If God loves us, why does he send us to hell?

[Timothew]

That parable uses a real name. Lazarus.

 

[Ronald]

... God gives us a choice... to accept his gift or deny his gift. Gifts are not required by the offerer, and also the receiver can accept or deny the gift. Him giving us a choice is true love, rather than him forcing us to accept. It is ultimately our choice on whether or not we go to hell or spend eternity with Him. Also God is pure holiness, he cannot accept sin, which is why Jesus Christ was sacrificed on the cross which was the ONLY way we could be forgiven of our sins. All in all, God does not SEND you to hell, you choose your path?

True love isn't shown through forcing each other to do things, it comes from choice. Given a choice shows feedback from both recipients, the offerer and the one that has to make a choice. Forcing doesn't show anything, it just shows shelfishness.

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:44
Without His grace, we are incapable of coming to him, so we need help. He orchestrates events and people in life, leading you to a certain point at which time he lifts the vail over your eyes so you can see spiritually. We can't do it ourselves. But unlike the Calvinists and some other Catholic in this thread who think that this drawing power (Grace) cannot be resisted, the Bible states differently. God makes many unforced efforts to give us the truth about life and we resist over and over again. Read Romans 1 and you will find that He goes so far to draw some and after so much resistance for years, He will finally let them go and give them over to their lust and sinful ways.
Jesus said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling."Matt.23:37
If His will didn't overpower them to come to him and they chose not to, well, there you have it, RESISTANCE. "For many are called but view are chosen." Matt.22:14 He calls all men to himself, willing that all would be saved -- but not all come.
Yes, certain ones are chosen, like Paroah or Judas for instance, for His purpose and for His glory, but I'm not talking about those. But why not ask the questions: Did the Father draw Judas and he resisted? Was the grace of God shown through Jesus, seen by all the disciples except Judas? In his case, he was a pawn, prophesied to betray Jesus long before he was born. Someone had to betray him. And as for Pharoah, God kept hardening his heart and did not draw him. He was unable to relinquish his pride and power and that was God's will.

The Parable of the sower is an example of God's seed being spread but only a few respond, those who have fertile soil, those who continue to water the seed, those are the plants that produce fruit.
If this was a cut and dry deal where God picks and chooses and we have absolutely no will to resist it, then why all the warnings, the encouragement to persevere, the parables, the threats of being cut off, etc? You are right, God doesn't force us to love him, love doesn't work that way. If this drawing overpowered us to that extant, He might as well made us automatons, puppets to go here, do this, come, etc. We come to him willingly, because we know good and evil and can appreciate His grace. He helps us to see the light. But some resist and it is evident throughout scripture. If we did nothing but His will, we would never make mistakes and every act would be perfect all the time. Do you see anyone doing His will perfectly ALL THE TIME? Good works are prepared for us to do and the Holy Spirit guides us to get it done -- BUT HE FACTORS IN OUR FAILURES and our negligance, our resistance. Sin doesn't have power over us anymore but before you are saved, there is a struggle, a spiritual war going on for souls. Many souls are lost to Satan and this resistance is partially influenced by him but we are responsible. Even as born again believers we resist doing the right things and fall back into our old self at times -- resisting love, clinging to selfishness.
Who in there right mind would choose to get thrown into the Lake of Fire and be destroyed? Nobody is aware of the consequences. "Forgive Father for they know not what they do." Jesus is saying, we don't know what we are doing, nor do we know the consequences, or where we are going, WE ARE BLIND.
Faith is a gift offered ... to a person who comes humbly to God in repentance, sorry for their sins, receives forgiveness and cares for that gift, nourishes it, grows in the knowledge of truth, communes with the Holy Spirit and perseveres to the end. He is the author and finisher of our faith. It is not easy to get our finite minds around this concept because we only know in part and we don't fully comprehend the whole picture as He does. But do know this, sin is judged and He is the judge that either gives souls forgiveness and life or condemns them to destruction.

