If God is all-loving, why does He send people to hell?
The Devotional Answer
This question touches on two important parts of God's character: His perfect love and His perfect justice. It shows that God is not just a nice person; He is the righteous Judge of the entire universe.
The Simple Answer
God does not send people to hell; instead, hell is the final place for those who have used their free will (which we discussed in Question 1) to completely and finally choose to live without God, rejecting His love and forgiveness.
The Deeper Dive: A Look at Free Will
Imagine a judge in a courtroom. If the judge lets every guilty criminal go free, he isn't a good, loving judge—he is an unjust and bad judge!
God’s Justice: Because God is perfectly good, He must be perfectly just. He hates sin (anything that is selfish, hurtful, or breaks His perfect design) and must punish it, or else He would not be a righteous God. The Bible says the fair penalty for all sin is death and separation from God (what we call hell).
God’s Love (The Rescue): This is where His love comes in! Even though we all deserve the penalty, God, in His love, sent Jesus to take that punishment for us. The cross is where God’s justice (sin is paid for) and His love (the way is open to us) meet.
The Choice: God invites everyone to accept this gift and be in His presence forever (Heaven). But because of Free Will, a person can refuse this gift and choose to remain separated from God. Hell is the ultimate, eternal granting of a person’s choice to live completely separate from their Creator. God respects their choice, even though it breaks His heart.
God's Promise
The Bible makes it clear that God doesn't want anyone to go to hell. His desire is for everyone to choose His love and be saved.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
— John 3:16 (NIV)
Your Takeaway Thought
God has done everything possible to save us from hell. The existence of hell doesn't prove God is unloving; it proves He is perfectly just, and that He loves us enough to give us the freedom to make an eternal choice. Our focus should be on accepting the free gift of Jesus!
