” The sacrifice of Jesus is the way out of condemnation, and not God condemning anyone. The only way man escapes eternal condemnation is to believe in Him.

To explain this using a simple illustration, man’s choices put him in a position where he was drowning in the ocean of eternal damnation; God provides a lifeboat and jumps out of the boat into the ocean so that man can take his place in the boat. Man must choose to get into the lifeboat to be saved, or man will die.

To say that a loving God would not send anyone to hell assumes that God will jump out of the boat (out of love for the man) and then put the man in the boat against his will.

God is love, and He has displayed his greatest show of love by dying for man. He was beaten, bruised, killed, and buried for the sins of man – all so that man can receive His eternal life. The only choice man has to make to access this gift of eternal life is to accept it.

So, God is love, and He is not sending anyone to hell. On the contrary, man was already on his way to hell as a result of his choices, and God provided a way for everyone to be saved 2 Peter 3:9.

Can everyone be saved? Yes, ONLY if they accept God’s offer of His life. Will everyone be saved from eternal damnation? Yes, ONLY if they accept God’s offer of His life. If you believe, you will not perish and you have eternal life.

If you do not yet believe, today is a good day to believe this message of grace and eternal salvation with God. Please feel free to reach out to us at info@theananexperience.com if you have any questions or if you would like us to pray with you as you begin this journey as a child of God.

Yours in Christ,

Testimony.

All scriptural references are in the New King James version