 

[bottomofsandal]

did the thread become about annhilationism ???


The OP addressed 2 things:

1) If God loves us...

2) why does He send us to hell?




What was really being asked:

1) Does God love everyone ? Equally ?

2) How does one get sent to hell (condemned) ?

3) Most importantly...who is "US" ?

 

[Timothew]

did the thread become about annhilationism ???


The OP addressed 2 things:

1) If God loves us...

2) why does He send us to hell?




What was really being asked:

1) Does God love everyone ? Equally ?

2) How does one get sent to hell (condemned) ?

3) Most importantly...who is "US" ?

Because if you are ansking "How does one get sent to hell?" you are assuming there is a hell. This is NOT what the bible says. The wages of sin is death, not eternal torture in hell. Or aren't we interesting in what the bible has to say anymore?

 

[bottomofsandal]

Because if you are ansking "How does one get sent to hell?" you are assuming there is a hell. This is NOT what the bible says. The wages of sin is death, not eternal torture in hell. Or aren't we interesting in what the bible has to say anymore?

I am not asking anything...the thread starter did !

You and others have chosen to ignore or gloss over the original post(er).



The question is the idea of God SENDING people to hell.

That is what post #1 says...God sending people to hell.

Now if you don't believe there is a hell, that is not really what the inquiry here is. What is in play here is accountability and responsibility and if and how one's eternity is in the hand of God (by sending) or one's actions or behavior. The slant of the question is why is Heaven not for everyone. IOW, what can one do to avoid a bad outcome, or does God just send people to hell ? We know the soul that sinneth shall die. People in the world believe they are "good", so in their carnal mind they ask why are they sent to hell by God without reason. Seek and you will find. Jeremiah said that if we seek Him with all our hearts we would find Him.



By saying there is no hell does not address the implicit searching for the answer to the problem of death. The wages of sin is death...everyone agrees with that. Stating what you and I know to be obvious does not feed the hungry heart searching for how to avoid condemnation.

 

[Timothew]

I am not asking anything...the thread starter did !

You and others have chosen to ignore or gloss over the original post(er).



The question is the idea of God SENDING people to hell.

That is what post #1 says...God sending people to hell.

Now if you don't believe there is a hell, that is not really what the inquiry here is. What is in play here is accountability and responsibility and if and how one's eternity is in the hand of God (by sending) or one's actions or behavior. The slant of the question is why is Heaven not for everyone. IOW, what can one do to avoid a bad outcome, or does God just send people to hell ? We know the soul that sinneth shall die. People in the world believe they are "good", so in their carnal mind they ask why are they sent to hell by God without reason. Seek and you will find. Jeremiah said that if we seek Him with all our hearts we would find Him.



By saying there is no hell does not address the implicit searching for the answer to the problem of death. The wages of sin is death...everyone agrees with that. Stating what you and I know to be obvious does not feed the hungry heart searching for how to avoid condemnation.

Oh, OK I get it.

The answer is: "God loves us and He doesn't send us to hell."
(Because there is no hell)

 

[dollarsbill]

I'm sure Satan would love for us to believe there is no eternal fire.

Matthew 25:41 (NASB)
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

 

[Rick Otto]

What & where Hell is, is beside the point. It's undesirable in the extreme, period.
The premise of the question is in the verb. You either see it as "why do we let ourselves end up in hell ?",(which presumes only a partial /conditional salvation) or "Why does God predestine some for hell?" (which presumes an "us" - God's redeemed & "them" the doomed children of wrath.)
Right?

 

[Wally Cleaver]

I'm sure Satan would love for us to believe there is no eternal fire.

Matthew 25:41 (NASB)
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

This is a key quote to the mystery.

Who was Jesus talking to here and why would he really point out who it was appointed for?

Since we're not in Heaven right now, where are we? Could it be that Earth is Hell and a future fire is coming to destroy those who continued to follow the devil because they wouldn't repent and serve God?

 

[Timothew]

I'm sure Satan would love for us to believe there is no eternal fire.

