Does a loving God send people to hell?

    I love it when someone tells me that he or she doesn't believe a loving God would send anyone to hell. That remark is a wonderful opening to share the gospel in an extremely personal way. I usually tell people who express this opinion that they're right. God doesn't send anyone to hell. In fact, God has done everything he can to keep you from going to hell. Even though each of us has sinned and rebelled against God, he sent his son to die to pay the penalty for our sins. He has given us a wonderful creation that points to His glory. He has given us the Bible to record his gospel and his wisdom. He has given us prophets and preachers to point his way. He has given us friends and family members who pray for us to go to him. God has gone way out of his way to keep us from having to go to hell.
    But some of us still insist on going there. We resist God's efforts to draw us to himself. We ignore God's warnings about our current course. I tell them: If you go to hell, it is because you insist on running straight toward hell with your fingers in your ears so you don't hear God telling you not to go.
    They usually say something like: "Well, I've never heard God telling me not to go to hell."
    "Yes you have," I respond, "God has put me right here, right now, to tell you not to go."
    That makes it personal for them. It takes a hypothetical, abstract discussion and makes it personal and immediate. From there, you can tell them your own story. You can tell them how you were running toward hell and when took your fingers out of your ears to hear God's message to stop and turn around. You can tell them this is what the Bible means when it talks about repentance. It means stopping, turning around and proceeding in the opposite direction. All it takes to start following Christ is to start listening to God and following his direction rather than ignoring it.
    People use the Loving-God-hell argument to hide from the gospel, as an excuse to keep from dealing with their own spiritual emptiness. But it's easy to turn this perceived indictment of God's love into an explanation of the fullness of his love and the generosity of the gospel. As always, any presentation of the gospel must be given in humility. We were all once stubbornly heading toward hell, until we were convinced to take our fingers out of our ears.

 

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