Matthew 25:41 (NASB)
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Eternal fire consumes whatever is put into it. It does not torture whatever is put into it.

 

[Wally Cleaver]

This too imo ^^

 

[iLogos]

Eternal fire consumes whatever is put into it. It does not torture whatever is put into it.

There lies a key that is easy to miss too.

We can either be consumed by God or our own desires. The only person sending any one to whatever hell is, is that person, not God.

 

[Armistead14]

I hate the statement "a person sends themselves to hell", no one I know would send themselves to hell. I don't believe in an endless hell of torture, but if it is true no one on that day will willingly jump into hell, they have to be placed there. A majority of people like buddist that don't believe in hell wouldn't choose to send themselves there, for them it doesn't exist.

 

[anunbeliever]

I'm sure Satan would love for us to believe there is no eternal fire.

I cannot comprehend how anyone could believe in eternal torment and call the God who allows it "Good". Send only the redeemed to heaven? Sure thats fine. Have a place of suffering with intensities and durations commensurate with what a person justly deserves - ok i can accept that. But God choosing not to annihilate the souls of the unsaved - to instead inflict eternity on them - that is infinite punishment. i cannot reconcile the idea of eternal punishment with the concept of a Just God.

 

[Timothew]

I cannot comprehend how anyone could believe in eternal torment and call the God who allows it "Good". Send only the redeemed to heaven? Sure thats fine. Have a place of suffering with intensities and durations commensurate with what a person justly deserves - ok i can accept that. But God choosing not to annihilate the souls of the unsaved - to instead inflict eternity on them - that is infinite punishment. i cannot reconcile the idea of eternal punishment with the concept of a Just God.

I can't either, and eternal torture is not taught in the bible. A lot of people have been caught up in the false doctrine of eternal torment. The truth is that those who do not receive eternal life from God end up without eternal life, this is to say - They die. For some people, this is not harsh enough. Why do they need to think that God is harsh? I think that eternal death, being dead forever, is harsh enough. We don't need to invent a special place of eternal torture called hell.

God IS good, He gives eternal life to people. The only possible way to get eternal life is to get it from God, who alone is immortal. 1 Timothy 6:16

 

[dollarsbill]

I cannot comprehend how anyone could believe in eternal torment and call the God who allows it "Good". Send only the redeemed to heaven? Sure thats fine. Have a place of suffering with intensities and durations commensurate with what a person justly deserves - ok i can accept that. But God choosing not to annihilate the souls of the unsaved - to instead inflict eternity on them - that is infinite punishment. i cannot reconcile the idea of eternal punishment with the concept of a Just God.

God in His goodness has warned us of our eternal fate in Hell if we continue in rebellion against Him. Isn't that goodness? He certainly warned us of how awful the eternal fire will be for the lost. That is indeed goodness. How awful would it be to chop off parts of our bodies? Hell will be MUCH worse.

Matthew 5:30 (NASB)
30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

 

[Timothew]

God in His goodness has warned us of our eternal fate in Hell if we continue in rebellion against Him. Isn't that goodness? He certainly warned us of how awful the eternal fire will be for the lost. That is indeed goodness. How awful would it be to chop off parts of our bodies? Hell will be MUCH worse.

Matthew 5:30 (NASB)
30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

God in his goodness threatens (you say warned) us with torture in eternal flames if we don't do what he says. In his Goodness.

 

[Timothew]

Deuteronomy 12:31
"for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods."

According to the Bible, God hates it when people are burned in fire. So he isn't going to do it himself.

 

[dollarsbill]

God in his goodness threatens (you say warned) us with torture in eternal flames if we don't do what he says. In his Goodness.

Of course. He didn't even have to warn us.

 

[dollarsbill]

Deuteronomy 12:31
"for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods."

According to the Bible, God hates it when people are burned in fire. So he isn't going to do it himself.

God also hates it when people drown people. Do you believe the Genesis Flood?